Headlight sealant: spar urethane vs. opti coat 2.0

Gurge said:
As someone doing headlight work who has switched from spar urethane to opti coat (under the assumption it was better) I'm definitley curious how this plays out. thanks for the detailed writeup.
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I'm going to go out on a limb here...Opti-Coat is thick in comparison to a normal LSP, but it's still thin compared to a coat of paint/clear, urethane, or standard headlight coating (from the factory). I'm sure in the scenario mentioned where factory clear (on the paint) has been thinned by polishing, the Opti-Coat makes a fine improvement to the UV protection that is still on the car. But perhaps as a stand-alone, it is insufficient to protect a headlight vs. Spar/2K clear/UV-cure coating, which are all much thicker.

I hope I'm wrong, because I just did my friend Jr's headlights with OC 2.0.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I'm going to go out on a limb here...Opti-Coat is thick in comparison to a normal LSP, but it's still thin compared to a coat of paint/clear, urethane, or standard headlight coating (from the factory). I'm sure in the scenario mentioned where factory clear (on the paint) has been thinned by polishing, the Opti-Coat makes a fine improvement to the UV protection that is still on the car. But perhaps as a stand-alone, it is insufficient to protect a headlight vs. Spar/2K clear/UV-cure coating, which are all much thicker.

I hope I'm wrong, because I just did my friend Jr's headlights with OC 2.0.
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Post #55 answers your question.
 
As promised, here is the third test vehicle comparing spar vs opti coat. Three test vehicles will give better results, and hopefully settle any disagreements on weather it was done properly or not.

Test vehicle #3- Chrysler PT Cruiser with over 150k miles.
Spar urethane vs. Opti Coat 2.0

Here are a few before pictures to give you an idea of what I was dealing with. These were just starting to show signs of clear coat failure.








The process to restore the lights were very similar to the other two vehicles in this thread. Spar urethane on the passengers side and Opti coat 2.0 on the drivers side lens. I started off by wet sanding with 600, then moved to 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, and finished with 3000. These lights were very easy to sand and turned out very well.
After sanding this is what they look like.




The spar urethane side does not need polishing before application of the UV treatment. However, the opti coat side does need polishing, so I used my DA on speed 5 with megs microfiber pad and compound, after that I grabbed my rotary with M105 and orange pad, and M205 with black pad. But to be honest, I could have stopped with the DA megs microfiber compound, as it looked very good.
Drivers side after polishing


Passengers side, ready to receive spar urethane, no polishing needed


Spar Urethane treatment applied- Passenger side lens






Opti Coat applied- Drivers side lens (note- removal of ALL polishing oils before application to ensure better bond if anyone doubts my process) The polishing oils were removed with mineral spirit wipe down, and three separate wipe downs with optimum power clean and IPA.



Notice the slight "ghosting"(cloudy patch) towards the top of this lens, it is on the interior and non repairable, both lens had this defect, however the drivers side was a little more noticeable.



I will do updates on this vehicle just like the other ones. I have access to all three as the mercury and malibu belong to my sisters, and the pt cruiser belongs to my parents. The malibu may not be updated every three months as she lives across the state. But I will do my best, to keep up with the lens as they degrade, so we can better judge which sealant is better for lens restoration. And yes, I agree, this is not the 'best' way to complete a lens restore, but its easier and cheaper than using a spray on clear coat system.
 
thanks for taking some more time to settle this debate

will stay tuned for results...
 
HotRod said:
Notice the slight "ghosting"(cloudy patch) towards the top of this lens, it is on the interior and non repairable, both lens had this defect, however the drivers side was a little more noticeable.
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Not much to be done about this, I'm afraid, unless one wants to try opening up the headlight (there are some write-ups on the Web about doing that but they sound risky). I've noticed this myself, also on a Chrysler product, a fifteen-year old Dodge Intrepid that is garaged much of the time. Outer surface has been cared for and hasn't needed refinishing with a clear coat yet, but there is similar cloudy deterioration on the inside.
 
Hi HotRod,

Thanks for your updates.
So far based on your input looks like Spar is better and easy to use that Opti-coat for headlights, isn't it?

There is new product
G17110_HdlgtPrtctnt.gif


interesting how durable it will be vs Spar

Mike.
 
mikek753 said:
Hi HotRod,

Thanks for your updates.
So far based on your input looks like Spar is better and easy to use that Opti-coat for headlights, isn't it?

There is new product
G17110_HdlgtPrtctnt.gif


interesting how durable it will be vs Spar

Mike.
Click to expand...

According to Meguiars "Applying this product every time you wax your car, ensures that you’re headlights look new and bright for a longer period of time." More of a maintenance thing to be applied whenever you wax you car. This is the stuff that comes with their heavy duty restoration kit.
 
Hot Rod, you note that the surface has to be polished before OC 2.0...has anyone tried it on the sanded surface to see what happens?
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Hot Rod, you note that the surface has to be polished before OC 2.0...has anyone tried it on the sanded surface to see what happens?
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If I recall correctly, someone did try the opti-cote with a non-polished lense and said that every little sanding mark showed up and it looked very bad. (not positive)
 
Part-timer said:
If I recall correctly, someone did try the opti-cote with a non-polished lense and said that every little sanding mark showed up and it looked very bad. (not positive)
Click to expand...

Opti-Coat is not made for filling in sanding scratches.
 
HotRod said:
As promised here is an update.

