Looking for product advice

[gti14]

Hey guys,
Long time lurker here, this is my first full post. My gf has a 2013 VW GLI that is being garaged most of the winter and I am thinking of doing a correction + coating for her.

A few details about the car and what type of results I am looking for.

• White paint -doesn't need to be near 100% corrected but I have some time so I want to do a good job.
• I am looking to put on a long lasting coating (on wheels also) - I can do maintenance washes when needed.
• The paint has been somewhat abused (automatic washes, which are no longer used)
• The car is a daily driver for about 8 months out of the year - we have a Jeep for the NY winters.

I know that test spots are needed to decide final products and pad combinations but I am open to suggestions on where to start. I currently own the HF da polisher but I am willing to upgrade to say the Griots if I feel its needed.

I have only completed one step polishes so far so this would be my first full correction job I have done, any advice is appreciated.

I had a few coating options in mind, I am leaning towards Optimum Gloss Coat.

TIA for any advice / suggestions.

 

[The Guz]

Welcome to AGO.

What polishes if any do you have in your arsenal? You are on the right track about doing a test spot.

If you are going to pick up gloss coat then I would recommend picking up their hyper polish and paint prep. They all work well together. Gloss Coat will net you a year easily. Definitely one of the easiest coatings to apply.

If you are open to other coatings, McKee's would be a nice alternative. They carry coatings for paint, wheels and glass. Also user friendly.

 

[gti14]

Welcome to AGO.

What polishes if any do you have in your arsenal? You are on the right track about doing a test spot.

If you are going to pick up gloss coat then I would recommend picking up their hyper polish and paint prep. They all work well together. Gloss Coat will net you a year easily. Definitely one of the easiest coatings to apply.

If you are open to other coatings, McKee's would be a nice alternative. They carry coatings for paint, wheels and glass. Also user friendly.

Currently I have:
Jescar Correcting Compound
Jescar Finishing Polish
Megs Ultimate Compound / Polish

I was considering going all Optimum, after watching all of the videos about their system it seems very user friendly with great results.

 

[The Guz]

You have some good polishes already. I would say you are good to go with jescar.

 

[JCDetails]

Use the Jescar compound and polish with the HF DA and pick up some Lake Country thinpro pads. Orange for cutting stage with compound, white for refining with the finishing polish.

Remember to have either an IPA mix or prep solution on hand prior to coating. I personally prefer Gyeon Prep.

Coating wise, OPT is a great way to go. For a vehicle used the way you describe I'd personally lean more toward a good sealant (Power Lock is what I typically employ) rather than a coating, but since you'll be doing the maintenance you can't go wrong. I might suggest you look at Carbon Collective platinum rims for the wheel coating, and supposedly their Oracle is great as well for both paint and trim, but I haven't personally used it.

 

[gti14]

You have some good polishes already. I would say you are good to go with jescar.

Great, Thats what I plan to do. Thank you for the advice.

Use the Jescar compound and polish with the HF DA and pick up some Lake Country thinpro pads. Orange for cutting stage with compound, white for refining with the finishing polish.

Remember to have either an IPA mix or prep solution on hand prior to coating. I personally prefer Gyeon Prep.

Coating wise, OPT is a great way to go. For a vehicle used the way you describe I'd personally lean more toward a good sealant (Power Lock is what I typically employ) rather than a coating, but since you'll be doing the maintenance you can't go wrong. I might suggest you look at Carbon Collective platinum rims for the wheel coating, and supposedly their Oracle is great as well for both paint and trim, but I haven't personally used it.

I have some ipa already mixed up but I think I will purchase a paint prep product this time. I prefer to not use ipa on the paint if I dont have too. I do actually have Power Lock, any reason why you suggest a sealant other than a coating?

 

[JCDetails]

Great, Thats what I plan to do. Thank you for the advice.



I have some ipa already mixed up but I think I will purchase a paint prep product this time. I prefer to not use ipa on the paint if I dont have too. I do actually have Power Lock, any reason why you suggest a sealant other than a coating?

