Researching opticoat pro + and info is all over

[solar07]

Hello all,

I have a new maxima with 1 miles in gun metal gray. I had a suntek film put on the bumper, hood, lights, pillars, mirror. I maintain my vehicles pretty meticulously. Two bucket Hand wash this car only at least by weekly with foam cannon and two bucket . Learning more and more on sealing, paint correction by machine and more.

I am back and forth with getting opticoat pro put on. The detailer is saying there is a pro plus out now as of last week as well. Suppose to help with water spots. I am trying to get some feedback from those who have it. I see feedback and Maintence questions with a variety of answers even from optimum. So here goes:

1. Whats the real deal with opticoat. is it worth it. Any actual downfall to be concerned with. Any issues with ohio winters and all the salt and only being able to coin drop wash some months (looking into ways to wash salt in garage)


2. Maintence. Washing seems like a no brainer. what can and can't you do such as polish, seal/wax, claybar, spray seal or detailer Ike blackfire, etc..

Thanks for any help. looking at 500 bucks for pro and 650 for pro plus. Wants to do a paint correction even though car has 500 miled on it. Probably Would.

 

[The Critic]

Opti-Coat Pro Plus is a new version that was recently launched. It comes in a 2-part kit which includes the normal Opti-Coat Pro, and a special "top-coat" that is applied afterwards. The top coat adds some slickness, but mostly importantly, improves gloss and helps with the water spotting issue. The installer should also be using the included Primer Polish as their last polishing step to aid in the proper bonding of Opti-Coat Pro.

With that said, having seen the Opti-Coat Pro in action (not the plus version), I would seriously consider CQuartz Finest. Personally, I find the gloss and dirt repellency to be quite a bit better with CQuartz Finest.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Opti-Coat Pro Plus is a new version that was recently launched. It comes in a 2-part kit which includes the normal Opti-Coat Pro, and a special "top-coat" that is applied afterwards. The top coat adds some slickness, but mostly importantly, improves gloss and helps with the water spotting issue.

Sounds like Gloss-Coat on top.

 

[FUNX650]

1. Whats the real deal with opticoat. is it worth it. Any actual downfall to be concerned with.

Any issues with ohio winters and all the salt and only being able to coin drop wash some months (looking into ways to wash salt in garage)


looking at 500 bucks for pro and 650 for pro plus. Wants to do a paint correction even though car has 500 miled on it. Probably Would.

Let's see:
Somewhere around 650-1000 for paint correction...
and the initial Coating application.

Then, per the Coating's warranty:
The requisite maintenance; along with the amount charged by the Detailer for this "must be followed to a tee" regularly scheduled service.

If you're deemed to have screwed-up the Coating by "washing salt away in your garage"...can you guess who gets to pay for any Coating repair?!?!


Bottom line, however:
Your money; your vehicle; your choice.


Bob

 

[solar07]

It would be 800 for paint correction and application of the coat. He quoted me at 1195 for the works:

opticoat: Leather, wheels, polish car and bra, opticoat pro.

I just have not seen enough evidence to say its great or its not worth it. One of the harder decisions about my car. If I am truly going to get 5 years of wax like protection with sticking to my weekly wash regiment its would be great. If its going to be a pain in the butt to manage and reduce my ability to paint correct and seal well then that seems counter-intuitive.

 

[rwright]

Obtain the warranty info and read it well. I am out of touch with it but know that as stated above: any type of abrasion will void the warranty such as polishing paint or coating, improper wash technique, and I believe the tunnel wash as well. The only thing you would want to seal it with going forward would be OPT Car Wax or Opti-Seal, both only to add slickness. However, if you invest in the Pro+ kit you shouldn't need to add anything to the paint.

 

[Dr_Pain]

I apply a different Pro Coating and as it was stated before, you need to ask a LOT of questions and need to read the warranty very carefully.

On your original post, I ALWAYS polish a car before putting a Pro Coating and the reasons are pretty simple

#1 You want to have as defect free a paint before trapping all those imperfections under the coating (coatings don't exactly fill)
#2 Polishing assures you the cleanest substrate, which will assure proper bonding

 

[RaskyR1]

As stated above, the Plus is a top coat to add slickness, gloss, and to help protect better against water spots. OCP has proven durability, but it still comes down to how well you maintain the paint yourself. Based on 4+ years of installing OCP, if you neglect the finish (fail to wash regularly) you will likely see beading fall off after 6-12 months, as with any coating. Maintain it well and you should get your moneys worth.


