Review and Extreme Testing: Opti-Coat 2.0 and CQuartz

loudog2 said:
Has anyone tried to fully remove OC yet? If so, how many steps did it take?(ie powerfinish w/a white followed by 85 or 106 w/a gray)
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We removed G1 ( g techniq's) coating from Old Tigers Audi. We used a white LC foam and 3m ultrafine. After that everything was wiped down with eraser. There was no need for an extra step with ultrafine. We just went straight to recoating after another wash.
 
Most people are going to polish their car a couple times in a 2 year period in which case both CQ or OC are going to be removed by the polish and recoated.... Well, at least the people on this type of forum discussing this will... Just a thought people don't seem to be discussing.

A-train said:
We removed G1 ( g techniq's) coating from Old Tigers Audi. We used a white LC foam and 3m ultrafine. After that everything was wiped down with eraser. There was no need for an extra step with ultrafine. We just went straight to recoating after another wash.
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A perfect example of what I just wrote. You guys polished and removed the C1 coating before its lifespan was complete.
 
Just some of my own opinions... Which are quite likely worthless :laughing: But they are all I have....

I certainly think its fair to call OC permanent if it lasts the life of the paint. Dr. G has tested it for a very long time and based on who he is as a person and his history of straight talk I have no reason to doubt him. CQ lasts a couple years but the duration of time it lasts does not define whether it is a coating... 2 years is nothing to sneeze at by the way...

If a product adds measurable thickness and attributes like hardness that sealants and waxes do not then it is a "coating". OC lasts longer than CQ (except that either will probably be polished off within 2 years and recoated anyway) but they are both still coatings.

From the free online dictionary:

coat·ing
n.
1. A layer of a substance spread over a surface for protection or decoration; a covering layer.

Manufacturers could have called waxes and sealants coatings if you think about it... But then we'd have had to name these new longer life, thicker, harder products something else.... As it pertains to paint protection we have defined "coating" in the way we have over the past few years.

So both are a coating right??....

What matters is:
The coating is made of what material?
What properties does it exhibit?
How long does it last?

Most people are going to polish their car a couple times in a 2 year period in which case both CQ or OC are going to be removed by the polish and recoated.... Well, at least the people on this type of forum discussing this will... Just a thought people don't seem to be discussing.

A-train said:
We removed G1 ( g techniq's) coating from Old Tigers Audi. We used a white LC foam and 3m ultrafine. After that everything was wiped down with eraser. There was no need for an extra step with ultrafine. We just went straight to recoating after another wash.
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A perfect example of what I just wrote. You guys polished and removed the C1 coating before its lifespan was complete.

Does anybody remember the good old days when we argued about wax? :laughing:
 
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CEE DOG said:
Most people are going to polish their car a couple times in a 2 year period in which case both CQ or OC are going to be removed by the polish and recoated.... Well, at least the people on this type of forum discussing this will... Just a thought people don't seem to be discussing.
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Not to draw this out...but I thought OC was not that easy to remove by polishing? I mean, I thought you could get marring in the OC and polish it out with a light technique without removing the coating?

I thought you had to do something a little more aggressive or lean on it for a while to polish it off...something like a medium polish on an orange pad or lean on it for a long time with a mild polish/white pad...or was I just dreaming that?

CEE DOG said:
Does anybody remember the good old days when we argued about wax?
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Ha ha...but I have 46 layers of Zaino on my car, that must be thicker than OC, right? A meteorite came down last night and bounced right off my car...left a little dust but I got that off with Z6...
 
Chris has said that once fully cured, OC can be clayed and refreshed with something like poliseal which has very little cut.
I'd assume something like finish polish/85rd would also do very little to the coating.

2 microns is quite a bit to go through with a light polish I would think
 
A-train said:
We removed G1 ( g techniq's) coating from Old Tigers Audi. We used a white LC foam and 3m ultrafine. After that everything was wiped down with eraser. There was no need for an extra step with ultrafine. We just went straight to recoating after another wash.
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We did remove the G|Techniq C1 with Ultrafine without issue. IMO Optimum Polish might be a better fit for OG. The C1 came off in tiny flakes. Youu could see the flakes on the white pads. I think we used 3 pads.
 
