Opti-coat 2.0 question

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sabresfan

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How do I know if I have "enough" product on the vehicle? I prepped the heck out of my truck and was ready to go. I found the applicator pad difficult to work with. I went panel by panel on my Frontier. When I was done, I had only used about 5cc and I used more than a "few drops" each time I reapplied. I would not say the finish feels "tacky" but it also is not smooth like wax. Would a 2nd coat be in order? Just wondering if there is a visual way I can tell if I am good to go.

thanks!
 
If you only used 5cc for a truck then you under applied the product.

You need to work in smaller sections and you should be able to see the product on the area that you are working on.

Once you have have applied the coating to half of the panel you should still see some on there at this point and it should start to turn into a rainbow color this is known as the flashing stage.

Once the coating flashes then you need to remove the excess coating.

People who have never applied a coating tend to under apply than over apply.

For a truck you should have at the minimum used 10cc on the first application.

I would say go over the entire truck again.

Opti- coat does not have a slick feeling nor is it very tacky.
 
you can apply another coating an hour later - after that, it will not bond properly
 
I have great luck with applying with the black optimum applicator, the gold one is junk. After watching it rainbow in a 2x2 section, 5 min later I buff off with a super plush MF, works every time, leave a nice slick surface, I follow an hour later with RELOAD.
 
i don't know if it's because of the applicator i use or what, but i wouldn't be surprised one bit if i did a first or second gen frontier and only used 5 cc, esp. if you are doing just the paint and trim and not the whole wheels. :shrugs:

those who have done a lot more cars than me will disagree but i have found no fault with any of my installations sans one that had some high spots on a dark gray car that i couldn't see until it was brought out into an overcast day. and that was certainly not from under application, haha.

how long after you applied it did you touch it? depending on the humidity and temps, it will cure at different rates. when it's cured it should be "squeaky clean" feeling, imo. once it's fully cured, try Opti-Seal and it'll be ridiculously slick.

i find that in higher humidity it gets sticky fast en route to curing, which makes sense, since it's activated by moisture in the air - that's the reason it comes in a syringe and not a bottle.

EDIT: the poster above me said it - i also use the dual pro applicator from OPT and i think it makes a HUGE difference with how much product gets used vs. wasted.
 
I don't understand how the claimed application amounts make sense

Optimum claims that the final thickness of a single layer of Opti-Coat 2.0 is two microns

I used the hood of my SUV which is 4' x 5'

Applied at a thickness of 2 microns, that would be 3.715512 mL of product required


This assumes that 100% of the product remains on the paint

- 0% remains in the applicator

- 0% evaporates off of the surface


I can't get it to make sense

Is my math off?

Does Opti-Coat 2.0 somehow "swell" after application?
 
To note I use the dual pro applicator as well
 
Evan.J said:
To note I use the dual pro applicator as well
Click to expand...

yeah it's great. i was being a cheap ass and considering getting rubber makeup applicators. glad i didn't - i love this thing.

allenk4, show us your math. i'm thinking you are doing cubic microns instead of square. not sure.
 
builthatch said:
allenk4, show us your math. i'm thinking you are doing cubic microns instead of square. not sure.
Click to expand...
IMHO: He would then be correct.
Volume...allenk4 is performing volume math equations.

V = L X W X 2 microns

Bob
 
FUNX725 said:
IMHO: He would then be correct.
Volume...allenk4 is performing volume math equations.

V = L X W X 2 microns

Bob
Click to expand...

hmm, true. 2 microns is SO thin i was forgetting that it actually has a third dimension, haha.

maybe 2 microns is actually tne old Opti-Guard/Pro, not 2.0. maybe 2 microns is the thickest it will self-level to in a lab setting and in actuality, esp on vertical panels, you are getting .5-1 microns. maybe its reaction with moisture actually does change its dimension. lots of maybes! not my wheelhouse but interesting nonetheless!
 
builthatch said:
hmm, true. 2 microns is SO thin i was forgetting that it actually has a third dimension, haha.

maybe 2 microns is actually tne old Opti-Guard/Pro, not 2.0. maybe 2 microns is the thickest it will self-level to in a lab setting and in actuality, esp on vertical panels, you are getting .5-1 microns. maybe its reaction with moisture actually does change its dimension. lots of maybes! not my wheelhouse but interesting nonetheless!
Click to expand...

technically speaking, 2 microns isn't thin when speaking on these terms. a wax or regular sealant would be .02-.03 microns, so your seeing a coating 100x thicker than wax or sealants out there.
 
builthatch said:
maybe 2 microns is actually tne old Opti-Guard/Pro, not 2.0. maybe 2 microns is the thickest it will self-level to in a lab setting and in actuality, esp on vertical panels, you are getting .5-1 microns. maybe its reaction with moisture actually does change its dimension. lots of maybes! not my wheelhouse but interesting nonetheless!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I checked the math too, so something is not making much sense here. The Opti-Coat website says 1-2 microns, so I'm guessing OC 2.0 is more like .5-1. But let's stay with OCP--at a nominal 1.5 microns---if the hood of a large SUV uses ~3 ml, then that is what, ~20 ml for the whole vehicle, which isn't that out of whack from what I've heard. If OC 2.0 uses half that because it's half the film build, then that's ~10 ml. So a mid-size car would use ~5, as you have been saying.