On a side note, I do find it a little humorous that the Opt guys have always said OCP looks amazing and it doesn't need to be topped with anything, and now we have OCP+....

Personally I never had any issues with the look of OCP, but side by side with several other competing coatings it was clear it lacked in the look and feel department. I think the Plus is a good thing, but would rather see it as part of the coating itself and not an additional step to get more money out of you.

Just my $.02

 

[solar07]

I really appreciate the feedback. Honestly I am meticulous about my cars and will maintain it if I learn what the perfect steps are for maintaining the coat, whatever those are, wash, seal, clay?

My larger concern is does it limit me or is there any cons to the coat if maintained. That said there will be winter weeks where the cat will go a couple weeks in between a coin drop wash and maybe 3 to 4 weeks TOPs between optimum no rinse washes if I hear it is ok to do a onr on a salty car after I do a good coin drop spray. Thoughts?

 

[Setec Astronomy]

It sounds like you are pretty serious about maintaining your car. Whether that is just "new car syndrome" or not I can't say.

The concerns that Rasky noted about appearance and beading falloff, are, with all due respect, things that the average car owner isn't going to notice.

If you are serious about maintaining your car, having a pro install a coating is probably not what you want, you should look at doing it yourself, using a consumer coating.

A pro coating is going to absolutely give you the best protection for your paint--but I think that is probably a non-enthusiast path.

Eh, I don't think I'm being very clear, I guess I'm trying to say that pros provide these services for people who don't want to do things themselves, but you sound like you DO want to do a lot yourself, so if you think that is going to continue, you should take the care of your car into your own hands.

 

[RaskyR1]

I really appreciate the feedback. Honestly I am meticulous about my cars and will maintain it if I learn what the perfect steps are for maintaining the coat, whatever those are, wash, seal, clay?

My larger concern is does it limit me or is there any cons to the coat if maintained. That said there will be winter weeks where the cat will go a couple weeks in between a coin drop wash and maybe 3 to 4 weeks TOPs between optimum no rinse washes if I hear it is ok to do a onr on a salty car after I do a good coin drop spray. Thoughts?

Regular washing is the most important. Do that along with bi-annual decons with a product like IronX and Tarminator and you should be good for a long time. I would avoid clay as it can potentially marr the finish. Other than that you can top it with products if you like but it's really unnecessary. If you do top, try and use products that have similar properties to coatings (Hydr02, Relaod, 22ple VX1, Sonax PNS...)

I would avoid the touch-less if you can, but if you do have to use them try and do an ONR wash back at home. The touch-less wash chemicals are pretty harsh and you need agitation to get the film left behind off the surface. The longer that film is left on the paint the more it seems to bond to the surface and effect the beading of the coating.


Just my $.02

 

[FUNX650]

He quoted me at 1195 for the works:

Are you really, honest-to-goodness:
OK with that (initial) amount?

{I find it obscene!!}

I just have not seen enough evidence to say its great or its not worth it. One of the harder decisions about my car.

If its going to be a pain in the butt to manage and reduce my ability to paint correct and seal well then that seems counter-intuitive.

I'll say it'll be better than a poke in the eye
with a sharp stick.


Bob

 

[jrs1418]

I agree with Setec, if you're going to be married to maintaining your car for the long haul, i would learn the trade a bit and apply a consumer coating.. or something like wolfs hard body. And i'd like to add a few more things to think about:

1) The ONLY way to never get any swirls or scratches on your paint is to NEVER touch it. With that being said, a daily driver is subject to salt, oils, etc.. but most importantly- road debris, leaves, dusty wind, etc. When a dry leaf lands on your car and the wind blows it across, its' going to leave a fine scratch. Fine sand and rock particles will blast your front end constantly while driving. Point is, you're probably going to need to polish our your car AT LEAST 2-3 times in 5 years. Yes OC will harden paint, but its still susceptible to scratches, marring, swirls etc. Chances are, if you're going to want your car always looking its best, you're going to need to polish it, which will remove OC. And if you make a mistake and park by a sprinkler, you might need to polish to get rid of the hard water marks. (I haven't tried their MDR yet, but i havent found a safe product that can chemically remove hard water spots that have been baked on).

