Isopropyl + ONR prior to OptiCoat 2.0?

[Lowejackson]

ONR & IPA also makes a good glass cleaner.

I have done some experiments using ONR as a cleaner. Although I tend to use ONR as a domestic cleaner for most hard surfaces I have also found it works very well cleaning the light oils from a kitchen hob. By giving the ONR about 30 seconds to dwell it does do a very similar job to most domestic APC's with the added benefit of less wiping afterwards. There are of course limits to what ONR can do but for 90% it works very well.

A few years ago I smeared some Menzerna Power Gloss onto some glass and tried water, ONR and IPA to see which did the best job at removing the compound. Water was not that good and IPA and ONR seem to be equal in performance. Obviously glass is not the same as paint but coupled with my experience of cleaning light cooking oils from hobs I would suggest ONR could be an interesting substitute for IPA. This may not be ideal for some very fussy products like coatings but for almost everything else I would say it might work. What I did not try was mixing ONR with IPA, this might be an even better solution

 

[GSKR]

After polishing I would mix dawn and a very little apc let it dwell a little don't wash it ,rinse off then use eraser on every panel . Then let the eraser gas out for a half an hour .Thats the correct way follow that u will never have problems with coatings.onr just doesn't work ,for some reason I personally think it has some silicone in it,others told me that it is pine sol and had it tested.To end this debate use the correct problem free way

 

[GSKR]

forgot to mention when done with each panel after polishing wipe any residue off prior to washing .So when u wash its hands free no risk of light marring or some other contaminants issue

 

[Hoytman]

Opti-Clean's benefit is the buffering action of the polymers without water against filth. they are not for residual protection. there are a lot of polymers out there and they have different purposes. the rich concentration of polymers don't add protection to the surface, per se, but could possibly be left over after cleaning since they aren't rinsed and because the concentration is so rich, they could interfere with the bond of the coating to the substrate. in fact, the new version of Opti-Clean specifically cites increasing gloss so that would indicate it's even more of a no no prior to coating. you want no residual anything on the surface if you are going to use Opti-Coat, Gloss-Coat, etc.

outside of obvious performance and concentration differences, i don't know how the polymers are the same or different in ONR vs. Opti-Clean, that is a question for Dr. Ghodoussi.

Opti-Clean is specifically designed to be used at a rather rich solution (3:1) for waterless wash. that concentration makes up for the fact that there is minimal water involved compared to rinseless. yes, it's also a superior instant detailer, in fact, the ultimate instant detailer if you value keeping the surface safe whilst "instant detailing". but, it's expensive compared to the actual instant detailer Optimum offers. so if you strictly want an instant detailer, you should use OID or ONR at that strength since you'd be saving money and getting the job done. save Opti-Clean for cleaning situations where you don't have water and particularly need the safest way to clean a dirty surface.

bottom line is IPA is cheap, especially when diluted with water. ONR, especially at wash dilution, is terribly cheap. those two things are what is recommended by OPT as pre-coating friendly ways to clean the surface. using Opti-Clean, which has not been recommended prior to coating, is more expensive on top of not being recommended.

to whomever was asking about mixing ONR and IPA solution, that's fine. Chris Thomas mentioned it somewhere a while back. i don't remember the dilution details, but wash dilution will certainly work for the water part of the IPA solution.

I wrote a lengthy post to the above yesterday in response to this with some other questions I had, but we lost ISP service until 1/2 an hour ago. Basically I accepted your comments. Then I went out and spent some time cleaning the interior of my truck using Opti-clean. That's when I notice this on the bottle when I was looking for dilution ratios.

"Optimum Opti Clean is based on the same natural polymers used in Optimum No Rinse..."

Obviously there are some "other" ingredients as well, which is what makes the product different, but according to this bottle (who knows how old it is) they're basically the same polymers and the directions say safe for use on all automotive surfaces.

So, IF they're the same polymers, and more concentrated (as you stated) than the polymers of ONR, then why is ONR safe to use with coatings and not Opti Clean? My guess...a true guess...would be that it has nothing to do with MORE polymers...or even the same type of polymers, but moreso because of the "other" ingredients in Opti Clean.

It would be nice if Optimum had a formal answer on this and perhaps they do somewhere.

 

[Hoytman]

Just doing some of my own research from Optiums site...looks like the "other" cleaners I guessed about above are actually additional, but different polymers. So it has the same polymers as ONR with additional polymers.

My main questions weren't really about the topic of being able to use these products then add a coating, but more about why all the different dilution ratios of each product and how they're really different.

I realize that for coatings you don't want any oils present. I'll Doc G. if I have any additional questions.