New Compound... Optimum Hyper 2015 or 3D AAT?

VP Mark said:
Did you hear it from Dr. G? He is the one that actually creates the formulas.

And how did we go from "a reliable source at Optimum" to "4 different employees?" Genuinely curious, not trying to pick a fight.
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There's quotes in this thread directly from optimum that state the same thing I was told to. I was told by Yvan Lacroix, who heads optimum sales in Canada. He also uses optimum products exclusively in his shop. He also is the head of optimum car care group on Facebook and does R&D for optimum.


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Ok, well let's see what he says. I'm going to post this to the Optimum installers group as well.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I agree with you, a lot of name changing and product changing...but isn't that pretty much the norm in this business? I'm not sure how much of it is new technology and how much is just to generate some churn. I thought I was being smart when I picked up a half gallon of the old blue compound when it was being blown out for $25 (I thought I was being even smarter by ordering a matching half gallon of the old pink polish, but even though it showed as available it was sold out).

At the time I thought if I had a cheap half gallon of compound and polish, I could convince myself to throw out all my old polishes that I've been collecting for the last 10+ years...but that didn't work. So now I'm stuck with a half gallon of blue Hyper Compound that I'll probably never use (since I also have a spray bottle that's half full). At least I have the little bottles of the crème polishes.
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i like the blue hyper compound, believe it or not! i even use it in my diecast model hobby. but yeah, i have never gotten anything bigger than the smallest bottles with the abrasives because i don't use that stuff all that often and i know his line will always progress.

and that brings me to the next point about what you said: i genuinely believe that Dr. G develops something and then keeps tweaking it to stay ahead of the curve. i think he's just one of those guys who keeps pushing to refine and improve. dudes with this pedigree don't get there by being idle. the thing is, the tech he uses for older products isn't necessarily archaic, but relative to his constant upgrades, within the brand it could be considered old guard and thus, people feel as if they had dead stock but imo it's still viable. in the grand scheme of things, some of his older products work just fine, even today.
 
VP Mark said:
If the new Intensive Polish is the old hyper compound renamed then I would like to hear that directly from Dr. G, other wise I will not believe it. It has a completely different consistency, smell, does not haze like the old hyper compound did, and is much easier to remove.
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But you still haven't said whether "the old hyper compound" is the blue, or the orange that came out last spring. I realize that some are questioning Optimum employees other than Dr. G, but this is the direct quote from Ron@Optimum on the Optimum forum (that's Ron the computer guy at Optimum in Memphis, not Ron from Concours):

"The previous formula Hyper Compound has been renamed Intensive Polish"

When he says "previous formula" he's referring to the orange. The orange was supposed to have more cut than the blue Hyper Compound, while leaving a better finish, which is pretty much what you described.
 
builthatch said:
i like the blue hyper compound, believe it or not! i even use it in my diecast model hobby. but yeah, i have never gotten anything bigger than the smallest bottles with the abrasives because i don't use that stuff all that often and i know his line will always progress.

and that brings me to the next point about what you said: i genuinely believe that Dr. G develops something and then keeps tweaking it to stay ahead of the curve. i think he's just one of those guys who keeps pushing to refine and improve. dudes with this pedigree don't get there by being idle. the thing is, the tech he uses for older products isn't necessarily archaic, but relative to his constant upgrades, within the brand it could be considered old guard and thus, people feel as if they had dead stock but imo it's still viable. in the grand scheme of things, some of his older products work just fine, even today.
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I like the blue compound too, that's why I bought a big jug of it. But I'm sure I'll like the orange better. And I wasn't suggesting that the blue is now a bad product or that Dr. G changes things for the sake of change. I was merely saying that to complain about too many changes at Optimum would be to ignore the continuing change going on in most other lines. The bottom line is I've collected too much stuff--I doubled down by buying a newer product that's more than I could use--in the hopes it would convince me my old stuff was obsolete and garbage-worthy so I could simplify my life--but now I've still got all that old stuff and an unopened half gallon of blue compound which is now two versions old. So it backfired on me and the only solution is to open my own detail shop.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
But you still haven't said whether "the old hyper compound" is the blue, or the orange that came out last spring. I realize that some are questioning Optimum employees other than Dr. G, but this is the direct quote from Ron@Optimum on the Optimum forum (that's Ron the computer guy at Optimum in Memphis, not Ron from Concours):