Chris has said that once fully cured, OC can be clayed and refreshed with something like poliseal which has very little cut.
I'd assume something like finish polish/85rd would also do very little to the coating.
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During my testing on various vehicles with OC/OG I found that even the mildest of polishes would remove the coating. I’ve done various tests, up to 90 days cure time, which I’ve shared with Dr. G and Chris and in all instances the coating was either partially removed or removed. The tests were all performed using a soft LC red pad. Polishes used were Optimum Finish, Optimum Poli-Seal, Menz 85rd and even something as mild as Sonax Nano Paint cleaner.

My conclusion, which seems to agree with Corey is if you need to polish an OC/OG surface then you need to reapply OC/OG.

Definition of removed. According to Chris if the surface after polishing and cleaning no longer beads then the coating has been removed.
 
gmck said:
During my testing on various vehicles with OC/OG I found that even the mildest of polishes would remove the coating. I’ve done various tests, up to 90 days cure time, which I’ve shared with Dr. G and Chris and in all instances the coating was either partially removed or removed. The tests were all performed using a soft LC red pad. Polishes used were Optimum Finish, Optimum Poli-Seal, Menz 85rd and even something as mild as Sonax Nano Paint cleaner.

My conclusion, which seems to agree with Corey is if you need to polish an OC/OG surface then you need to reapply OC/OG.

Definition of removed. According to Chris if the surface after polishing and cleaning no longer beads then the coating has been removed.
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I will have to grab my paint prep when i get home and go check on a section of door I have hit with a white hand pad and polish II multiple times (3-4) trying to remove some scratches from ice that the door was opened into. The last time I washed the car (with gold class), I noted no difference in the section I had been doing "spot repair" on compared to rest of the door. Though at the time I was flooding the vehicle and noticed no difference in how the water sheet from the entire door panel. I was expecting to see a small area where the water would have been trying to stick instead of sheet off.

Water beading may be a problem due to the vertical panel, but I can run a spray or spritz bottle up and down the side of the car where I haven't used polish and where I have and try to get some pictures. Paint prep will be to remove any of the optimum qd that is on there as I have put no sealant or wax on the car since it was opti-coated last fall.
 
gmck said:
During my testing on various vehicles with OC/OG I found that even the mildest of polishes would remove the coating. I’ve done various tests, up to 90 days cure time, which I’ve shared with Dr. G and Chris and in all instances the coating was either partially removed or removed. The tests were all performed using a soft LC red pad. Polishes used were Optimum Finish, Optimum Poli-Seal, Menz 85rd and even something as mild as Sonax Nano Paint cleaner.

My conclusion, which seems to agree with Corey is if you need to polish an OC/OG surface then you need to reapply OC/OG.

Definition of removed. According to Chris if the surface after polishing and cleaning no longer beads then the coating has been removed.
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doesn't it take at least 3 months to fully cure? All polish testing up to 90 days would just be a waste of OC imo unless you are introducing conditions that might possibly speed up the full curing time.

I wonder if toppers (QD's even) inhibit the curing process at all?
 
So pretty much all u can put under before coating is just getting rid of the swirls/scratches and polish it with something like PO85RD?
And u cant glaze,sealant,wax it?
 
fenderpicks said:
So pretty much all u can put under before coating is just getting rid of the swirls/scratches and polish it with something like PO85RD?
And u cant glaze,sealant,wax it?
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And to be fully correct, you should (unless using optimum polishes and I might still recommended it) make sure you remove all polish residue from the panel. For example, if you polish with PO85RD and then go straight to opti-coat, you could cause problems with opti-coat adhering correctly to your clear coat.
 
The first two pictures are the approximate location (spray bottle marks actual location and is just left of center in the picture, pictures were taken at an angle to show water beads) of where I was trying to remove the scratches with Polish II with a white CCS pad. I was polishing an area approximately 2-3 inches tall and 5 inches wide at the bottom edge of the door. I have gone over the section 2-3 times the first day and 2-3 times a couple weeks later when I wanted to touch it more. The third picture is from the forward section of the door where I have not polished.

From what I can tell, I the opti-coat is still intact, water beading does not seem to be affected at all but I did have quite a bit of trouble trying to get a uniform bead on the entire door without getting to much water and causing it to run off. It has been about a month since I last tried to polish the scratch out and I used paint prep followed by a water rinse prior to pictures.

In the end, I don't know how you would have completely removed the opti-coat with final polish...

