Prior to my coating I used duragloss 652 "Precleaner no.2" it cleaned and glossed amazingly, and it is a prep product prior to an LSP, but it still left behind "something"...when I followed up with DP coating prep I got the squeak, and totally different appearance, and feel.
IMO, one should go through their normal correction process prior to prepping and coating their vehicle anyway, because a pre cleaner is only going to work for paint in good condition, and the reason I say this is because if you pre clean swirled out paint, you're going to leave cleaner in the grooves of the swirls and then your coating may not adhere (maybe). If your paint is already in fantastic condition and you sealed it with a pretty durable sealant then I would still choose a non abrasive polish to remove the sealant and then go over with a coating prep product or IPA wipe-down. YEAH, YEAH it's more work, but that's why you're here!!! j/k j/k...but seriously, if someone is choosing a coating, I would do something to ensure the surface is ready, and to me that's polish, then coating prep polish in that order of course.
If you've ever detailed a car you know that the first step makes the 2nd step faster, and that makes the next step faster and on and on it goes. I would suggest going into the DA realm prior to going into coatings, because the DA makes all of this prep work cake and a faster process. After using a DA with the 652 precleaner of 4 section passes, then I was able to apply the coating prep polish in just two section passes with no problem, and I was going very fast. Again, if your paint is in good condition, then why not do a single section pass with some kind of non abrasive, and then hit with a section pass of the prep polish? After using the 652 I was able to do the DP coating prep in half an hour on a minivan...and that's quite a bit of painted surfaces.
c7424:
