Review and Extreme Testing: Opti-Coat 2.0 and CQuartz

[C. Charles Hahn]

It would very likely end up marring the paint and wasting product. Opti Coat is more like paint than sealants and waxes. It has no lubricants and drys rather quickly. You can spray it or wipe it, but that's all.


Sent from my iPad 2 viaTapatalk

If one were to spray OptiCoat, do you have any estimates of how much product would be needed to coat an entire vehicle?

 

[rwright]

If one were to spray OptiCoat, do you have any estimates of how much product would be needed to coat an entire vehicle?

Good question. I was reading the post as spraying like Opti-Seal, but you are reading it from a painters perspective right? Hmm...now it's getting interesting.

 

[richy]

If one were to spray OptiCoat, do you have any estimates of how much product would be needed to coat an entire vehicle?

Good question. I was reading the post as spraying like Opti-Seal, but you are reading it from a painters perspective right? Hmm...now it's getting interesting.

If you go way back in the archives of the Optimum forum, you will see that when they were beta testing this product (I think they called it product X or something to that effect), that spraying it on with an air powered spray (painter's) gun was the original method. The downside to this is you use a lot more product. To me there is no upside. You CAN layer OC if you do it within 5 minutes of the first coat's application if you want a thicker coating. Optimum people say it is absolutely unnecessary to do so. So it begs the question of why waste a product that is expensive when you can effectively coat a car for about 5-7 mils when you get good at it. (Some report using even less). But, hey, I'm a cheap S.OB...or my favourite word...parsimonious!!

 

[Avi@CarPro]

Very Thorough review Corey , well done.. as i told you already i admire your time and patient.
few remarks to some guys posts here,

we dont call our coat "permanent coat" since nothing in life is permanent,!
if coating can be removed by chemicals or abrasion it means its not permanent.
we dont like to promise too much as many paint "protection" companies did in past years over the USA, promising "5 years warranty" ,"life time guaranty" etc.. they just ruined this market reputation.
though we say up to 2 years ,Cquartz can last much longer even, as you saw the harsh tests Corey has done, its all in the maintenance after.

about the fun of waxing and detailing your cars... ofcourse it wont replace this fun... some guys like more protection on there cars, less washing it, less marring the paint..
waxing is nice... but as you all saw here this is few "blocks" ahead of any organic /synthetic sealants and others. and still you can use wax on Cquartz coat.

:xyxthumbs:

 

[SPIROS ANTONIOU]

Very Thorough review Corey , well done.. as i told you already i admire your time and patient.
few remarks to some guys posts here,

we dont call our coat "permanent coat" since nothing in life is permanent,!
if coating can be removed by chemicals or abrasion it means its not permanent.
we dont like to promise too much as many paint "protection" companies did in past years over the USA, promising "5 years warranty" ,"life time guaranty" etc.. they just ruined this market reputation.
though we say up to 2 years ,Cquartz can last much longer even, as you saw the harsh tests Corey has done, its all in the maintenance after.

about the fun of waxing and detailing your cars... ofcourse it wont replace this fun... some guys like more protection on there cars, less washing it, less marring the paint..
waxing is nice... but as you all saw here this is few "blocks" ahead of any organic /synthetic sealants and others. and still you can use wax on Cquartz coat.

:xyxthumbs:

THANK YOU FOR THE INFORMATION.The best thing in our days is to be honestrops:

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Good question. I was reading the post as spraying like Opti-Seal, but you are reading it from a painters perspective right? Hmm...now it's getting interesting.

Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking. When Chris described Opti Coat as "more like paint than sealants and waxes" my immediate thought was wondering how the product would behave if sprayed out of a mini HVLP gun or an airbrush.

I can see Richy's point about the expense of layering and using more product this way (not to mention the extremely short flash-off time), but for certain applications I can't help but wonder if it would make the product even easier to use.

For example when it comes to headlight restoration, if the product would "flow out" like a regular paint or specific UV coating, it could provide an easy way to get a thicker layer of OC onto the lens for added durability while requiring less masking or removal of the headlight assembly from the vehicle.

