OPticoat 2.0 sheeting

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QuickCln

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I have another question.

I did a compound buff, polish, ipa wipe down, then topped my black car with opticoat 2.0. It must have been a yr a go or so and now, the car does not shed water like it did on day 1.

Is this normal? To be honest, i haven't been doing a 2 bucket wash, instead ive just been rinsing down my car with filtered water at the self serve car wash during that whole yr...because i was busy.

Do you think that theres a lot of bonded dirt on the opticoat that prevents it from sheeting? or does the hydrophobic properties of opticoat fade naturally over time? I know that opticoat 2.0 is no longer available for sale. Luckily I only used a few cc's and still have the majority of the bottle left, So maybe ill repolish and reseal the car again this year.
 
It could be that your coating has become contaminated. My Mazda3 daily driver is protected with OC 2.0 and tends to get badly contaminated since it's parked outside next to a tree. Try a mechanical decontamination with clay or clay alternative.
 
Before you do too much I would suggest washing the vehicle with something like CarPro Reset which is designed to deep clean coatings.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. Ill do a good wash and test to see if the sheeting is restored.

I remember after applying opticoat how a huge bottle's worth of water just bounced off the hood and fell the ground... The hood was bone dry.

From your experience, does this level of sheeting remain indefinately if you wash the car properly with the two bucket system? Or does the sheeting in general wear off over time?
 
You need to do a decon wash, clay, then recheck. If the beading is still not strong, time to recoat. This time after your polish do a full ONR wipedown, then IPA. Use a CarPro block and suede cloth to apply. Using horizontal then vertical passes. Keep dry 12 hours then don't wash for 7 days after coating.

I'm an optimum pro installer.

Also, use Optimum Hyper polish as your polish if you have it. Optimum products all work together and the more of them you use in the process the more likely you won't have bonding or premature failure issues.
 
Thanks! Yeah I will do a good wash with a clay speedy rag (I forget the name of it) but its like a weird clay bar rag that decontaminates paint. I currently only have meguairs ultimate compound and some kind of meguiars polish.


I am hesitant to claim that the coating has failed because the car still looks great (at least to the avg joe) and sheds most dirt off with a hose (obviously not the embedded contaminants) fairly well. In comparison to my other car which isnt coated, there's a huge difference. I just lost the that luxurious water beading property of the paint.
 
+1 for Hyper Polish. Optimum says you only need to wipe down with a damp microfiber towel before applying you coating. An IPA wipe down after Hyper Polish will be added insurance that your coating bonds properly.
 
what is onr? I keep reading it but the description on the product page is confusing as hell? In layman's terms what is it for?
thanks in advance.
 
Optimum No Rinse. It is a rinseless wash/clay lube/QD all in one.
 
Okay, so the wipe down is to knock down most of the polish before using the ipa. What I normally do is just wash the car with DI water after polishing, then I do an ipa. Then I rinse it again with DI water... letting it air dry.

I figure that the soap from the foam cannon and a wash mitt would be more thorough to remove the polish, and the ipa wipedown is just for insurance. Because I use di water I wont have to dry the car, reducing the chance of reintroducing scratches prior to sealing the paint with Opt2.0
 
QuickCln said:
Thanks! Yeah I will do a good wash with a clay speedy rag (I forget the name of it) but its like a weird clay bar rag that decontaminates paint. I currently only have meguairs ultimate compound and some kind of meguiars polish.


I am hesitant to claim that the coating has failed because the car still looks great (at least to the avg joe) and sheds most dirt off with a hose (obviously not the embedded contaminants) fairly well. In comparison to my other car which isnt coated, there's a huge difference. I just lost the that luxurious water beading property of the paint.
Click to expand...

decon and i'd bet you'll be back where you wanna be.

some good recommendations in here but personally i'd email Dr. G and ask him what his current recommendation is to decon 2.0.
 
Can't wait to try this on my own car. Not sure if it'll work on my wheels though. They arent clear coated.

As for OP, definitely seems contaminated for sure. As everyone else stated, clay it and see what happens!
 
