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IMHO all coatings hydrophobic characteristics will start to fade after day 1.
^ looks great to me.
But, you have to admit - there are numerous people who have had issues with OC 2.0 loosing it's hydrophobic properties over time. It's holding up well for me after 2 years on the roof of my SUV.
So, you could say it's the installers fault, or you can look at it from the other side and say it's a product that many found too finicky to install correctly.
Either way, the OP didn't wash his car correctly for like a year - so no wonder there was issues.
If one can't install OC2.0 properly, one should hire someone who can. It was as easy to apply as it can get. I can't overemphasize how it is the installer. Not the product, otherwise we would all run into the same problem.
IMHO, not necessarily true.
I remember when Ford came out with the 4.0l Explorer. Those engines leaked oil terribly from the valve cover and intake. Replacements of the gaskets was finicky - a lot of times they would leak again in 6 mos.
If a product is super sensitive to installation, a large number of failures may result from how finicky the product is. For whatever reason, OC 2..0 seemed to me to fall into this class.
Maybe it was the lack of a dedicated prep product?
Maybe it was difficult for people to judge adequate coverage without causing high spots?
Maybe it was the often confusing (and contradictory) advice we got from Optimum regarding proper prep and installation?
It really doesn't matter, because they don't make it anymore.
Anyways, I think a big problem for me was the embedded contaminants they ARE a big problem for hydrophobicness. After claying the panels, water sheds off pretty good, but the panels are marred as well. I should have simply done multiple washes with ironx, trix, and royal brown in between to chemically dissolve the contaminants as opposed to claying. That way, I may have recovered some water shedding without marring the paint.
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I can tell you i dont think it was your washing processes . I applied cquartz uk last year.As mentioned earlier the car wasn't washed properly for long stretches of time many, many months.
I still have oc 2.0 in a syringe and will be re-applying it next week. I wasn't able to last weekend because of weather issues. Anyways, I think a big problem for me was the embedded contaminants they ARE a big problem for hydrophobicness. After claying the panels, water sheds off pretty good, but the panels are marred as well. I should have simply done multiple washes with ironx, trix, and royal brown in between to chemically dissolve the contaminants as opposed to claying. That way, I may have recovered some water shedding without marring the paint.
Anyways, I don't know how much of a problem this would have been for someone who washes their car weekly, so it's hard to say if its the products fault, my fault during installation, or obviously lack of care after installation. I think it is the latter.
Beyond this point, I still think that reapplying it 1.2 yrs later is reasonable in my estimation. And I probably won't have to do it again for longer than that, so long as I chemically remove contaminants once in a while and/or just wash the car well on a reg basis.
With all that said, my only other concern is: SHOULD I APPLY OPTICAT 2.0 TO MY WINDOWS?
I have a ton of opt 2.0 and can spare some on the glass surfaces (passenger windows, sunroof, rear glass, maybe even windscreen). My concern is scratches being visible on the opt surface on glass.... I dont think anyone has asked that question before. Will opticoat 2.0 on glass show scratchesswirls? Obviously glass on its own doesn't.