Review and Extreme Testing: Opti-Coat 2.0 and CQuartz

But hey i found out people use CQ on like rims and windows....
Maybe i will do it to my rims =]
Since my brembo make a mess QUICK
 
What is not realistic about this?
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I think you may have misunderstood my meaning of realistic. Personally, I wouldn’t consider maintaining an Opti-Coated vehicle by hand polishing as realistic. If that was a requirement for an Opti-Coated vehicle then I doubt OC/OG would have many fans.

First question being do you want it split in half or a rectangle in center for four sides of comparison? Distilled water or hard water out hose? And would you like it sprayed like the door panels or flooded?
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Of course you can make it as complicated as you wish, but all I suggested was a simple quick pass on part of panel with your DA, using a soft pad and a mild polish, using one of the Optimum products, preferably Optimum Finish, it being their least aggressive polish. After polishing and prepping, then compare the beading with the polished area as compared to the unpolished area. How you proceed with the complicated business of splashing some form of H2O onto the panel I leave for you to decide.


I would guess, you could probably be done is less than 5 minutes.


You may have already indicated in this thread previously, but how long has the OC been on the vehicle - how long has it been cured?
 
gmck said:
I think you may have misunderstood my meaning of realistic. Personally, I wouldn’t consider maintaining an Opti-Coated vehicle by hand polishing as realistic. If that was a requirement for an Opti-Coated vehicle then I doubt OC/OG would have many fans.

Of course you can make it as complicated as you wish, but all I suggested was a simple quick pass on part of panel with your DA, using a soft pad and a mild polish, using one of the Optimum products, preferably Optimum Finish, it being their least aggressive polish. After polishing and prepping, then compare the beading with the polished area as compared to the unpolished area. How you proceed with the complicated business of splashing some form of H2O onto the panel I leave for you to decide.


I would guess, you could probably be done is less than 5 minutes.


You may have already indicated in this thread previously, but how long has the OC been on the vehicle - how long has it been cured?
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I wasn't trying to maintain anything with a hand pad, I caught a piece of ice with the bottom 1/2 to 1" of the door and put a couple nice scratches in the door (damage was maybe 1'' tall by 1/2'' wide. I was only doing spot repair during a lunch break the first time, and then since I improved it so much the first time I tried the hand pads the second time instead of cracking out the DA .

The application was done in mid to late October (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/42705-2012-acura-tl-6mt-optimum-opti-coat.html), the scratches and spot repair would have been in that 4 month window maybe (don't remember exact date). Regarding how long it was cured? No idea. Within two weeks or so, I was back to washing it like normal.

I am going to opti-coat the wife's car before I get to re-polish and re-opti-coat my car (self preservation thing) and I will get the pictures at that time.
 
Chris@Optimum said:
That was the original coating, before there was a consumer version. It would fully harden within a few days. The consumer version was deliberately designed to take longer so that it could be corrected easier for those without machines or coating experience.



There will be no flakes or visual feedback when removing OC/OG because it becomes the topcoat unlike the other products we are discussing that only sit on top until the bond weakens. You can no more distinguish when you go thru OC/OG than you could tell which layer of clear you were on. The beading is the closest you can tell, but I cannot imagine a situation where you'd need to fully remove it. Even if you need to do a scratch removal, just reapply the coating to the area when done. If it doesn't flash to clear like normal, just take 3-5 minutes to lightly polish that panel and try again. It's neither difficult nor time consuming. Even if you only applied it to part of a panel, you can polish out the line quickly if there is one.


.
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This makes absolute sense but I hadnt thought it through before. Thanks Chris! I love learning more about this amazing product!
 
I wasn't trying to maintain anything with a hand pad
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In that case we were obviously talking at cross purposes then.

My original tests were designed to simulate maintaining an OG/OC surface. As I stated previously light polishing was performed on various panels of a number of OG coated vehicles. The tests that all failed the beading test to various degrees were performed at 30, 60 and 90 days.

I’ve just been informed by Dr. G. that they now consider a fully cured OG/OC surface is 90 days, where as in January, Chris indicated a fully cured OG surface was 30 days. I’ll check with Dr. G to see if this is something new their testing has revealed or just another miscommunication between Dr. G and Chris.

Since some of these OG coated vehicles are now well and truly past 90 days, I’ll repeat my tests.
 
I have also heard 90 days. It iss academic IMO because I fix the high spots during application and leave it alone thereafter. Optimum Polish II and a white pad will remove any coating Ive tried even 9 months after application.
 
gmck said:
I’ve just been informed by Dr. G. that they now consider a fully cured OG/OC surface is 90 days, where as in January, Chris indicated a fully cured OG surface was 30 days. I’ll check with Dr. G to see if this is something new their testing has revealed or just another miscommunication between Dr. G and Chris.

Since some of these OG coated vehicles are now well and truly past 90 days, I’ll repeat my tests.
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Once again, there is no miscommunication...just your misunderstanding/misapplication. It can take up to 90 depending on climate and heat exposure. The average time for this time of year in the US is 30 days give or take. There is no magic moment when it goes from not cured to cured. The cure time is determined by exposure to heat...not time.

