2013 Challenger prep?????

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Ron Meadows

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I just picked up my Christmas present.....a 2013 Dodge Challenger R/T. I have a new vial of Opti Coat 2.0 and want to make the paint as perfect as possible before applying it. I have the following tools at my disposal, but am open to getting more/something else if it will give a better result.

PC7224XP
Lake country flat 5.5" white & orange pads
Adams Green, Orange, and White 4" pads
Meguiars 105 & 205
Wolfgang TSR and Finishing Glaze, both 3.0 version
ADAMS (though I'm doubting they'll ever get used...tried them before and not impressed) Severe Swirl and Haze Remover, Swirl and Haze Remover, and Fine Machine Polish.

Following a good strip wash with Dawn and a thorough claying down to get rid of all the surface stuff, I was thinking of going with the 205 on the LC Orange pad followed by the Wolfgang Finishing Glaze on the LC White pad. This is probably the best combination of things that I already have but since Opti Coat is permanent I'd like for the car to really shine before applying it.

Thanks much!!!
 
Ron Meadows said:
Following a good strip wash with Dawn and a thorough claying down to get rid of all the surface stuff, I was thinking of going with the 205 on the LC Orange pad followed by the Wolfgang Finishing Glaze on the LC White pad.

This is probably the best combination of things that I already have but since Opti Coat is permanent I'd like for the car to really shine before applying it.

Thanks much!!!
Click to expand...


As long as the polishing steps get the paint perfect to your standards that should work. You'll need to chemically strip the paint before applying the Opti-Coat.

You could simply wash the car VERY CAREFULLY again using Dawn and your best wash mitt or even a clean, new microfiber towel.

Then blot dry, then Opti-Coat.


We did a Challenger recently here,

2012 Dodge Challenger + Menzerna Color Lock Makeover


2012_Challenger_Makeover_044.jpg



2012_Challenger_Makeover_061.jpg




:xyxthumbs:
 
congrats on the sweet ride! what colour?

since you're open to looking at new products, consider optimums line of polishes. they only require a wipe down with a damp MF (or ONR at the no rinse dilution) to remove any polishing oils to be OC ready.

they are actually a fantastic product and ive used the finishing polish the last 3 times i opticoated, and they look great!
 
I've worked on challengers before and all the products you have will work fine. Congrats on the new ride!
 
It's black....do they make them in any other color? :)

I previously had a 2011 SX model, but the year end incentives and some Dodge loyalty money made the switch pretty painless. Got the Hemi and the 6 speed now I should be content for a couple years :)



primo spaghetti said:
congrats on the sweet ride! what colour?

since you're open to looking at new products, consider optimums line of polishes. they only require a wipe down with a damp MF (or ONR at the no rinse dilution) to remove any polishing oils to be OC ready.

they are actually a fantastic product and ive used the finishing polish the last 3 times i opticoated, and they look great!
Click to expand...
 
I was under the impression that an IPA wipe down was the recommended last step before applying opti coat, no? I was planning to use about a 15-20% solution and wipe dry with double plush microfiber towels.

Thanks

Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
As long as the polishing steps get the paint perfect to your standards that should work. You'll need to chemically strip the paint before applying the Opti-Coat.

You could simply wash the car VERY CAREFULLY again using Dawn and your best wash mitt or even a clean, new microfiber towel.

Then blot dry, then Opti-Coat.


We did a Challenger recently here,

2012 Dodge Challenger + Menzerna Color Lock Makeover


2012_Challenger_Makeover_044.jpg



2012_Challenger_Makeover_061.jpg




:xyxthumbs:
Click to expand...
 
Ron Meadows said:
I was under the impression that an IPA wipe down was the recommended last step before applying opti coat, no? I was planning to use about a 15-20% solution and wipe dry with double plush microfiber towels.

Thanks
Click to expand...



What's best to chemically strip scratch-sensitive paint is "opinion".


I've pointed out in the past that IPA isn't a great "lubricant". Mixed with water it's better than a strong dilution but it's still not a "perfect" wiping liquid. In fact, if you're not careful, you can mar the paint in the wiping process and with black paint you can see this if you inspect for it. On lighter colors you can mar the paint but it's pretty hard to see.


Sometimes I think CAREFULLY washing, NOT scrubbing the paint might be less evasive than wiping with some type of solvent. I don't know. A person would have to test and inspect on black paint to find out the "best" way to chemically strip polishing oils off scratch-sensitive clear coat finishes.