Because Opti-Coat is rated safe for almost any exterior material, overspray shouldn't be as detrimental as it would be with regular paint or a coating not rated to be used on anything and everything.

I've got some OC 2.0 sitting here on my desk... I might play with the idea unless Chris or Dr. G can tell us what sort of testing to that effect has already been done. Hate to waste material if I'm just duplicating others' documented results.

 

[CEE DOG]

Also your test panel is begging for an extreme scratch test! With sandpaper, or maybe lay it face down on sand and dance on it Im the MAN

LOL, OK! You twisted my arm. I'll do something but it might be a week or so. I'm not committing to a time frame yet. But I'm NOT dancing! :nomore:

Wo
So I am able to use OCW and Opti-Seal on the Coating?

Going by one of Dr. G's responses, the answer is yes even though nothing can really stick to Opti Coat?

This would be nice at least to temporarily add a bit of gloss instead of gathering dust on the shelf.

You got it :xyxthumbs:

INCREDIBLE review!! I really think they should give you the authority to edit your first post so you can do timeline updates of the coatings. Since you are the product review king, I don't think anyone would be offended if they gave just you those limits.

Thank you! That would definitely be helpful for long reviews!

Mike P did fix 2 pictures for me that were stretching the reading area. Very kind of him! rops:

WOW!! That has to be the best review I have ever read in my life. Great going Cory, I don't think you left any question unanswered. Just amazing. I am speechless. GREAT REVIEW!!

Wow Mark, Thank you!

holy crap .... this is absolutely the deepest and fairest review I have seen, youve clearly touched on many areas the AG users want to know. Corey I am completely impressed !

Thank you Scott!! I tried to be especially fair and objective on this one particularly since it is a new product to a great many people. It wouldn't have been very smart or fair for me to make strong opinionated statements with my lack of experience with these coatings. I was learning as I went there.

WOW! A fantastic review of two leading edge technologies by the undisputed King of the Detailing Review! Just in time for those on the fence! I think you should change your signature s to "Mad Scientist" after the diabolical tortures you dreamed up for that poor ole test panel. We lack the words to adquately express how much we enjoy & appreciate yoour efforts. If a detailing review can be considered art you just painted the frigging Mona Lisa buddy!
Can I give this review six stars?

Thanks so much Jim! You had me laughing there. Im the MAN LOL, Thanks for everything buddy.

Corey, again, congratulations on a paradigm-shifting review!! I will repeat what I wrote you-know-where:


Corey, I have been waiting for this review to get published...boy, was it ever worth the wait!! You did a brilliant job showing all aspects of both products. I think yours might be the only video showing how OC is applied. As far as the small issues with applying OC, I agree with your opinion about the syringe. As far as doing it on hot panels, there was mention on the Optimum forum about that. It is best applied in temperate conditions. I, too, found that the high spots are best removed sooner than later. It is cool to see the surface transition with the coating applied.
As far as both being inadequate as a trim restorer, I have found the same thing. Shorter term (months) solution is UTTG (And thank you for introducing me to that!) or the C4 for long term. I will be looking forward to your upcoming review of that product. One thing to mention about using both products, if you use a mf to remove the residue, toss them into a pail with a strong mix of APC before the product has time to crystalize. You can save your towels that way. As far as the residual amount in the bottom of the CQ bottle, just pull out the white dropper and you'll get down to the very last drop. It was really impressive to see the coatings protect the cc failure sections. The one advantage CQ has for me is the ability to touch up small areas. I recently got a stone chip in the leading edge of my hood and I had the dent pulled out and filled it in. Now, I just have to re-do the immediate area and not the whole hood. I am really enjoying using both and the customers have been blown away by it. Thank you very much for doing all this meticulous research and posting it so succinctly.

Thank you so much Richy!! I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me about the products when I called you that day as well.

Good to hear your validation on the trim restoration or lack there of aspect. I'm going to order the C4 this week and I'm looking forward to that review big time! Those bumpers have been crying for that product for a long time.

Man, on your bucket of APC to save the towels tip... I really blew it. All along after talking to you I meant to have a section on that and it slipped my mind somehow even though I had thought about it a couple times during the times I was working on the review.