QuickCln said:
I have another question.

I did a compound buff, polish, ipa wipe down, then topped my black car with opticoat 2.0. It must have been a yr a go or so and now, the car does not shed water like it did on day 1.

Is this normal? To be honest, i haven't been doing a 2 bucket wash, instead ive just been rinsing down my car with filtered water at the self serve car wash during that whole yr...because i was busy.

Do you think that theres a lot of bonded dirt on the opticoat that prevents it from sheeting? or does the hydrophobic properties of opticoat fade naturally over time? I know that opticoat 2.0 is no longer available for sale. Luckily I only used a few cc's and still have the majority of the bottle left, So maybe ill repolish and reseal the car again this year.
Click to expand...
Why didn't you at least use the soap? The OC is supposed to be resistant to any of the cleaners you'd find at at coin-operated waah.
 
I read, re-read, and triple read through both Optimum's forum and the directions supplied with the OPT GlossCoat I just applied. No where does it state hyper polish or any optimum polishes are a prerequisite.

It states:
1. Polish paint with Optimum Polish II or Optimum Hyper Polish to remove any defects.
2. Clean surface with 15% IPA solution to remove all polishing oils, waxes, and silicones.

Notice it didn't mention ONR? Notice the only mention of hyper polish is to remove defects? I have a lot of products that remove defects.

If IPA removes the oils, waxes, and silicones, how then can the coating possibly know what was used before hand to prep?

The suggestion that hyper polish, ONR, or any in-the-family products must be used is born of marketing hype of the word "synergy", nothing more.

Clean the car correctly, then assess the next step.
 
aim4squirrels said:
I read, re-read, and triple read through both Optimum's forum and the directions supplied with the OPT GlossCoat I just applied. No where does it state hyper polish or any optimum polishes are a prerequisite.

It states:
1. Polish paint with Optimum Polish II or Optimum Hyper Polish to remove any defects.
2. Clean surface with 15% IPA solution to remove all polishing oils, waxes, and silicones.

Notice it didn't mention ONR? Notice the only mention of hyper polish is to remove defects? I have a lot of products that remove defects.

If IPA removes the oils, waxes, and silicones, how then can the coating possibly know what was used before hand to prep?

The suggestion that hyper polish, ONR, or any in-the-family products must be used is born of marketing hype of the word "synergy", nothing more.

Clean the car correctly, then assess the next step.
Click to expand...
Unless it's like OC Pro where the Primer Polish leaves the surface with the "right level of scratches" to apply the coating.

I doubt it though because I personally I think that's bull as well.
 
aim4squirrels said:
I read, re-read, and triple read through both Optimum's forum and the directions supplied with the OPT GlossCoat I just applied. No where does it state hyper polish or any optimum polishes are a prerequisite.

It states:
1. Polish paint with Optimum Polish II or Optimum Hyper Polish to remove any defects.
2. Clean surface with 15% IPA solution to remove all polishing oils, waxes, and silicones.

Notice it didn't mention ONR? Notice the only mention of hyper polish is to remove defects? I have a lot of products that remove defects.

If IPA removes the oils, waxes, and silicones, how then can the coating possibly know what was used before hand to prep?

The suggestion that hyper polish, ONR, or any in-the-family products must be used is born of marketing hype of the word "synergy", nothing more.

Clean the car correctly, then assess the next step.
Click to expand...

you have to look at it the other way around.

they recommend their polish stuff because they think it's the best. it just so happens that it doesn't require the solvent step like any other polish. the IPA step is there in the directions because like you not everyone is going to have their polish products. if you do not use OPT polish products, then you better use IPA before coating. if you use OPT polish and use IPA, no harm, but you did extra work.

if you use any of the "II"s or Hypers, you don't need IPA or Eraser or anything before coating other than a damp MF or ONR wipedown to remove the residual polish stuff. i particularly like the ONR reco because it adds that additional buffer against super fine marring that can occur on some bare paints with any wipedown.