Old Tiger said:
I have also heard 90 days. It is academic IMO because I fix the high spots during application and leave it alone thereafter. Optimum Polish II and a white pad will remove any coating Ive tried even 9 months after application.
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I remember the first couple of syringes of the original Opti Coat (pro only) that I used. I swear it fully hardened in about a week. I had to use 3000 grit to remove a drop I missed and left on the fender. Both the current offerings take longer to harden now. That is a huge plus for the do it yourselfer and detailer's alike unless the customer is a polishing addict or likes to operate in test mode. For myself, I actually preferred the faster cure time.
 
Once again, there is no miscommunication...just your misunderstanding/misapplication.
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I suppose I should have expected that type of response from you. You couldn’t possibly be wrong – with you it is always user error, never Chris’s error. You stated in a pm to me Jan 9th that 30 days is sufficient cure time for polishing with Poli-Seal. Of course my results at the time indicated to you that 30 days and even 60 days were not sufficient time because Poli-Seal easily removed the coating during my tests.

I then recently repeated that 30 day info in this thread and Dr. G. immediately emails me to correct my statement, stating the following “One thing I wanted to clarify is that Opti-Coat/Opti-Guard takes up to 3 months to cure and I am sorry if there was any miscommunications again.”

One thing I’ve learnt from your posts here is to never take them too literally, because they are sure to change or be amended by Dr. G the next time the same or a similar question is asked.

Perhaps Chris, you should take just a little more time and care with your answers and maybe these mammoth useless threads about OC/OG may shrink to something more reasonable. As they are now, they are just full of misinformation about OC/OG.
 
gmck said:
I suppose I should have expected that type of response from you. You couldn’t possibly be wrong – with you it is always user error, never Chris’s error. You stated in a pm to me Jan 9th that 30 days is sufficient cure time for polishing with Poli-Seal. Of course my results at the time indicated to you that 30 days and even 60 days were not sufficient time because Poli-Seal easily removed the coating during my tests.

I then recently repeated that 30 day info in this thread and Dr. G. immediately emails me to correct my statement, stating the following “One thing I wanted to clarify is that Opti-Coat/Opti-Guard takes up to 3 months to cure and I am sorry if there was any miscommunications again.”

One thing I’ve learnt from your posts here is to never take them too literally, because they are sure to change or be amended by Dr. G the next time the same or a similar question is asked.

Perhaps Chris, you should take just a little more time and care with your answers and maybe these mammoth useless threads about OC/OG may shrink to something more reasonable. As they are now, they are just full of misinformation about OC/OG.
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That's weird, I've had nothing but good experiences with Chris and his answers on multiple forums. I'd have to give him some credit trying to stay up with so many forums/ questions, his detailing company, and online store. There's so many variables that come into play with chemicals, to be honest theres no right answer that's gonna be 100% correct for every situation and person because even the way I apply a product will differ from you even using the same equipment to apply it and the climate your in vs myself. Just my thoughts on it though.
 
gmck said:
I suppose I should have expected that type of response from you. You couldn’t possibly be wrong – with you it is always user error, never Chris’s error. You stated in a pm to me Jan 9th that 30 days is sufficient cure time for polishing with Poli-Seal. Of course my results at the time indicated to you that 30 days and even 60 days were not sufficient time because Poli-Seal easily removed the coating during my tests.

I then recently repeated that 30 day info in this thread and Dr. G. immediately emails me to correct my statement, stating the following “One thing I wanted to clarify is that Opti-Coat/Opti-Guard takes up to 3 months to cure and I am sorry if there was any miscommunications again.”

One thing I’ve learnt from your posts here is to never take them too literally, because they are sure to change or be amended by Dr. G the next time the same or a similar question is asked.

Perhaps Chris, you should take just a little more time and care with your answers and maybe these mammoth useless threads about OC/OG may shrink to something more reasonable. As they are now, they are just full of misinformation about OC/OG.
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Graham,

Chris and I have tried very hard to assist you with all your testing although most of them I do not find very realistic. Case and point, when you polished Opti-Coat with Poli-Seal within 24 hours to add a second layer! Chris has been very patient with you and that is the way he is with all the forum members. However, there must be some language barrier when I say up to 3 months and Chris says 1-3 months depending on temperature, you see that as contradictory!

Your results have been very different from the testings we have done as well as many others that have shared with us. I am not sure if it has to do with your process, the pads, the pressure, the voltage difference, or what. Perhaps we can meet up at some point in the future and compare notes. Till then I appreciate if you extend the same courtesy to Chris as he has done for you and not to try to discredit him when he is perfectly right on the target! Thank you.

Best Regards,
David,
 
However, there must be some language barrier when I say up to 3 months and Chris says 1-3 months depending on temperature, you see that as contradictory!
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David,

I find these conversations rather pointless in public. I'm presently replying to your last email and your latest theories, you should have it shortly.

However now that you have gone public, in the interest of accuracy, I feel it is only fair to quote from Chris's pm to me just to prove that Chris did say 30 days, not 1-3 months as you suggest here.

The following was my question and Chris's answer.