If you weren’t going to be maintaining it, a sealant will give you good looks and decent durability even if a less savvy individual is maintaining the car. Maintenance on a coated vehicle is different and can be a bit more cumbersome especially for the uninitiated.

For example, I might coat my or my wife’s vehicle because I would do all the maintenance and understand what that takes. I’d also be willing to put the extra care and effort in.

My sister in law or my mother as an example would not be interested in putting the same effort and would likely use automatic washes, so for that I’d go with a good sealant (also cheaper materials) and do it a couple times a year to keep it up rather than ‘wasting’ the coating.

Some people just like coatings, and that’s cool. Even in situations where I might recommend otherwise, if you just want a coating instead, go for it. But only if you are going to be maintaining it or the owner/driver of the car is willing to put the additional effort into maintenance.


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[gti14]

If you weren’t going to be maintaining it, a sealant will give you good looks and decent durability even if a less savvy individual is maintaining the car. Maintenance on a coated vehicle is different and can be a bit more cumbersome especially for the uninitiated.

For example, I might coat my or my wife’s vehicle because I would do all the maintenance and understand what that takes. I’d also be willing to put the extra care and effort in.

My sister in law or my mother as an example would not be interested in putting the same effort and would likely use automatic washes, so for that I’d go with a good sealant (also cheaper materials) and do it a couple times a year to keep it up rather than ‘wasting’ the coating.

Some people just like coatings, and that’s cool. Even in situations where I might recommend otherwise, if you just want a coating instead, go for it. But only if you are going to be maintaining it or the owner/driver of the car is willing to put the additional effort into maintenance.


Sent from my iPhone using Autogeekonline mobile app

Yea that makes sense. Thanks.

I have previously used CarPro HydroFoam with my car and found it to be a pretty sweet wash/sealant in one step. Could that take the place of something such as reload? Or should I just use a more common spray type to maintain a coating..?

 

[JCDetails]

Yea that makes sense. Thanks.

I have previously used CarPro HydroFoam with my car and found it to be a pretty sweet wash/sealant in one step. Could that take the place of something such as reload? Or should I just use a more common spray type to maintain a coating..?

I do mostly production and mobile work right now so coatings really are not my area of expertise. However, I have been doing a lot of research into them in preparation for hopefully diving into that world soon.



General wisdom seems to be you're best off using the sacrificial product made by the same company as the coating. I.e. you'd want to use reload for CQuartz, Q2 Cure for Gyeon Mohs, Overcoat for Kamikaze etc.

Many companies now offer SiO2 enhanced soaps (M37, Gyeon Bathe+ etc.) but I don't know that I'd use that in place of a wipedown with the relevant product. Can't hurt, meaning wash with one of those followed with the appropriate product. But I don't think I'd trust just the wash alone to leave behind enough protection to build a suitable sacrificial layer.

 

[gti14]

I do mostly production and mobile work right now so coatings really are not my area of expertise. However, I have been doing a lot of research into them in preparation for hopefully diving into that world soon.



General wisdom seems to be you're best off using the sacrificial product made by the same company as the coating. I.e. you'd want to use reload for CQuartz, Q2 Cure for Gyeon Mohs, Overcoat for Kamikaze etc.

Many companies now offer SiO2 enhanced soaps (M37, Gyeon Bathe+ etc.) but I don't know that I'd use that in place of a wipedown with the relevant product. Can't hurt, meaning wash with one of those followed with the appropriate product. But I don't think I'd trust just the wash alone to leave behind enough protection to build a suitable sacrificial layer.

So say i choose to go to Opti-Gloss route, would I use optiseal? or OPT spray wax?

 

[JCDetails]

So say i choose to go to Opti-Gloss route, would I use optiseal? or OPT spray wax?