Impressive and very thorough review! You should get some free bottles of OC and Cquartz for your hard work .

I will refer to this article for future reference. This review will answer a ton of questions.

I think you did an outstanding job of demonstrating via videos how you applied Cquartz and OC with the applicators.

As far as being worried about leaving any residual Cquartz in the dropper bottle, you can pop off the top white plastic dropper cap with a knife. I had to do this because I used too much the first time and needed every last drop

Lastly, cant wait for your updates and C4 review! Phenomenal job!

Thank you so much!! I appreciate all your kind words. :cheers: As far as the C4 review I won't be able to post it here as its not carried by AG.

Incredible write up Corey. You answered every question I have had on these products...

Thank you Pat! Excellent :cheers:

Though I haven't tried to remove it yet, from what I understand, you'd have to compound to remove...
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong

Well, I'm not sure on how aggressive of a polish is necessary but yes it can't be removed chemically.

Hey Corey,

Phenomenal review with some great videos but the photos aren't viewable on my end, here's what I see; any ideas?

Sorry for those troubles Bobby! Apparently photobucket tracks bandwidth from sites that have photos linked in them. With the free version after a certain amount of bandwidth is used per month they shut you down! I didn't know that till I saw your message. I went and paid for pro immediately but it took a few hours and a couple emails for them to unlock it I guess. All is well now!

Great review Corey! You are by far the best person to do a review I think!

I saw all the photos last night but now they show up like Bobby said.

Thank you Jason! Thats very kind of you

Corey, you hit this one out of the ballpark! Great review. You really looked at it from every angle and did a great job showing/conveying it to everyone. Great job my friend

Jon

I really appreciate that Jon! Thank you

Wow! I have been lurking on this forum for the past couple of months, but I have to take the time to express my appreciation for this review. Like a number of people on the forum, I have also been considering these coating products, and the thorough descriptions, pictures and videos here answer a lot of questions I've had, and make it so much easier to visualize how they would look and apply on my car. Again, thanks for taking the time to share this with everyone!

:welcome: :welcome: to AutoGeek!

That is very cool! Thank you!

 

[Chris Thomas]

Good question. I was reading the post as spraying like Opti-Seal, but you are reading it from a painters perspective right? Hmm...now it's getting interesting.

Anthony Orosco has the most experience with spraying Opti Coat, so I will ask him to chime in on the thread. I think he said it takes about double the product, but lessens the high spot problem dramatically.

 

[Anthony Orosco]

I originally started spraying both Opti-Seal and Opti-Coat some time ago, along with tire and interior dressings, to see how they performed and set up.

If you're familiar with airbrushes then you can use them (double action preferred) to apply Opti-Seal on the surface of a car rather quickly and since it's double action, meaning when you press down on the trigger only air comes out, you can spray the Opti-Seal and afterwards blow air across the surface to evaporate remaining product.

My thoughts for doing this were if I can get away with laying down 100% of the product this means more actives are getting to the surface and little to nothing is being wiped off hence I should be left with greater performance from the product.

Downside is you'll use more product.

So if Opti-Seal can be layed down in this manner then Opti-Coat should work fine also, Dr. G confirmed this so I set about using various spray guns, from mini-HVLP guns to fan tipped airbrushes. I have several mini-guns from Iwata and Asturo and they are excellent guns, pricey, but worth it. These mini-guns work great for application of the Opti-Coat but again the downside is more product is being used, about one syringe for 2 Porsche 911 sized vehicles. This includes all paint, wheels and lights. Maybe some extra left over.

An airbrush will atomize the product to a very fine mist so I recommend a larger needle (.3 or .5) with a fan tip, so not a true airbrush but an airbrush gun more so.

The key advantage is more product on your surface and if sprayed properly very little to knock down in terms of high spots.

I will post up pictures and a video of me applying this to a car when I get the time.

Anthony

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

I watched Anthony spraying Opti-Seal at his shop when I was down there for the GTG last summer and the first thing I thought as I watched him spraying the product was that he's really laying down a "layer" of protection.

