Tacket
New member
- Oct 22, 2013
- 92
- 0
Howdy Everybody!
Long time lurker, first time poster. I have learned a TON from hanging around here. My ride is a black 2013 Tesla Model S. These cars are notorious for soft paint apparently. My last car was white and I never thought twice about how to wash or maintain it's paint. When I first got the Tesla, I bought cheap-o stuff from Target and used horribly inappropriate washing techniques. Car came with quite a few factory imperfections, so I had the car eventually corrected.
I blindly followed the advice of some from the Tesla Motors Club forum and coated in Opti Coat Pro. Overall, I've been very happy with how hydrophobic OC is and I've found the car easier to maintain overall (especially here in the rainy pacific NW). I have seen other local black Teslas coated in C1+EXO which seem to have a deeper gloss than mine, but I'm pretty happy. Car definitely looks better now than it did new.
I've had good luck with avoiding micro marring using the techniques I've learned here and using higher quality products (mostly Griots and CarPro stuff). Unfortunately just after getting the car coated, I went on a road trip and at my destination, wanting to show off my ride, had the car hand washed by a less than stellar shop which introduced some light swirls (I even supplied my own micro fibers!) I wonder if I didn't let the OC completely cure before letting someone else less careful than myself go at it. Of course now having learned my lesson, I will carry a mobile kit with me when ever I need to wash when out and about. I also realize no coating is impervious to swirls when handled incorrectly and given that this car is my daily driver (and I drive close to 2200 miles a month in rainy Seattle) I don't expect any miracles. I expect I may need to have a maintenance polish performed in a few years.
So that's about it - happy to be here! Totally have the bug now (spent a little over $200 yesterday in car car stuff) and find it hard not to notice all the messed up finishes on cars out on the road. I also have had a hard time not being to obsessive with my own car's imperfections, but I'm learning slowly....
Long time lurker, first time poster. I have learned a TON from hanging around here. My ride is a black 2013 Tesla Model S. These cars are notorious for soft paint apparently. My last car was white and I never thought twice about how to wash or maintain it's paint. When I first got the Tesla, I bought cheap-o stuff from Target and used horribly inappropriate washing techniques. Car came with quite a few factory imperfections, so I had the car eventually corrected.
I blindly followed the advice of some from the Tesla Motors Club forum and coated in Opti Coat Pro. Overall, I've been very happy with how hydrophobic OC is and I've found the car easier to maintain overall (especially here in the rainy pacific NW). I have seen other local black Teslas coated in C1+EXO which seem to have a deeper gloss than mine, but I'm pretty happy. Car definitely looks better now than it did new.
I've had good luck with avoiding micro marring using the techniques I've learned here and using higher quality products (mostly Griots and CarPro stuff). Unfortunately just after getting the car coated, I went on a road trip and at my destination, wanting to show off my ride, had the car hand washed by a less than stellar shop which introduced some light swirls (I even supplied my own micro fibers!) I wonder if I didn't let the OC completely cure before letting someone else less careful than myself go at it. Of course now having learned my lesson, I will carry a mobile kit with me when ever I need to wash when out and about. I also realize no coating is impervious to swirls when handled incorrectly and given that this car is my daily driver (and I drive close to 2200 miles a month in rainy Seattle) I don't expect any miracles. I expect I may need to have a maintenance polish performed in a few years.
So that's about it - happy to be here! Totally have the bug now (spent a little over $200 yesterday in car car stuff) and find it hard not to notice all the messed up finishes on cars out on the road. I also have had a hard time not being to obsessive with my own car's imperfections, but I'm learning slowly....