GlossCoat is actually designed to be used in conjunction with a non-abrasive carnauba wax. I would say you could use Optimum Car Wax or Opti-Seal as the sacrificial product, or any other spray wax/sealant so long as it isn't abrasive.

 

[gti14]

GlossCoat is actually designed to be used in conjunction with a non-abrasive carnauba wax. I would say you could use Optimum Car Wax or Opti-Seal as the sacrificial product, or any other spray wax/sealant so long as it isn't abrasive.

Ok sweet thanks, I'm trying to get a small shopping cart going of supplies I will need.

 

[JCDetails]

Also worth noting, obviously be sure the coating is fully cured prior to adding any additional product.

 

[BudgetPlan1]

There's always Gyeon CanCoat...coating behavior, easy application, nice looks. Reapply every 6 months.

 

[gti14]

Also worth noting, obviously be sure the coating is fully cured prior to adding any additional product.

Yes! I can let the car sit as long as I need before anything goes on top of a coating.

There's always Gyeon CanCoat...coating behavior, easy application, nice looks. Reapply every 6 months.

Yea that stuff looks interesting. Do you have any experience with it?

 

[Paul A.]

Just my thoughts...

I would want to do a couple test spots, one with each compound, just to see if you can see a difference between the two cut products. You'll need a good light to evaluate them but I suggest that only because I would be curious to compare. Whichever one works better you can then refine with the polish.

If I remember correctly they are 2 different abrasive technologies and one may work better on VW paint. I would guess Jescar but still, I'm the curious type!

 

[SWETM]

One thing I would add is a couple of mf cutting pads. It's a VW and they often on the hard side of hardness of the clearcoat. And with your DA you might not get enough cut when compounding with a foam cutting pad. Even when you do your finishing polish you might not get the best finish with the finest foam polishing pad and need to get up one more step in cut with it. As recommended before jescar is great polishes. Which way to go you find out with test spots. You could buy a bundle of pads where you can chose 2 mf cutting pads 2 foam cutting pad and 2 foam finishing pads. What brand and line of pads you hopefully get recommended here. As I have read many likes thinpro pads from lake country as working great with your type of polisher. The pads reach you for 2 panels and maybe only 1 panel as you want to work as clean as possible and not saturate them. This is if you want to work panel for panel since it's garaged car. If you want to do the whole car in 1 session you will have to buy those pads that did you satisfied after the test spot.

If you want to go for coating it I would look into a primer finishing polish as a one more step. That will extend the longevity of your coating and you get a perfect finish to apply it to. Carpro essence primer for cquk or tio2 coating and gyeon primer for prime or mohs coating etc. If you are set for Optimum look into how to prep for gloss coat. I'm not certain but think you can go for hyper polish to coating direct but look into that as I can be wrong. But saw Yvan from Optimum do something like that when he was on Pan the organizer Youtube chanel do not remember if it was hp to gc or HP to opti seal.

 

[Paul A.]

I also agree with the Svenska delegate on suggesting just one more quick step with a coating specific paint "cleaner" before the coating. Something from the coating manufacturer. From my experience, I have seen the benefits of wiping down or machining with what the coating manufacturer suggests as a pre-application paint cleanser before their coating is applied...especially when I have used a compound and polish outside of the coating family.

Yes, a 2 step correction takes a while and now you're suggesting a third step? Geesh, gimme a break. However, I am correcting for the coating to lock it in. I also want that coating to last as long as I can. Plus that 3rd step goes pretty quick.

 

[BudgetPlan1]

Yea that stuff looks interesting. Do you have any experience with it?

Kinda been in a CanCoat groove lately. I find it to be a pretty neat product, like a long lasting sealant with the looks and self cleaning properties of a coating. Easily and quickly applied, probably get a least 3 or 4 applications (2 coats, just to insure coverage) outta a bottle.

Glossy, slick, entertaining water behavior...

 

[Klasse Act]

I would get some Meg's Ultimate Compound, its even available over the counter. This product has been a forum favorite for years and I've always had great success with it!