It was impressive. My second thought was with this type of application you're going to use more product, as long as you're building that into the price of your work it shouldn't be an issue.

And my third thought on this technique is that after you do the correction and polishing steps, and then prep the surface for the coating, if you can do all of these steps and end up with a defect-free finish, then by spraying the coating on you reduce the potential to re-inflict any type of marring because nothing is touching the paint.

No hand rubbing an applicator over the paint, no machine spinning a pad over the paint... just air pressure.


Talk about non-invasive...


:dblthumb2:

 

[rwright]

...as long as you're building that into the price of your work it shouldn't be an issue.

This is where a lot of people fail. I constantly read about materials costing too much and people wanting cheaper alternatives even if the performance is sacrificed. I know most people have to work on a budget, but as long as you work the material into the price of the detail then it shouldn't matter. If people would stop being greedy, explain the difference in the products, and explain that the better product will outperform, I think the customer/client will be happier. I mean that's what we do this for, right? To make sure the customer is happy, long term. :rant:

Sorry Corey, Mike just made some good points!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

we dont call our coat "permanent coat" since nothing in life is permanent!

if coating can be removed by chemicals or abrasion it means its not permanent.

Thanks for chiming in and adding the above Avi...

Sometimes people's expectations exceed what the manufacture claims and what technology is capable...

On forums, because they are so dependent upon using the right word to convey a message, it's important to to choose your words carefully. I recently wrote a short article to add a new category to the two categories already historically accepted in the car detailing world and in it I used the words Semi-Permanent and Permanent for the title of this new category.

3-Categories: Waxes, Paint Sealants and Coatings


I also took liberty to define the word permanent in the context of automotive waxes, paint sealants and coatings.

 

[CEE DOG]

Sorry Corey, Mike just made some good points!

Huh?

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

I originally started spraying both Opti-Seal and Opti-Coat some time ago, along with tire and interior dressings, to see how they performed and set up.

If you're familiar with airbrushes then you can use them (double action preferred) to apply Opti-Seal on the surface of a car rather quickly and since it's double action, meaning when you press down on the trigger only air comes out, you can spray the Opti-Seal and afterwards blow air across the surface to evaporate remaining product.

My thoughts for doing this were if I can get away with laying down 100% of the product this means more actives are getting to the surface and little to nothing is being wiped off hence I should be left with greater performance from the product.

Downside is you'll use more product.

So if Opti-Seal can be layed down in this manner then Opti-Coat should work fine also, Dr. G confirmed this so I set about using various spray guns, from mini-HVLP guns to fan tipped airbrushes. I have several mini-guns from Iwata and Asturo and they are excellent guns, pricey, but worth it. These mini-guns work great for application of the Opti-Coat but again the downside is more product is being used, about one syringe for 2 Porsche 911 sized vehicles. This includes all paint, wheels and lights. Maybe some extra left over.

An airbrush will atomize the product to a very fine mist so I recommend a larger needle (.3 or .5) with a fan tip, so not a true airbrush but an airbrush gun more so.

The key advantage is more product on your surface and if sprayed properly very little to knock down in terms of high spots.

I will post up pictures and a video of me applying this to a car when I get the time.

Anthony

Thanks for posting that, Anthony. Sounds like you've been successfully doing exactly what I was envisioning. Hadn't thought about applying even Opti-Seal that way, but it certainly makes sense and is something I will definitely give a try. rops:

I watched Anthony spraying Opti-Seal at his shop when I was down there for the GTG last summer and the first thing I thought as I watched him spraying the product was that he's really laying down a "layer" of protection.

It was impressive. My second thought was with this type of application you're going to use more product, as long as you're building that into the price of your work it shouldn't be an issue.

And my third thought on this technique is that after you do the correction and polishing steps, and then prep the surface for the coating, if you can do all of these steps and end up with a defect-free finish, then by spraying the coating on you reduce the potential to re-inflict any type of marring because nothing is touching the paint.

No hand rubbing an applicator over the paint, no machine spinning a pad over the paint... just air pressure.


Talk about non-invasive...


