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You can cure in the sun, even this time of year. Best results are to do the repair and coat it inside, then put it outside after a couple minutes. I would pick a nice day... sun and at least an average high temp in the 40's... and do it mid-day when the sun is strongest. Should be cured to touch...

My experience is that uv cured urethanes are far superior to spar varnish. I have seen some glasweld jobs start fading too early imo, but it's more the exception... whereas with spar varnish, it's the exception when it does hold up well. Varnish does not last a year in my experience.... usually...

Works fine with natural daylight. Cures very fast in full sun...and will cure ok even in light overcast conditions, or when the sun is not at full strength. Of course, you need to be more careful with that in winter when the sun is weak and disappears by late afternoon....

The coating isn't perfect, but it's a step up for sure. I'll be interested to see if you have any issues/failures with it. Chemical stripper can work pretty good btw, but will not remove the factory coating that is still in good shape. It can remove all the oxidation and some of the old coating...

I think it's a good idea to measure it.... at least a few times, so you know how much you are actually using per car. I use a small tupperware type container as a dip tank. Pour a little into it... whatever I think is needed for the job. I also use it to store the applicator between uses...

Urethane coating is completely different than Optilens, enough that it doesn't make sense to "cross shop" them. OL only takes a few drops per lens... Anyway, with all of the coatings, part of it is how efficient you are. A lot of it can be wasted, depending on the applicator used, etc. So one...

Their headlight stuff is pretty new... but the company has been around at least 20 years in the glass biz

The cost per vehicle of all three coatings you mention are in the same ballpark... around a buck per vehicle depending on how you work with it exactly. Optilens is much more expensive per ounce, obviously. But the cost per vehicle is actually the cheapest in my experience because so little...

Absolutely. All of the urethane coatings are more permanent in my experience. They are not perfect, but they are the longest lasting fix I've seen. I was a big OL fan until I started to see it fail on many cars. I think there just isn't enough UV blocking in OL for some cars.

I'm mostly "retired" from scratch removal biz, partly because I'm too busy doing chip repair, and partly because it's hard on the back and I don't need any more issues there. :buffing: I haven't done much with damage just like the car in this thread. I'm a looong way from beach sand lol...

I've worked on windshields for 20 years, rock chip repair and some polishing too, and a coated windshield would be news to me. Mike was correct... no coating on windshields. Maybe there is some side/back glass out there with something but I've done plenty of polishing on those too, and never...

Cerium oxide is what's used for glass polishing. With a dense felt type pad and lots of polish time + heat. One good product to use by hand or with a drill and wool pad, etc is the Griots glass polish. That's what I would recommend first. The other brands of glass compounds may work well also...

I will add... in favor of OptiLens (I meant optilens in the previous post, not opticoat).. that it's invaluable for some jobs, for me anyway. For example, on a 2006-08 Dodge truck, the top side of the massive lights will be peeled/cracked. There is no way you will sand and restore the whole...

Multiple layers should create a much better UV barrier, but I've not done more than two initial layers. By "factory coating" I'm referring to the uv curing urethane coatings. Most are available in an aerosol. Whether you spray or wipe on a coating, it yields a much thicker layer... so...

I've found that it works fine on many cars, but not very well on others. Toyota sienna and corolla are a couple that I've seen fail within a few months. I have a G35 that I need to re-do from last summer... and I will have to try a heavier uv cure "factory type" coating unfortunately.

Oh, one more thing... wondering what others have experienced with the foamed wool pad? It works great, but the adhesive doesn't stand up at all to the heat created with HLR. Even being careful, they are coming apart on me after a couple cars. So I've had to use other pads... wool and foam. Good...

Have to chime in my .02 since the Optilens was asked about. I've used a lot of OL and also jumped to try the DP kit. :xyxthumbs: I have a couple issues to mention or ask about that do relate to this. The DP polish does work very well. I don't think I've ever seen a polish do what this stuff can...

I use a 5" orbital so it's a different animal. I would recommend hand sanding, especially for 1000+ grit steps. And rotary for all polish/compound steps. I can't imagine a 3" orbital sander doing a good job polishing plastic. 10x faster and more effective to use a cordless drill.

It's different for each car and each person. But on the camry, it should only take a minute or so to completely cover the lens by hand. If using 3" discs, go with a fresh disc for each lens. Lots of water, lots of elbow grease. Consistent pressure is required, and you need to know if/when the...

Either you have haze from insufficient sanding between steps, or there is a film on the inside, which is fairly common with that car. If you think it's from your sanding process, go back with 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 3000, all wet. Doesn't have to be exactly that, but something similar...