1. What is considered a suitable cure time before an Opti-Coated vehicle can be maintained with Poli-Seal?

30 days is sufficient.


I doubt the above constitutes any sort of language barrier and as you can see there was no mention of temperature. As it was summer here, I'd expect the claimed fully cured period would be closer to 30 days than 90 days.

As you already know from our previous discussions, obviously that answer was incorrect for at that time I had already completed the 30 day test and Poli-Seal removed the OG as per my test conditions.

As I said in a recent post here I will repeat the same tests since some of these vehicles are now well past 90 days.
 
gmck, there is such a thing as respectfully disagreeing. This is a great thread that Corey put a lot of work into and I don't want to see it derailed. You guys should figure this out in private.
 
gmck said:
David,

I find these conversations rather pointless in public. I'm presently replying to your last email and your latest theories, you should have it shortly.

However now that you have gone public, in the interest of accuracy, I feel it is only fair to quote from Chris's pm to me just to prove that Chris did say 30 days, not 1-3 months as you suggest here.

The following was my question and Chris's answer.


1. What is considered a suitable cure time before an Opti-Coated vehicle can be maintained with Poli-Seal?

30 days is sufficient.


I doubt the above constitutes any sort of language barrier and as you can see there was no mention of temperature. As it was summer here, I'd expect the claimed fully cured period would be closer to 30 days than 90 days.

As you already know from our previous discussions, obviously that answer was incorrect for at that time I had already completed the 30 day test and Poli-Seal removed the OG as per my test conditions.

As I said in a recent post here I will repeat the same tests since some of these vehicles are now well past 90 days.
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Gmck, lets dial it back a little. Please try and keep your comments related to the topic at hand.
 
gmck said:
In that case we were obviously talking at cross purposes then.

My original tests were designed to simulate maintaining an OG/OC surface. As I stated previously light polishing was performed on various panels of a number of OG coated vehicles. The tests that all failed the beading test to various degrees were performed at 30, 60 and 90 days.
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Different purpose sure, but we are basically doing the same thing, opti-coat versus polish. In the next 2-3 weeks I will get a beading test done on the trunk with at least two section consisting of opti-coat, opti-coat with final polish/gray pad, and if I really get after it, opti-coat with polish II/white pad.

And again, the results you got is what I expected when I did my first water test on the door panel (no or reduced beading). The trunk will make a good test because I was putting the opti-coat on pretty light at that point (little to no high spots) but by the time I did the door in question, I was applying it heavier to intentionally get high spots...
 
Gmck, I'm not totally sure the point you are trying to make? Is it to let everyone know that they may need to wait 90 days to polish it? Or is it to try and discredit Optimum?
 
Perfections said:
That's weird, I've had nothing but good experiences with Chris and his answers on multiple forums. I'd have to give him some credit trying to stay up with so many forums/ questions, his detailing company, and online store. There's so many variables that come into play with chemicals, to be honest theres no right answer that's gonna be 100% correct for every situation and person because even the way I apply a product will differ from you even using the same equipment to apply it and the climate your in vs myself. Just my thoughts on it though.
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Thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt, but it's not that I'm busy and gave bad info. And you are 100% correct that application can be situational. Graham (gmck) does a lot of "what if" testing that is not very realistic or useful. I've tried to help him find out why he get s the results he does both in public and private conversations, but at the end I always feel like I've been taken for a ride.

The truth is that he is the only customer that I have ever heard from that has had these issues. That is why I am certain he is misusing or at least using Opti Coat outside its intended purposes. I really don't ever want to respond when I see him comment in a thread, but I certainly don't want any potential Optimum customers to read his posts and deduce that he's any kind of authority on the coating. If for no other reason than his results are definitely not typical.

To my knowledge there are only two people that have been using the coating longer than me and it's only by a few months. Dr. G is brilliant at concocting the magic potions we use, but even he will defer real world application questions to me. So, anything you guys want to know about the coating and it's application, feel free to ask and rest assured that I will give you the right answer. If its something theorhetical or unprecedented, I will gladly help you work through it and we can figure it out together.
 
Hey Chris! It was great to see you again at Detail Fest. I meant to get back over to your booth after the coatings class but I didn't get the chance unfortunately. I do have a question for you though. I will be polishing my car after pollen season and then Opti-Coating it. My intent is to use CarPro Eraser in place of IPA prior to applying the Opti-Coat. Do you foresee any issues by doing this?
 
CieraSL said:
Hey Chris! It was great to see you again at Detail Fest. I meant to get back over to your booth after the coatings class but I didn't get the chance unfortunately. I do have a question for you though. I will be polishing my car after pollen season and then Opti-Coating it. My intent is to use CarPro Eraser in place of IPA prior to applying the Opti-Coat. Do you foresee any issues by doing this?
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No issues at all. Eraser will do well to prep your surface for the coating. I enjoyed catching up and meeting your dad! Let me know how the application goes.
 
Chris@Optimum said:
No issues at all. Eraser will do well to prep your surface for the coating. I enjoyed catching up and meeting your dad! Let me know how the application goes.
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Will do! I may do a writeup on it - we'll see. Definitely needs a polish though - it hasn't had one in over 2 years. :dig:
 
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