:dblthumb2:

This is where a lot of people fail. I constantly read about materials costing too much and people wanting cheaper alternatives even if the performance is sacrificed. I know most people have to work on a budget, but as long as you work the material into the price of the detail then it shouldn't matter. If people would stop being greedy, explain the difference in the products, and explain that the better product will outperform, I think the customer/client will be happier. I mean that's what we do this for, right? To make sure the customer is happy, long term. :rant:

Sorry Corey, Mike just made some good points!

:iagree: With both of you guys. I like the idea of the hands-off approach as Mike mentions, as well as the fact that by spraying on an atomized coating it allows a much more even application (with proper technique, that is).

As far as pricing, that seems to be a very common complaint that is understandable for the enthusiast who is working on his or her own cars, but for professionals who are running a business and working on customer vehicles, it's a senseless thing to complain about in my opinion.

When you're providing a premium quality service, investing in and using premium quality products is a cost of doing business. That's all there is to it. If you're not factoring this into your overhead and accounting for it in your pricing, you're doing it wrong. Especially when you consider that in this industry the cost of product is proportionally miniscule as compared to the cost of labor on a per-car basis -- even when you're using the most top-shelf products.

 

[Old Tiger]

Thanks for posting that, Anthony. Sounds like you've been successfully doing exactly what I was envisioning. Hadn't thought about applying even Opti-Seal that way, but it certainly makes sense and is something I will definitely give a try. rops:





:iagree: With both of you guys. I like the idea of the hands-off approach as Mike mentions, as well as the fact that by spraying on an atomized coating it allows a much more even application (with proper technique, that is).

As far as pricing, that seems to be a very common complaint that is understandable for the enthusiast who is working on his or her own cars, but for professionals who are running a business and working on customer vehicles, it's a senseless thing to complain about in my opinion.

When you're providing a premium quality service, investing in and using premium quality products is a cost of doing business. That's all there is to it. If you're not factoring this into your overhead and accounting for it in your pricing, you're doing it wrong. Especially when you consider that in this industry the cost of product is proportionally miniscule as compared to the cost of labor on a per-car basis -- even when you're using the most top-shelf products.

Well said Charley! Business 101 in action!

 

[bmw5541]

Corey,

You have a long history of doing some of the best product reviews, but this one takes the cake. My hat's off to you my friend!!!

I have been wanting to see a review with these 2 products side by side and you really did it justice.

Thanks for taking the time, not only to test the products, but also for posting it for all of us to learn from.

Thanks again Corey!!

 

[Munich77]

Corey,

This is very impressive. Needless to say I think this thread will become the go-to source of information for both coatings.

 

[CEE DOG]

Corey,

You have a long history of doing some of the best product reviews, but this one takes the cake. My hat's off to you my friend!!!

I have been wanting to see a review with these 2 products side by side and you really did it justice.

Thanks for taking the time, not only to test the products, but also for posting it for all of us to learn from.

Thanks again Corey!!

Thank you Barry! I appreciate that.

Corey,

This is very impressive. Needless to say I think this thread will become the go-to source of information for both coatings.

Thank you Munich!

 

[CEE DOG]

Thought I'd pass on a bit more info. It's actually repetitive as it has already been supplied by Chris and Avi but I wanted that info to be available in this thread as well in case somebody reads this some time in the future and hasn't seen these bits of info by Avi or Chris elsewhere.

Opticoat application video supplied by Chris Thomas of Optimum. This is the way Chris recommends applying Opticoat.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3UwcGhrfqk&feature=youtube_gdata_player]YouTube - OptiCoatApp.AVI[/video]

------------------------------------------

Also, i didnt take a video but I used Cquartz again today. This time on the roof of my sister in laws Taurus. This time I used the applicators recommended and supplied by car pro in the Cquartz kit. I wrapped the applicator block with one of the supplied felt suede towels that were also supplied and I really liked the way it worked.

 

[RaskyR1]

Thanks for sharing Corey/Chris. :dblthumb2:


I still need to load up and edit my videos. It would be nice to see one done on a black car because I find I have to level off the high spots with a towel one each section within the first 20-45 seconds, otherwise the towel gets grabby. (Using Opti-Guard)