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The first two pictures are the approximate location (spray bottle marks actual location and is just left of center in the picture, pictures were taken at an angle to show water beads) of where I was trying to remove the scratches with Polish II with a white CCS pad.
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Now that you are confident that the OC is still there, why not do a more realistic test with your DA and a soft pad on say part of your bonnet or some other horizontal surface? I’d suggest something milder than Polish II though.

Once the area is polished, then do a normal prep and IPA wipe down of that part of the panel and let us know your result of your beading as compared to the rest of the panel.
 
gmck said:
Now that you are confident that the OC is still there, why not do a more realistic test with your DA and a soft pad on say part of your bonnet or some other horizontal surface? I’d suggest something milder than Polish II though.

Once the area is polished, then do a normal prep and IPA wipe down of that part of the panel and let us know your result of your beading as compared to the rest of the panel.
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What is not realistic about this? I whole heartily believed that I would have found a difference in that area of the panel when flooding the door and watching the water run off. I sprayed and flooded the door left to right up and down for probably 10 minutes watching the water bead/run off quite surprised that by doing this I couldn't tell where I had been polishing. This logic was based on the fact that I can easily use a leaf blower to dry my door panel with opti-coat but on a car with wax or no wax or old wax, the leaf blower doesn't perform well. Now if you want to call it a poorly performed test sure, should have been tape and before and afters on water beading and what not...

I plan to polish the entire vehicle and re-coat opti-coat (because I can and because while some might say I was applying the perfect amount by not getting high spots, on applications since then I feel a couple high spots lets me know there was enough applied and the high spots remove easy enough.) Any panel I can find swirls will get White pad/Polish II to remove the swirls (hopefully that is the most aggressive I will have to go) and Gray pad/Final polish on entire vehicle.

I will tape off part of the trunk when I go to do the polishing. First question being do you want it split in half or a rectangle in center for four sides of comparison? Distilled water or hard water out hose? And would you like it sprayed like the door panels or flooded? I will follow up the polish with Pre-wax cleaner. If you there is anything else you would like to see (passes, pressure, beer, pictures) let me know because it will be awhile before the chance comes around again :buffing:.
 
Just my two cents on this... From what I have learned from this thread and from others if I need to polish out a scratch even if I did not remove the OC a new coat would bond to what is left of the old coat. My car is black and shows every surface flaw. I plan to remove all the flaws and OC the car later this year. Even though I use two buckets and received a Master Blaster for Christmas I will likely still need to correct the surface next year. After I do I am going to put another coat of OC on. If anything that I have stated is incorrect please let me know.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Not to draw this out...but I thought OC was not that easy to remove by polishing? I mean, I thought you could get marring in the OC and polish it out with a light technique without removing the coating?

I thought you had to do something a little more aggressive or lean on it for a while to polish it off...something like a medium polish on an orange pad or lean on it for a long time with a mild polish/white pad...or was I just dreaming that?
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That was the original coating, before there was a consumer version. It would fully harden within a few days. The consumer version was deliberately designed to take longer so that it could be corrected easier for those without machines or coating experience.

Old Tiger said:
We did remove the G|Techniq C1 with Ultrafine without issue. IMO Optimum Polish might be a better fit for OG. The C1 came off in tiny flakes. Youu could see the flakes on the white pads. I think we used 3 pads.
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There will be no flakes or visual feedback when removing OC/OG because it becomes the topcoat unlike the other products we are discussing that only sit on top until the bond weakens. You can no more distinguish when you go thru OC/OG than you could tell which layer of clear you were on. The beading is the closest you can tell, but I cannot imagine a situation where you'd need to fully remove it. Even if you need to do a scratch removal, just reapply the coating to the area when done. If it doesn't flash to clear like normal, just take 3-5 minutes to lightly polish that panel and try again. It's neither difficult nor time consuming. Even if you only applied it to part of a panel, you can polish out the line quickly if there is one.

mlc40 said:
Just my two cents on this... From what I have learned from this thread and from others if I need to polish out a scratch even if I did not remove the OC a new coat would bond to what is left of the old coat. My car is black and shows every surface flaw. I plan to remove all the flaws and OC the car later this year. Even though I use two buckets and received a Master Blaster for Christmas I will likely still need to correct the surface next year. After I do I am going to put another coat of OC on. If anything that I have stated is incorrect please let me know.
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You are right, and anyone who has an issue like this and needs assistance can feel free to contact me directly and I will help you work through it.
 
Damn i should have bought OC... just because their support here seems better...
 
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