2) The warranty: I'm an OC pro authorized installer.. i used to offer it (short time) before they changed the warranty- now I just use Opti-Lens for my HL resto's. I also was a finance manager at a car dealership for 4 years selling those crappy paint sealants with warranty. IME with those warranties, they cover it ALL. Current OC warranty virtually is useless for 2 reasons: 1) If theres an issue, there's no way to prove it wasn't improper installation versus a failed product. Leaving both customer and installer in a predicament. just search the forums for OC Fail and you'll see the responses. 2) The installer has to cover labor to recondition the affected area while OPT supplies the product. EVERY single other sealant with warranty i dealt with covers labor for the installer PLUS product to re-apply. From an installer perspective, its too much risk for me to be on the hook for labor in the event of a warranty issue. That's probably why they're charging upwards of $1k, to cover subsequent labor. My market doesn't allow for $1k details.

3) OC Pro DOES work.. i've seen it resist bird poo etching. Dirts and debris wash off easily. It darkened my paint a bit. I just feel its wasted money if im going to be polishing my car every year. I wish they went back to selling this product without a warranty, that way I can manage my customers expectations better and not have to price myself into the stratosphere just to feel comfortable enough to be on the hook for 5 years.

My car is due for a polish again (its been 1.5yrs, i'm slacking), i really liked the older version of Wolfs Hard Body, lasted me 1 year of super slick paint, and very easy cleaning. It also did a fantastic job at repelling bird poo etches, but not as good as OC. It also seemed to repel dust better than OC, the rain virtually washed my car. The newer version with Teflon and Sio2(?) is going to be my next LSP.

Moral of the story, to me, if i spent $1k on a coating- i'd have severely high expectations. Knowing what I know being in the industry and a pro detailer the last 4 years, I know i'd be really dissatisfied after a year when I have to polish out my car again.

just my $.02

 

[solar07]

I must say I believe I am being swayed away after these reviews. If I can put on a coating of my own and get comparable results even if I need to apply each year I would accept that.

Saving all this money will allow me to finally buy a DA. This will be on my 2 month old maxima that's been sprayed off 3 times and hand washed once so hopefully it isn't too hard to prep. The car has a full suntek film on the front clip so I would like the coat to be able to go on it too. Seams I read a lot about optI gloss.


what are some coatings one would suggest for a beginner or should I stick to sealants .

With a consumer coating how do I know when it's worn off and time to redo? Will a simple polish remove the remainder when I'm ready to start over?

 

[Scott@IncrediblyDetailed]

I must say I believe I am being swayed away after these reviews. If I can put on a coating of my own and get comparable results even if I need to apply each year I would accept that.

Saving all this money will allow me to finally buy a DA. This will be on my 2 month old maxima that's been sprayed off 3 times and hand washed once so hopefully it isn't too hard to prep. The car has a full suntek film on the front clip so I would like the coat to be able to go on it too. Seams I read a lot about optI gloss.


what are some coatings one would suggest for a beginner or should I stick to sealants .

With a consumer coating how do I know when it's worn off and time to redo? Will a simple polish remove the remainder when I'm ready to start over?

It's all about what you want.

That's a pretty good price to have your paint, trim, glass and interior coated with opti-coat pro products, with a light correction. Considering ~$300 is direct product cost from Optimum.

With that being said, if you are going to maintain and be apart of your vehicle's maintenance care then I would spend the $1000 in maintenance supplies PLUS a buffer, polish, pads, etc, select a consumer 2-3 year coating and do it yourself. If you weren't going to be so involved I would say Opti-Coat.

Look into Pinnacle Black Label Paint Coating you really won't be disappointed. Or you could pick up Opti-Coat Gloss Coat. I offer both of those coatings to customers who don't want Opti-Coat.

 

[solar07]

If opticoat Pro does not really assist in helping to resist scratches nor keeps my car looking polished if I maintain it religiously then it sounds like it isn't for me. I was reading into pro helping to protect my car more as a daily driver and keep it looking great year after year.

