Opti Coat tips, tricks and techniques

20 hours later I finally finished. My estimator uncle said I easily raised the value of the car by $500-$600 dollars.

The car will be garaged until tomorrow when I head to work. So no sun shots until tomorrow.

I'd say I got about 75% paint correction. I would give myself a higher rating. But the spoiler had swirls that I could not fully take out. The car is almost 11 years old and had been neglected all it's life. Until it got it my hands. My uncle said the car has probably never seen so much love and care. :D

After getting the hang of it. Opti coat was fairly easy to apply.

Here are some pictures. (I tried my best on pictures, but like I said I have almost zero experience in photography)

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This car since it had been neglected for so long has basically become my restoration project. I'll post what it needs next. (Time to eat :xyxthumbs: )
 
Thank You Dave, I really wanted to make a video of this paint correction, but my lady has been putting a lot of hours at her work. Since we are going to Vegas on Wed so she was unable to.
 
Nice first time Opti-Coating. Looks like your have some polish to remove from the window gaskets/weather strips.
How was seeing the OC flashing on that color paint?
 
ShaunD said:
Nice first time Opti-Coating. Looks like your have some polish to remove from the window gaskets/weather strips.
How was seeing the OC flashing on that color paint?
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Yeah the polish was from my first time using my PC, months back. We never taped off at the body shop back then. So I had no idea that I should have taped lol. Ehh, you live and learn. I rather it be my car then a customers.

It was a lot easier to see it on the black side view mirrors. For the white paint I had to find the right angle from the Sunlight outside to help me seeing it flash.

Having lights like this would have been nice View attachment 23193
 
This is what I don't understand. Why can't you use dawn? Doesn't the IPA or Carpro Eraser remove ANYTHING that is on the car's surface? Hence the film left over from the dawn would be gone?
 
If that's the shine that opti-coat leaves, I don't know what the complaint is. Perhaps it's being applied to uncorrected/poorly corrected paint and folks are expecting it to "make up" the difference.
 
aim4squirrels said:
If that's the shine that opti-coat leaves, I don't know what the complaint is. Perhaps it's being applied to uncorrected/poorly corrected paint and folks are expecting it to "make up" the difference.
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After washing the car twice with apc and optimum soap and then doing 2 IPA wipe down.s The paint looked really good, but then after applying opti coat I noticed a nice amount of added gloss. With Opti Lens too. So yeah I am not sure either?

I can't wait until 7 days so I could wash the car and see how it beads. I am also planning on applying PL just for kicks. I'll call optimum and ask them how long I should wait to let it cure before applying waxes and sealants.
 
MrOneEyedBoh said:
This is what I don't understand. Why can't you use dawn? Doesn't the IPA or Carpro Eraser remove ANYTHING that is on the car's surface? Hence the film left over from the dawn would be gone?
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I talked to optimum a few months back. And they said Dawn soap will be fine. So yeah I am not sure about that either...
 
So I talked to Dr. Ghodoussi. I asked him about having to clay the car and if it would be ok to apply waxes.

He said that it is not recommended if it has abrasives and claying might abrade the coating over time. So I think that puts my Menzerna Power Lock and Color lock on the shelf for a while, if all was done right then that would mean forever :D

But my car has a significant amount of added gloss now. Can't wait to get some Optimum wax or even Opti Seal just to test out the products :xyxthumbs:

He did say that if the waxes have no abrasives that it should be ok to use because it won't abrade the coating. Well I already have Opti Lens and Opti coat on my car. I also wash my car with Optimum Car Wash. I am an Optimum fan :xyxthumbs:

So I guess now I will be picking up some Optimum wax too :D

I also thought I heard that Optimum came out with a carpet coating???

Side Note:
I also have been wondering if I should charge more when applying a sealant vs. a carnauba wax?

What do you guys think?
 
You should try Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer on your OC. All those other things won't bead as well as the OC, so your actually masking the coating. BSD is easy, and beads like mad. It's also quite durable for a spray.
 
Well beading is not my main goal. An added gloss would be.

I can't wait until I come back from Vegas to wash my car. I'll be back Sunday and I am leaving tomorrow morning. I got a rental lol

I really like how Menzerna PL. topped with Menzerna CL looked.

So I was hoping and intended on using that combination until it was recommended not too. (Glad I made the call)

Which would be a spray wax with a significant amount of gloss with no abrasives? Anyone have recommendations?
 
hernandez.art13 said:
Side Note:
I also have been wondering if I should charge more when applying a sealant vs. a carnauba wax?

What do you guys think?
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I only charge more for coatings. Sealants are cheaper than waxes, last longer, and are easier to apply. Especially in the case of WOWA sealants like Opti-Seal.

I don't think I even own a pure carnauba wax product anymore. Only thing I have is a couple of hybrids and the rest are sealants or coatings.
 
VP Mark said:
I only charge more for coatings. Sealants are cheaper than waxes, last longer, and are easier to apply. Especially in the case of WOWA sealants like Opti-Seal.

I don't think I even own a pure carnauba wax product anymore. Only thing I have is a couple of hybrids and the rest are sealants or coatings.
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:iagree: I rarely use waxes unless the customer wants wax applied. I use power lock on most unless they want Opti-coat and willing to pay for it. I think waxes on daily drivers is kinda a waste and where I live it rains 8-9 months out of the year. If your doing a show car then I will use a wax for that extra pop.
 
Glad to see this thread Art. You asked a lot of questions I had and got good answers. I'll be Opti-coating my car in a couple of weeks. First time for me too. Thanks!
 
Ok thanks guys. I just got CL to see how it looked topped on top of PL but I will follow your guy's advice.
 
jartx said:
Glad to see this thread Art. You asked a lot of questions I had and got good answers. I'll be Opti-coating my car in a couple of weeks. First time for me too. Thanks!
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NP, I am always glad to help out as much as possible. Good luck, and pictures :)
 
aim4squirrels said:
Perhaps keep it in the family and use the optimum spray wax.
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I think that is what I am going to do. Might even make an Optimum video, but first I need to get my hands on some Optimum spray wax.

Man I've been at school since 9:00 am. Class starts at 6:45 pm :)
 
if the substrate is prepped (polished) to perfection, i haven't found that anything can be gained in terms of gloss by adding stuff on top of Opti-Coat other than improving how it feels to the touch. srsly. my personal feeling is that if you did a blind test with people who should be able to detect such subtle differences, by eyes alone they wouldn't be able to see any difference in a properly prepped and coated vehicle vs. a properly prepped, coated and whatever-else-on-top vehicle. to me it's a waste of time and money.

for that slickness effect, i recommend mixing up in a 32 oz bottle instant detailer strength ONR Wash & Wax, adding an ounce or so of OID concentrate to the solution and spraying that brew on the car when drying after your normal wash. that will give you the ultimate slickness feel but still doesn't do anything for me from an appearance perspective :shrugs:

hernandez.art13 said:
I also thought I heard that Optimum came out with a carpet coating???
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yes.
 
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