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You can cure in the sun, even this time of year. Best results are to do the repair and coat it inside, then put it outside after a couple minutes. I would pick a nice day... sun and at least an...

My experience is that uv cured urethanes are far superior to spar varnish. I have seen some glasweld jobs start fading too early imo, but it's more the exception... whereas with spar varnish, it's...

Works fine with natural daylight. Cures very fast in full sun...and will cure ok even in light overcast conditions, or when the sun is not at full strength. Of course, you need to be more careful...

The coating isn't perfect, but it's a step up for sure. I'll be interested to see if you have any issues/failures with it.

Chemical stripper can work pretty good btw, but will not remove the...

I think it's a good idea to measure it.... at least a few times, so you know how much you are actually using per car.

I use a small tupperware type container as a dip tank. Pour a little into...

Urethane coating is completely different than Optilens, enough that it doesn't make sense to "cross shop" them. OL only takes a few drops per lens...

Anyway, with all of the coatings, part of it...

Their headlight stuff is pretty new... but the company has been around at least 20 years in the glass biz

The cost per vehicle of all three coatings you mention are in the same ballpark... around a buck per vehicle depending on how you work with it exactly. Optilens is much more expensive per ounce,...

Absolutely. All of the urethane coatings are more permanent in my experience. They are not perfect, but they are the longest lasting fix I've seen. I was a big OL fan until I started to see it fail...

I'm mostly "retired" from scratch removal biz, partly because I'm too busy doing chip repair, and partly because it's hard on the back and I don't need any more issues there. :buffing:

I haven't...

I've worked on windshields for 20 years, rock chip repair and some polishing too, and a coated windshield would be news to me. Mike was correct... no coating on windshields. Maybe there is some...

Cerium oxide is what's used for glass polishing. With a dense felt type pad and lots of polish time + heat. One good product to use by hand or with a drill and wool pad, etc is the Griots glass...

I will add... in favor of OptiLens (I meant optilens in the previous post, not opticoat).. that it's invaluable for some jobs, for me anyway. For example, on a 2006-08 Dodge truck, the top side of...

Multiple layers should create a much better UV barrier, but I've not done more than two initial layers.

By "factory coating" I'm referring to the uv curing urethane coatings. Most are available...

I've found that it works fine on many cars, but not very well on others. Toyota sienna and corolla are a couple that I've seen fail within a few months. I have a G35 that I need to re-do from last...

Oh, one more thing... wondering what others have experienced with the foamed wool pad? It works great, but the adhesive doesn't stand up at all to the heat created with HLR. Even being careful, they...

Have to chime in my .02 since the Optilens was asked about. I've used a lot of OL and also jumped to try the DP kit. :xyxthumbs:

I have a couple issues to mention or ask about that do relate to...

I use a 5" orbital so it's a different animal. I would recommend hand sanding, especially for 1000+ grit steps. And rotary for all polish/compound steps. I can't imagine a 3" orbital sander doing a...

It's different for each car and each person. But on the camry, it should only take a minute or so to completely cover the lens by hand. If using 3" discs, go with a fresh disc for each lens. Lots of...

Either you have haze from insufficient sanding between steps, or there is a film on the inside, which is fairly common with that car. If you think it's from your sanding process, go back with 800,...

btw, the snobrum things are great. I don't know about one being better than another, but I like the one I've used for years.

If you are a man, it's not ok to just clear the windows and lights and let the rest blow around on the road and other cars. Doesn't matter where you live or how often it snows. It's lazy and...

We've seen a few have issues, turning back a little discolored... seems to be on soft lens cars, like early 00s corollas and civics. But that's been the exception. Mostly, it's working very well....

I think I see the issue. With OL, I suggest you only strip-fix the top 1/4-1/3 and then compound and coat the entire lens. Saves a ton of time and effort that isn't required. On many cars, that means...

Part-timer, try using the Optilens on some easier cars that don't require your full sanding process, 400-800-1500-3000. If you can get with 1500-3000-compound-coating, I think you will see good...