It may also be that as part of the polymerization process the coating becomes thicker, although Chris Thomas used to talk about the "dehydradation" of the coating as it cured, so that sounds like the opposite.

808_detail_nut said:
Sorry off topic a little but I don't have time to order and wait for the neoprene applicator to apply 2.0. I have the yellow one but would this one work? (Wolfgang German Polish N’ Wax Applicator) Never used it and found it in my applicator drawer in a sealed bag.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't use that unless you glove it and use the paper towel trick or the CarPro suede as has been suggested to you. Regular foam applicators just soak up too much product.
 
TurboToys said:
technically speaking, 2 microns isn't thin when speaking on these terms. a wax or regular sealant would be .02-.03 microns, so your seeing a coating 100x thicker than wax or sealants out there.
Click to expand...

yeah in terms of LSP, it's super thick. but in terms of conversion measurements...2 microns is damn thin if you think in your head about something cubic being 3D vs. square/flat relative to 2 microns on a 4' x 5' panel! at least, that's how it processed in my head. but yeah.
 
builthatch said:
hmm, true. 2 microns is SO thin i was forgetting that it actually has a third dimension, haha.

maybe 2 microns is actually tne old Opti-Guard/Pro, not 2.0. maybe 2 microns is the thickest it will self-level to in a lab setting and in actuality, esp on vertical panels, you are getting .5-1 microns. maybe its reaction with moisture actually does change its dimension. lots of maybes! not my wheelhouse but interesting nonetheless!
Click to expand...

The Optimum website states that it adds a layer 2 microns thick

Opti Coat 2.0 / Opti-Coat Pro

Some have speculated that the product may "swell" during the curing process, but I have never seen an official reference to this phenomenon by Optimum

No one has addressed that the applicator certainly retains some product. Maybe someone with an very accurate scale could weigh an applicator before and after the application of Opti-Coat 2.0

We can see with our own eyes that some portion if the product evaporates during the application, further reducing the available volume to build the stated 2 micron thickness

A third factor that has not been mentioned previously is that paint is porous. This will also cause a decrease in above surface film build
Something has to give
 
builthatch said:
yeah in terms of LSP, it's super thick. but in terms of conversion measurements...2 microns is damn thin if you think in your head about something cubic being 3D vs. square/flat relative to 2 microns on a 4' x 5' panel! at least, that's how it processed in my head. but yeah.
Click to expand...

i do a lot of area/volume measurements for things like steel, water, concrete, and the like all day/ so it seems like a coil where you have one wrap of steel on it weighing next to nothing because its .05 inches thick (18 gauge). and the coil it's on is only 3 feet tall or so. but the weight of the coil with that thin 18 gauge steel is over 25,000 lbs. even though one wrap on it weighs less than half a pound or so.


my point is. when looking at things, until you do the calculations, your assumptions can be pretty far off. people have learned that where i work when they try to pick something up with a forklift and tip it over because "it didn't look heavy", lol.
 
allenk4 said:
The Optimum website states that it adds a layer 2 microns thick

Opti Coat 2.0 / Opti-Coat Pro

Some have speculated that the product may "swell" during the curing process, but I have never seen an official reference to this phenomenon by Optimum

No one has addressed that the applicator certainly retains some product. Maybe someone with an very accurate scale could weigh an applicator before and after the application of Opti-Coat 2.0

We can see with our own eyes that some portion if the product evaporates during the application, further reducing the available volume to build the stated 2 micron thickness

A third factor that has not been mentioned previously is that paint is porous. This will also cause a decrease in above surface film build
Something has to give
Click to expand...


not sure about the swell going on. it seems like a product based around being suspended in a solvent, much like a clearcoat. once that solvent is gone it should go down in size, not up. of course the only way to tell would be to put some on something and measure the thickness... wet and dry, if it really is a 2 micron thick layer, you may be able to see the difference through a set of tests with pieces of mirror/glass (for flatness and uniformity and metal surface to read to) and an accurate PTG reading microns.
 
TurboToys said:
i do a lot of area/volume measurements for things like steel, water, concrete, and the like all day/ so it seems like a coil where you have one wrap of steel on it weighing next to nothing because its .05 inches thick (18 gauge). and the coil it's on is only 3 feet tall or so. but the weight of the coil with that thin 18 gauge steel is over 25,000 lbs. even though one wrap on it weighs less than half a pound or so.


my point is. when looking at things, until you do the calculations, your assumptions can be pretty far off. people have learned that where i work when they try to pick something up with a forklift and tip it over because "it didn't look heavy", lol.
Click to expand...

that make sense. i get it.

either way, something is off with the math or assumptions re: the product. his calcs are saying that close to 40% of a 10cc tube would be consumed by his 4' x 5' hood and that isn't what happens in real life use. i honestly think the core issue is that 2.0 doesn't yield 2 micron film build. that would make this all work out.

interesting thing to think about though.
 
I always thought the humidity in the air played a part in the polymerization of these types of coatings. So, perhaps any solvent molecules lost during curing are actually replaced with hydrogen and oxygen molecules therefore allowing the coating to achieve maximum cross linking and film build thickness. I could be way off though...

Sent from my N9810 using AG Online
 
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