CQuartzed Ford Flex

[panthercz]

First off I don't have any before photos as I didn't have time and being that this is my own car, there was no correction needed other than some rock chips and a few small scratches put into the paint by people other than myself. I mainly just wanted to post my thoughts (thus far) on CQuartz.

My process was as follows:
Cleaned a few tar spots and sticker adhesive off wheels with Tarminator
Removed gigantic dealer badge of trunk lid (what a pain in the butt getting all that foam adhesive off)
Clean wheels with DP Wheel Gel and IronX
2 bucket wash with Optimum Car Wash and a little ONR mixed in
Clayed
Removed water spots off glass with DP Glass Restorer and GV110v2 using LC flat white pad
Polished gloss black plastic window pillars with Menz 85RD and both LC Tangerine Hydro and LC Crimson Hydro 4" pads.
Had to polish entire vehicle with Optimum Hyper Polish and LC flat white pads to remove previous coatings of sealant.
Did heavy IPA + Optimum Power Clean wipe down.
Applied Perl to all exterior plastic and rubber at 1:3 including tires
Applied CQuartz
Applied Reload

Now for my thoughts on the CQuartz.
First off, I was concerned I wouldn't have enough. I had read a few people complain that 30ml wasn't enough to do a sedan. So I called AG and ordered a 50ml bottle, it came with a blue dense foam block, a pack of blue mf applicators and a couple loosely put together cotton applicators . Well, I only used half the bottle to do the entire Ford Flex including all paint, glass, wheels and two coats on the hood. You only need a very small amount per panel. You can see and feel when the CQuartz is no longer being spread by the applicator.

Application itself is very simple. Take the blue foam block and mf applicator and place the mf over the black fuzzy side of the foam block and hold onto the loose sides of the mf with your fingers. Then just put a few drops going along the mf and begin applying CQuartz to the paint using straight lines in a north to south direction, then cross back over it with straight lines in a east to west direction.

Hazing time is kind of dependent upon ambient temperatures. Temp in my garage was 66 degrees Fahrenheit. I let the CQuartz sit for 30 minutes before buffing off.
Removal was easier than I thought. Just lightly buff off the haze and use plenty of fresh sides of the mf towel you're using. I used a 12 pack of 'Vroom' mf towels and just threw them out when done since you aren't suppose to use the the mf again after CQuartz gets on it.

The feel of the CQuartz after buffing isn't very slick, not like a sealant or wax at all, just very clean and smooth feeling.
The look is very nice. I was expecting a very plastic appearance but was pleasantly surprised by the nuba-ishness of it. Plus the flake in the paint really stands out. More so than with anything else I had put onto it.

One thing I didn't like was the smell...very potent chemical odor.

After letting it sit overnight I put a coat of Reload on the following morning. Pretty straight forward, spray on and wipe off. It does need time to flash completely off though, you'll get some light oily haze at times but it goes away after a few minutes.

All in all it was an easy product to apply, looks good and now the only thing is durability. I really hope I get at least 2 years out of it!
I'll be trying Opti-Coat on a different car this weekend. I should be able to take more pics of the during on that one.

Here are some after photos.
Not sure why this photo is so blurry, but its all I have of the hood reflecting.




The flake really pops!

[kelley386]

What did you use to do the IPA and power clean wipedown? i always get toweling marks when using my cobra MF's with IPA, maybe because it is not lubricated?

[LegacyGT]

Not sure why this photo is so blurry, but its all I have of the hood reflecting.

Your camera focused on the tree in the reflection instead of the car.

Great work, keep us updated on the durability.

[panthercz]

What did you use to do the IPA and power clean wipedown? i always get toweling marks when using my cobra MF's with IPA, maybe because it is not lubricated?

Poorboys DMT

[panthercz]

Your camera focused on the tree in the reflection instead of the car.

Great work, keep us updated on the durability.

Ahhhhhh...thanks for the tip! I was in a hurry and didn't even think about it.

[C. Charles Hahn]

That looks awesome! The metal flake really does pop with the CQ.

[richy]

The Flex looks amazing with the CQ on it; great job!

[silverfox]

I would imagine the Cquartz/Reload combination is going to become very, very popular.

[Meghan]

Very nice, and I love the color of the Flex.

[panthercz]

I forgot to mention that the rock chips were filled with Dr. Colorchip and any scratches (probably only 6-7) were polished out with Megs MF 3" pads and D300 compound.