2010 Camaro Optimum Gloss Coat New Formula

[The Guz]

This car belongs to my uncle. He asked me if I could polish it out as he will be giving it to his son as a gift for his 18th birthday on December 23rd. He's a good kid so I went the extra mile and coated the car after correcting it. This was a full interior and exterior job. It only has 18k miles on it and it is a V6. Don't let the SS badge fool you lol. My uncle decided he wanted a clone but the exhaust tone gives it away lol.

This is how it arrived. With a nice coat of dirt on it.

The defects underneath the layer of dirt

I started off using this wash method by Mike Phillips (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/86146-aggressive-approach-washing-car.html)

Here is Ironx doing it's thing

Followed that up with a foam bath using Meguiar's Hyper Wash

There was no sign of any protection on the paint. The water just stuck to the surface

Pulled it into the garage. This is what I was working with.

Defects on the trunk

On the rear drivers side quarter panel

Went on to clay the car. This is what I pulled out on a small section of the trunk. It was similar around the entire car. There was also some white overspray on a few areas of the car.

I knew I was going to have to compound but I started off with a test spit with M205 and a Meguiar's thin yellow foam polishing disc. I did this on the door as I also tried a couple other combinations to see what works best. M205 did a good job but the defects were pretty deep. My camera couldn't pick them up.

Video of the test spot.

http://vimeo.com/148760788

I ended up moving to D300 on a microfiber cutting disc. This was doing a better job but even that was struggling a bit. I ended up using M100 on a microfiber cutting disc. The paint on this is on the hard side. The good news is that both D300 and M100 finished LSP ready. Here's the drivers side front fender after using the M100/microfiber combo. There were some deep scratches on the fender that would require more work than what is needed.

After compounding with M100 and the microfiber cutting disc, I moved to M205 on a thin yellow polishing disc, followed by Menzerna SF3800 on a thin black foam finishing disc. M100 on microfiber did dust so I ended up doing a quick rinseless with D114 to remove all the compound dust from the paint and from the crevices it found it's way to (ie door panels, trunk, etc). After that I followed up with a couple wipedowns of Carpro Eraser.

The coating of choice was Optimum Gloss Coats newest formula. Thanks Vega from Autopia for matching the Autogeek cyber buster deal on gloss coat.

This is what is included in the package. One thing to note is that I did not use the provided foam applicator. I ended up using a CarPro suede applicator and the CarPro applicator block. It worked flawlessly.

This is a 10cc syringe.

This is what I have left after applying 2 coats to the paint.

Here are the end results on the car

Trunk looking good.

Driver side rear quarter panel looking good

It was a bit overcast when I took these

The interior was not bad. A quick vacuum cleaned up most of it. Followed up with some Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailer and Natural Shine. The rubber was a bit dry. The dirtiest part was the glass.

My brother came over and he decided to give Blackfire All In One Tire and Trim Protectant a go in the engine bay. This is all he used.

Before

After

Air intake before

All dressed

Final shot of my 4th gen behind this 5th gen

Products used:

Paint:
Wash: Meguiar's Hyper Wash
Decontamination: Ironx, Clay with Meguiar's M34
Compound: Meguiar's M100 + Meguiar's microfiber cutting disc
Polish: Meguiar's M205 + Meguiar's thin yellow polishing disc, Menzerna SF3800 + Meguiar's thin black foam finishing disc
Coating Prep: CarPro Eraser
Coating: Optimum Gloss Coat (new formula). Applied 2 coats
Tools: Meguiar's MT300 DA, Porter Cable 7424XP, Harbor Freight 2" polisher

Tires:
Meguiar's D143
Pinnacle Black Onyx (2 coats)

Wheels:
Meguiar's D143 with various brushes
Clayed
Polished with M205
Detailer's Pro Coating Prep Polish
Pinnacle Black Label Paint Coating Version 1 (using the remainder I have only on the face of the wheels)

Wheel Wells:
Meguiar's Super Degreaer
Meguiar's Hyper Dressing

Exhaust Tips:
Meguiar's Medium cut metal polish
Meguiar's Fine Cut metal polish
Wolfgang Metal Sealant