As primo pointed out above, and as Dr. David Ghodoussi has told me in person, if you use Optimum polishes you can simply wipe the paint down using a water dampened microfiber towel, no IPA or MS or fill-in-the-blank needed.

I didn't see where you stated you were going to use Optimum products so I didn't share the above about the water dampened microfiber towel but instead offered up the suggestion of possibly re-washing the car carefully instead of wiping with IPA.


I've tested wiping black paint and I've seen marring and I'm pretty good at being careful.

This is also getting to the point of turning waxing your car into Rocket Science which I'm not a fan of or a proponent of.

Keep in mind, any light marring will probably be masked by the Opti-Coat so this could all be a non-issue.


:dunno:
 
I share some info on marring when wiping black paint in this article,


Hologram Free with a Rotary Buffer



Actually share a few pictures too...


Next I wiped the panel down with IPA at 12.5%. Note when I wiped the panel down both with MS and IPA I dragged the panel into the shade first.
HologramFree05.jpg



Now you can see some light marring, but that's because IPA isn't a very good lubricant, in fact it's a horrible lubricant. I think of all the people that have been told by others to wipe their car down with IPA before going to the next step and it's pretty easy to understand that when they did this they likely marred their car's paint and this is called working backwards. It's also likely that if the people taking this advice were working on light to medium colored cars they never saw the marring.
HologramFree06.jpg





I actually don't even enjoy getting this anal retentive on forums on the topic of car detailing but a segment of the personality types that make up detailing discussion forums demands it.


:dunno:
 
Thanks Mike. I think that the easiest thing in the long run for me is to just buy the Optimum polishes and go that route. I don't want to work for a few days getting the car perfect and then undo it with a wipe down of some sort. Which products to do you recommend and with what pads?

Thanks so much for your help
 
Ron Meadows said:
Thanks Mike. I think that the easiest thing in the long run for me is to just buy the Optimum polishes and go that route. I don't want to work for a few days getting the car perfect and then undo it with a wipe down of some sort. Which products to do you recommend and with what pads?

Thanks so much for your help
Click to expand...


I like all the Optimum products, Dr. David Ghodoussi is a very good chemist in my opinion.

For what you're trying to do you can probably get away with the Optimum Polish and Optimum Finish like I show in this thread...


Bumblebee - Testing out the NEW DeWALT DWP849X


New Optimum products and Constant Contact foam pads and the Flex PE14
49SedanDelivery0017.jpg



49SedanDelivery0060.jpg




Optimum Polymer Technologies: Advanced Polymer Technology is in every Optimum Car Care Product. opt car care, optimum car wax, optimum car wash,




:)
 
These optimum polish's are the best offering from them IME,

Optimum Polish is a swirl remover, finishing polish & paint cleaner in one for the optimum shine! swirl remover polish, fine grade polish, final

Optimum Hyper Polish Spray, Optimum spray polish, hyper spray polish, Optimum car polishes

Optimum Finish Polish 8 oz., car polish, finishing polish, final polish, black car polish

If you cut/compound the paint with the Meg's polish's you can thoroughly wipe the car down (because Meg's I believe is solvent based) then finish with Optimum polish's.

All three of the products I posted most every time finish amazingly well on OEM paint. I personally think the Optimum Polish II is the most universal polish from OPT.

Now another GREAT option, which is the cheapest way to go would be to buy CarPro eraser to do your final wipe down instead of IPA. This product works really well and most professionals use this before applying opti-coat. So its proven that CarPro eraser cleans the paint thoroughly enough for the OptiCoat application. It works far better than IPA and wipe off is smooth and effortless. No need to bear down on the paint to remove it like IPA.

CarPro Eraser Intense Oil & Polish Cleanser, IPA, paint cleaner, polish remover, wax remover

For final polishing I much prefer Menzerna products like the Wolfgang finishing glaze. Works incredible and is a joy to use. very easy buffing and wipeoff.

The truth of the matter is that you have all the products you need to complete this job without buying anything else according to your list you posted. I would simply add the carpro eraser to replace using IPA. You dont need to buy another slew of polishing product to be honest.
 
Thanks so much for the help guys. I think that I'll order up the Carpro Eraser and go with what I've already bought. Looks like we may end up buying a new Dodge Durango today so I'll be having 2 vehicles to protect instead of one. The wife's new one will probably be the first one pulled into the garage as well since it will be her daily driver.
 
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