"The previous formula Hyper Compound has been renamed Intensive Polish"

When he says "previous formula" he's referring to the orange. The orange was supposed to have more cut than the blue Hyper Compound, while leaving a better finish, which is pretty much what you described.
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Ok guys, here's the final verdict. What Setec said here is what was confirmed on the Optimum installers page. The old orange compound IS the new Intensive polish.

The reason I was confused on this is because I have, and had only ever used the old BLUE version of hyper compound, so I was perplexed because the orange version(Intensive Polish, I had never used the Orange Hyper Compound) was so much different than the blue that I have used.

So, just to clarify for all interested.

Hyper Polish - Blue

Intensive Polish - Orange (formerly Hyper Compound)

Hyper Compound - White (brand new formula)

Now let's all have a great weekend. :)
 
Ok, now I'm really bummed about having all that old blue compound when you say the orange is so much better...thanks for confirming everything.

Anyway, kudos to Dr. G and the Optimum team for continuing to push the envelope. Next question (thanks builthatch) is whether the cream polishes are going to get upgraded to match, although they have always been out of step cut-wise according to the Todd Helme chart over at the other place (and of course there were 3 of them to 2 sprays).
 
No idea on that. I'm not even sure why they still sell and produce the creams with the Hyper system so well rounded now.
 
VP Mark said:
No idea on that. I'm not even sure why they still sell and produce the creams with the Hyper system so well rounded now.
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Do you think the Hyper Polish finishes down the same as Optimum Finish? There were 3 creams vs. 2 sprays, now there are 3 sprays but they tilted to the more cut side of the (Autopia) chart with the new blue Hyper Polish a 6 and Finish at 2 (and Polish II at 4).

Of course that's a cut rating, not a finish rating. If they directly matched up in cut/finish, then it would just be a spray vs. squeeze thing...but they don't match up.
 
In my experience hyper finishes just as well as finish polish, but is just more pad dependant. You really need a finishing pad on softer clears when finishing with hyper polish.
 
VP Mark said:
In my experience hyper finishes just as well as finish polish, but is just more pad dependant. You really need a finishing pad on softer clears when finishing with hyper polish.
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i concur.
 
Hyper polish can make an awesome one step. Cuts nice but finishes awesome. Have a bottle of Finish but never used it yet.
 
7.3powerstroke said:
Hyper polish can make an awesome one step. Cuts nice but finishes awesome. Have a bottle of Finish but never used it yet.
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Do you use the Sprayer? Change the Sprayer (Gray Chemical Resistant)?, or do you scuttle the "Spray" application altogether?

Thanks
 
7.3powerstroke said:
I currently just use a squeeze bottle.
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How do you Prime, then subsequent....?

How would you rate the finish of Optimum Hyper Polish generally speaking (Pad/Paint dependent) to (if you have used them obviously):

1. HD Polish.

2. CarPro Reflect.

3. Menz 4000 and/or 4500.

4. Any others that you have personal experience with.

Is this product purely SMAT?

Thanks in advance
 
I'm bummed. I just bought a quart of AAT compound and polish and now I just read it's meant for rotary.
 
I use the Optimum Hyper Compound with a DA and it will remove 1500 grit sanding marks on my paint. You must finish up with a polish (Hyper Polish in my case). What I really like is the less splatter and ease of clean up.
 
Crispy said:
I use the Optimum Hyper Compound with a DA and it will remove 1500 grit sanding marks on my paint. You must finish up with a polish (Hyper Polish in my case). What I really like is the less splatter and ease of clean up.
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What DA, and what pad are you using?
 
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