It sounds like I will get better results with a 1-2 year product such as pinnacle or opticoat gloss. Two questions regarding these types:

1. With a consumer coating how do I know when it's worn off and time to redo? Will a simple polish remove the remainder when I'm ready to start over?

2. Can you clay, seal, a consumer coating, or any type of non abrasive polish?

 

[Loach]

It sounds like you're willing to really learn how to maintain your vehicle yourself. In which case, you can buy the polisher + pads, compounds/polishes, towels, all your maintenance products and advanced coating for much less than the amount it would cost to have your quoted professional perform all of the work.

Check out the MT300 polisher from Meguiar's - recently released, initial reviews are its very smooth. Advanced and powerful enough for professional usage, but safe enough for beginners to learn to compound and polish with.

For coatings: There's CQuartz UK which comes highly rated at an affordable price, Pinnacle and Optimum Gloss-Coat were already mentioned in the thread which have great reviews as well. You can certainly try to top coatings with products, CQuartz usually pairs up with their Reload spray sealant. But the overall effectiveness of trying to layer on a different product may be questionable. Couple questions that come to my mind are how effectively can top layer products bond to the coating's surface. And do you really want to alter the repellency(surface tension) or dirt shedding properties of the coating in favor of the last product you apply on top of it.

Some coatings have very durable surface tension properties (water beading or sheeting) that have been observed over years of use to identify that it's still bonded to the clearcoat. But as far as knowing exactly when a coating has been exhausted and needs to be reapplied, that's not something that I have an answer for. All I know is it's much more fun to perform my own paint's maintenance and test different products out than paying someone else a lot of money to do it for me.

 

[Rsurfer]

My car is due for a polish again (its been 1.5yrs, i'm slacking), i really liked the older version of Wolfs Hard Body, lasted me 1 year of super slick paint, and very easy cleaning. It also did a fantastic job at repelling bird poo etches, but not as good as OC. It also seemed to repel dust better than OC, the rain virtually washed my car. The newer version with Teflon and Sio2(?) is going to be my next LSP.



:iagree:The new Body Guard as a semi permanent coating is the way to go for me. I can't see spending tons of money on a permanent coating that won't stop marring and needs to be polished off within a year.

 

[solar07]

My car is due for a polish again (its been 1.5yrs, i'm slacking), i really liked the older version of Wolfs Hard Body, lasted me 1 year of super slick paint, and very easy cleaning. It also did a fantastic job at repelling bird poo etches, but not as good as OC. It also seemed to repel dust better than OC, the rain virtually washed my car. The newer version with Teflon and Sio2(?) is going to be my next LSP.



:iagree:The new Body Guard as a semi permanent coating is the way to go for me. I can't see spending tons of money on a permanent coating that won't stop marring and needs to be polished off within a year.

I have not seen or found much about Wolfgangs coating nor can I find the body guard product.

I believe I have been persuaded to do this myself. I was torn between the PC and the Griots as a first DA, now I need to look at the meguires model.

Choosing the product is going to be really hard. I cant seem to find where one product thrives over the other. I would like to stick with a product that has a simple linup yet is really going to make the metallic in my gray pop and shine yet be usuable on my suntek clear film

Is it worth going with a kit such as this? It has everything but the IPA (whatever that really is)Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Coating Elite Kit

or piece it together. None of them actually say clear film compliant but I know opticoat pro is.

 

[af90]

It sounds like you are pretty serious about maintaining your car. Whether that is just "new car syndrome" or not I can't say.

The concerns that Rasky noted about appearance and beading falloff, are, with all due respect, things that the average car owner isn't going to notice.

If you are serious about maintaining your car, having a pro install a coating is probably not what you want, you should look at doing it yourself, using a consumer coating.

A pro coating is going to absolutely give you the best protection for your paint--but I think that is probably a non-enthusiast path.

Eh, I don't think I'm being very clear, I guess I'm trying to say that pros provide these services for people who don't want to do things themselves, but you sound like you DO want to do a lot yourself, so if you think that is going to continue, you should take the care of your car into your own hands.

From what I can gather, this is the best piece of advice. Additionally, you'll gain a skill and appreciation in the job you do.