Trim:
Front cowl, window trim, roof trim, shark fin antenna, rear valence was cleaned with Mothers Back to Black Heavy Duty Trim Cleaner, dressed with Wolfgang Exterior Trim Sealant

Glass:
Clayed
Detailer's Pro Krystal Vision Glass Cleaner
Detailers Pro Glass Restorer Polish + Lake Country Tangerine Polishing pad
Detailer's Pro Coating Prep Polish
Detailers Pro Glass Coating

Interior:
Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailer
Meguiar's Natural Shine
Detailer's Pro Krystal Vision Glass Cleaner
303 Fabric Guard (seats and mats)
Blackfire Leather Conditioner

Engine Bay:
Adam Lug Nut Brush
Blackfire All In One Tire & trim Protectant

 

[Setec Astronomy]

I can't tell from the picture how much (exactly) of the 10cc's of Gloss Coat you used, do you know? How was the application, look, feel vs. the original version (if you've used that)?

 

[vobro]

Nice review,very detailed and layed out great.

 

[Pats300zx]

Beautiful work Guz. I continue to be impressed with the cleaning ability of Blackfire AIO. I just used it on my trucks tonneau cover and was thrilled with the results.

 

[The Guz]

I can't tell from the picture how much (exactly) of the 10cc's of Gloss Coat you used, do you know? How was the application, look, feel vs. the original version (if you've used that)?

The full syringe is just below the red diamond. What I used is just above the little black line. If I had to guess I would say I have about 2-3cc's left. I'm eye balling it.

As far as application. It is a breeze. I applied it a little thicker with a bead down the center of the suede applicator. I should have taken a photo to give an idea of what I used. I have not used the original version so I can't compare. But the finish is slick. To me it feels a tad more slicker than PBL V2.

Nice review,very detailed and layed out great.

Thanks.

Beautiful work Guz. I continue to be impressed with the cleaning ability of Blackfire AIO. I just used it on my trucks tonneau cover and was thrilled with the results.

Thanks. Yeah it's a great product for a quick detail.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

The full syringe is just below the red diamond. What I used is just above the little black line. If I had to guess I would say I have about 2-3cc's left. I'm eye balling it.

They took the graduations off the syringe? Anyway, thanks for the feedback.

 

[DasBurninator]

This turned out nice. Was the syringe a little easier to control how much product you are using compared to the little bottles with the dribble tip that most other coatings use?

 

[Justin at Final Inspection]

Awesome!!! Your right about the paint being hard on those cars. A lot of the time I get away with FG400, orange thin LC pad and my 3401 for a great 1 step correction on those 5th gens.

That color looks amazing coated! Thumbs up!

 

[Setec Astronomy]

This turned out nice. Was the syringe a little easier to control how much product you are using compared to the little bottles with the dribble tip that most other coatings use?

Not to speak for the Guz, but yes the syringe is easier to control than the bottles, plus no chance of knocking it over and spilling the bottle. I have a new bottle of DLux that I haven't used yet, but I bought some dropper caps to try on it, although now that I'm thinking of it they likely won't work because you can't squeeze the (glass) bottle.

I spilled half of my last bottle of C4 which was a major bummer. The other nice thing about the syringes is you can squeeze the excess air out which gives you almost unlimited shelf life, however, you can crust up the Luer-Lock cap and get a bad seal and then gel your whole syringe (ask me how I know).

 

[mbpress01]

Any comments on the reflectivity of gloss coat. The pictures look incredible. I have studied all the posts about carpro essense but I love the look of gloss coat - similar to a zaino look. I want to stick to same family of products - i.e., optimum polishes to gloss coat or carpro essense then reflect to carpro Quartz. I don't care about durability beyond one year so what is the most reflective in your opinion?

 

[The Guz]

They took the graduations off the syringe? Anyway, thanks for the feedback.

They are still there. I peeled back the sticker so you can see it. I have another new and unused syringe so this should help.