3 months after restoration spar urethane vs. opti coat 2.0

The hot Kansas summer definitely put these coatings to the test. We've had many 100+ temperature days this summer. And I don't think this test car has been washed since I did the restoration. So the bug guts really baked into the lights all summer. And neither coating stood up to the bug guts as it left scaring behind even after cleaning the lights. So, wash your car more often than once every three months.:xyxthumbs:

So here are some pictures:
Drivers side Opti Coated

Before washing

Before washing

After washing

After washing

After washing

My observations: The opti coat side seemed to suffer a little in my opinion, it almost looks as if it is showing signs of failure already, which is disappointing. Now that the tough summer is over, it should last a good deal longer, but how long? The signs of possible failure are very faint, and is not close to needing redone yet. Its very hard to capture what I see through photos. But it also suffered a few bug gut scarring that will not wash off as did the spar urethane side. The opti coat side still looks pretty decent considering what it went through this summer.

Passengers side Spar Urethane

Before washing

Before washing

After washing

After washing

My observations: The spar urethane light is still looking pretty good, but it does have a few more bug gut scarring than the other side. The bug guts ate into both coatings under our hot, hot summer. No signs of the coating deteriorating whatsoever, no streaks, no haze, and no yellowing. And this is the non polished version of the coating treatment. Neither light was easier to clean, I used optimum no rinse and microfiber rags to clean them with. They both showed signs of beading when they were wet.


After I thoroughly cleaned these lights I sprayed them with water to check for water beading properties. This is the opti coated side, not sure if its suppose to be beading more, since I have not used it much.


And here is the spar urethane side after washing and drying, I then sprayed it with water and it showed a little water beading as well.


Spar urethane side after 3 months


Opti coated side after 3 months

To sum it all up, after 3 months of grueling summer weather, the urethane side gets a slight edge in durability an looks thus far. I will continue this experiment with more updates every 3 months.
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Is it me? It seems that if we compare the same results after 3 months of Wetsanded/Polished/SparUrethane and Wetsanded/SparUrethane, the one that was polished looks BETTER?

Here is the results after 3 months with polished method --> http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...oration-new-uv-sealant-idea-6.html#post258626

Compare 'em :D
 
GalKonz said:
Is it me? It seems that if we compare the same results after 3 months of Wetsanded/Polished/SparUrethane and Wetsanded/SparUrethane, the one that was polished looks BETTER?

Here is the results after 3 months with polished method --> http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...oration-new-uv-sealant-idea-6.html#post258626

Compare 'em :D
Click to expand...

The polished version does look a little better now that you mention it after 3 months. I never thought of that, thanks for mentioning it. Not sure why it looks better, I used the same camera, but at a different location and time of day. And I never used photo shop to enhance anything(wouldn't know how anyway) so all my pictures are unedited. It will be interesting to see if the sealant holds up the same amount of time or more.
 
Many thanks to you Hotrod for contributing to this subject over this whole time !I'm gonna try this today!In the future I'm gonna experiment with adding color to the urethane such as light blue or light violet to add some pop not over doing it off course.1 drop of light blue dye should work with right mixture content...hmmm..solvent dyes....interesting.....
 
Thanks to this thread I've repaired the lights on 3 of my friends cars. I used a rattle can clear coat over 400 grit sandpaper scratches and it came out good enough.

Unfortunately the new clearcoat isn't 100% perfect but is getting better each time I spray from practicing different methods. It could be due to the cheap rattle can clear I'm using.

Anyone got any tips on how to make it better?
 
Matt said:
Thanks to this thread I've repaired the lights on 3 of my friends cars. I used a rattle can clear coat over 400 grit sandpaper scratches and it came out good enough.

Unfortunately the new clearcoat isn't 100% perfect but is getting better each time I spray from practicing different methods. It could be due to the cheap rattle can clear I'm using.

Anyone got any tips on how to make it better?
Click to expand...



I think sanding with 400 is good but I recommend at least sanding with 800 and 1500 before applying your coating for a more clear look. I just finished a Plymouth van using 800, 1000, 1500, 3000 and then the Spar method and they look like new.
 
Part-timer said:
I think sanding with 400 is good but I recommend at least sanding with 800 and 1500 before applying your coating for a more clear look. I just finished a Plymouth van using 800, 1000, 1500, 3000 and then the Spar method and they look like new.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip.

I tried one light with 400 grit and finished the other one with a 2000 grit (after sanding again with 800 grit) and didn't see a difference so decided to skip the other two steps for the other headlights. Do you think it would ultimately make a difference?

Cheers :dblthumb2:
 
Matt said:
Thanks for the tip.

I tried one light with 400 grit and finished the other one with a 2000 grit (after sanding again with 800 grit) and didn't see a difference so decided to skip the other two steps for the other headlights. Do you think it would ultimately make a difference?

Cheers :dblthumb2:
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THAT is the ultimate question!.....lol
Some people feel that it does and some feel it doesn't. That would make for a great test of time!!! Leave the one sanded to 800 and the other one sanded to 2000 and lets see how they wear. Keep us informed?

I've always thought it did make a difference. On some of my very early work I used a drill and sanding discs. I would occassionally notice swirls marks after I sanded a headlight to 3000. I would go back in with 800 or 1500 to remove the marks and then back to 3000. There were a few times where, after doing that and applying the spar, that section of the lens didn't appear quite as clear looking as the rest. Almost like it was a bit blurry. The customer might never notice it, but I did. From that point on I've altered my process and equipment. Now I sand almost everything by hand, unless it has a super hard coating to remove. If thats the case I use my drill with discs to remove the coating and then go back with hand sanding with the same grit as the disc and then move up to 3000. I guess I figured that if it looked a slight bit blurry with that situation, it wouldn't be truly clear unless I took it to 3000.

Thats just my method. 90% of my headlights are for a used car dealer so I can't afford to experiment much. I don't want to risk losing him as a customer.
 
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