it would have been weird for them to not recommend their own abrasives OR leave out he IPA step. both of those would be asking for trouble, as leaving out the abrasive reco would mean they aren't recommending their own superior (in their eyes) correction product and leaving out the IPA reco would mean people might think they can go right from Menz or Megs or whatever to coating. or if they aren't polishing, that they can just apply the coating after a wash, which is false. you must remove all silicones, oil, wax, grease, etc. and a solvent will assure that.

maybe an asterisk would be better but again, that might get lost in the sauce? i dunno, but the facts are, for sure, 100%, that if you don't use II or Hyper or primer prior to coating, you must use something to completely remove all oils and contaminants from the surface prior to coating. they recommend IPA.

and if you use their stuff, an ONR or damp MF wipedown will work just to get the residue off, no solvent required.
 
aim4squirrels said:
I read, re-read, and triple read through both Optimum's forum and the directions supplied with the OPT GlossCoat I just applied. No where does it state hyper polish or any optimum polishes are a prerequisite.

It states:
1. Polish paint with Optimum Polish II or Optimum Hyper Polish to remove any defects.
2. Clean surface with 15% IPA solution to remove all polishing oils, waxes, and silicones.

Notice it didn't mention ONR? Notice the only mention of hyper polish is to remove defects? I have a lot of products that remove defects.

If IPA removes the oils, waxes, and silicones, how then can the coating possibly know what was used before hand to prep?

The suggestion that hyper polish, ONR, or any in-the-family products must be used is born of marketing hype of the word "synergy", nothing more.

Clean the car correctly, then assess the next step.
Click to expand...


Hundreds, if not thousands of cars have been successfully coated after using polishes other the Optimum and even today some OCP installers still prefer applying OCP this way. As long as the paint is free of oils, waxes, and silcones (as you noted) then there should be no issues with bonding. :)

That bieng said, the release of Primer Polish did seem to help with application and is supposed to have a catalyst in it too. The suggestion of wiping with ONR was later added to ensure users removed all the Optimum polish residue prior to coating. It also seems to make application easier/slicker.
 
Okay, so yesterday I did the following:

1) Foam canon, dwell, high pressure rinse
(too dissolve\knock most surface dirt)
2) Foam canon, two bucket wash, High pressure rinse
3) Foam canon\soap as lubricant, Speedy prep towel - fine grade
3) High pressure rinse, DI rinse

The car looks super clean (in the shade) and feels like glass and sheds much more water now, still not as good as it once was, but much better than it was before.

Now here's the problem, and it's a BIG one, TONS of marring...
Like seriously bad marring, my car has never looked so bad ever. It looks like its never been polished and has never seen wax\sealant in its life. I HAVE TO polish my car now, I am planning for Saturday to start that process.

So I guess the moral of the story is:

1) Surface contaminants DO hinder water shedding\hydrophobic properties of permanent sealants like Opticoat BUT it still seems that the hydrophobicness does diminish over time naturally. I doubt that had i fully decon'd the paint that water beeding would be restored 100%...

2) I think that the hardness of opticoat is suspect, my mercedes' paint has been clay'd before (after many years of neglect) and it never marred like this...

3) If you are going to use a sealant for long term convenience of washes\dirt shedding, do NOT clay it, just wash it properly and maybe use IRONX every now and then.

Which brings me to another question, Would using something like Ironx Gel and/or Flash royal brown on the car's paint help dissolve contaminants chemically? I think the key here for the future would be to avoid mechanical claying.

I can tell you that I will definately be using IRONX wash from now on... Probably in the foam canon after a two bucket wash to chemically decontaminate the car once in a while. (YES I will be reusing Opticoat, I still have a syringe full)
 
IMHO all coatings hydrophobic characteristics will start to fade after day 1. Traditional LSPs will as well - but they are easily renewable on the surface.

I'm confused how your car received so much marring, since you were just rinsing it? You have to touch paint to scratch it. All from claying?

So, basically it sounds like OC lasted you a year - since you have to polish it off now. Was it worth it?
 
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