New comes filled at 10cc's.

This is what I have left. I placed a marker just for you. It looks to be about 2.5cc's left.

This turned out nice. Was the syringe a little easier to control how much product you are using compared to the little bottles with the dribble tip that most other coatings use?

I agree with you on how it turned out. I've used both the bottles and the syringe and they both have their pro's and cons. I am leaning towards the syringe in terms of ease of use and the ability to control the product once the user can tell how much pressure to use to squeeze the product out.

For someone who has never applied a coating I would definitely go with the syringe versus the bottle.

Awesome!!! Your right about the paint being hard on those cars. A lot of the time I get away with FG400, orange thin LC pad and my 3401 for a great 1 step correction on those 5th gens.

That color looks amazing coated! Thumbs up!

Thanks.

Not to speak for the Guz, but yes the syringe is easier to control than the bottles, plus no chance of knocking it over and spilling the bottle. I have a new bottle of DLux that I haven't used yet, but I bought some dropper caps to try on it, although now that I'm thinking of it they likely won't work because you can't squeeze the (glass) bottle.

I spilled half of my last bottle of C4 which was a major bummer. The other nice thing about the syringes is you can squeeze the excess air out which gives you almost unlimited shelf life, however, you can crust up the Luer-Lock cap and get a bad seal and then gel your whole syringe (ask me how I know).

I can definitely see this. I have never knocked over a little bottle so I can't comment on that part. Sucks you lost that product.

But I agree with the syringe having a little more control and the ability to squeeze out any excess air.

For me it was a bit cumbersome at first to get used to the syringe. But after a few areas it became more comfortable.

Any comments on the reflectivity of gloss coat. The pictures look incredible. I have studied all the posts about carpro essense but I love the look of gloss coat - similar to a zaino look. I want to stick to same family of products - i.e., optimum polishes to gloss coat or carpro essense then reflect to carpro Quartz. I don't care about durability beyond one year so what is the most reflective in your opinion?

I have not used essence but Gloss Coat looks pretty darn good on this car. I am not sure what else you are looking for.

What I like about Gloss Coat is the self leveling of the product within minutes. I had to remove very little high spots after I went over the area for a final wipe. Makes applying and removing it very easy.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

New comes filled at 10cc's. This is what I have left. I placed a marker just for you. It looks to be about 2.5cc's left.

I'm not disagreeing with you that you used 7.5cc, it's just due to the shape of the plunger nose and the front of the syringe, I usually "count" from the full-diameter edge of the plunger, and it looks like they gave you about 12cc, which is the "bonus" they've been giving since people complained about an $80 20cc syringe of OC 2.0 being replaced with a $60 10cc syringe of GC.

Anyway, if you did 2 coats with 7.5cc, I'd reckon they "factory line" of coating a vehicle with 5cc to be spot-on, since I'm guessing your second coat was thinner (only because it probably spread more/easier after the "base" was installed).

 

[Sicoupe]

Outstanding job buddy!

 

[Chris Thomas]

Looks great, nice write up. Thanks for sharing!

We do recommend outer polishes and paint prep for the maximum durability from our coatings.

 

[Caleb@ImpeccableImage]

Great job, looks amazing!

 

[The Guz]

Outstanding job buddy!

Great job, looks amazing!

Thanks guys.

Looks great, nice write up. Thanks for sharing!

We do recommend outer polishes and paint prep for the maximum durability from our coatings.

Thanks Chris. Good to know on the product synergy.

 

[jshaf]

I have owned two 5th gens, a 2010 1LT and my current 2011 2SS. I would remove that SS and save the kid the teasing he might get. Loved both of them but the clear coast scratch easy and a yearly Polish is a necessity to keep them looking good IMO. Great job knocking out those swirls! Looks good!

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Wow! Beautiful work good sir! :xyxthumbs:

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Rod73]

Great work!!! I just ordered some Optimum Gloss Coating for a major project sometime in January. So I'm enjoy this write up that much more.

 

[tenblade2001]

The car looks GREAT and awesome write up. Thanks!