Thinking about Opti Coat or another coating...help decide!

I think u wasted u time and money by layering
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Not at all. A second coat gives a higher insurance that the entire surface was covered and two coats are more resistant to the elements than one, especially if polishing becomes necessary for one reason or another. Furthermore, the Opti-Coat will cover more than one car but if one doesn't have another car than it goes in a drawer and by the time it's needed again, it may have dried out.

If I go with Opti-Coat 2, I will definitely layer.
 
Houckster said:
I'd like to chime in with a question for Chris.

Specifically, I have picked up from this forum that even the sealants won't stop things like water etching, bug splats and bird bombs from attacking the paint. Since I don't mind applying sealants etc, the real attraction of Opti Coat 2 to me is whether the paint will be absolutely protected against these problems.
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It will if it doesnt etch all the way thru the coating. OC is ~ 1 mil as I recall. That is 5X thicker than ceramic clear!
 
cfarley27 said:
About 2 days. Between the layering I drove it, so I did a waterless wash then an IPA wipe down. Some people don't recommend the IPA wipe down but my paint is extremely hard so it is a little more resistant to marring.
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Your paint doesnt matter at that point. OC is the functional surface after a few days.
 
with the explanation that chris did as far as layering I'll admit I was wrong in the fact 2.0 can be layered . I also have not see this explanation in any threads . if one were to go back on previous threads u will see many of times can not be layered , will not bond ...... . I don't know what else to say . I was wrong and so were a lot of others before me then also . given the fact that u can layer within the guidelines chris has given , I'd prob layer too now .
 
Houckster said:
Not at all. A second coat gives a higher insurance that the entire surface was covered and two coats are more resistant to the elements than one, especially if polishing becomes necessary for one reason or another. Furthermore, the Opti-Coat will cover more than one car but if one doesn't have another car than it goes in a drawer and by the time it's needed again, it may have dried out.

If I go with Opti-Coat 2, I will definitely layer.
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If you put the cap back on the syringe, shelf life is indefinate! No other coating can claim this feature. Syringe is brilliant for stowage. I dont like it for application. I use 2.5 oz finger pump misters made by Fontasia to apply. 5 to 7 mls depending on vehicle.
 
poweraid said:
with the explanation that chris did as far as layering I'll admit I was wrong in the fact 2.0 can be layered . I also have not see this explanation in any threads . if one were to go back on previous threads u will see many of times can not be layered , will not bond ...... . I don't know what else to say . I was wrong and so were a lot of others before me then also . given the fact that u can layer within the guidelines chris has given , I'd prob layer too now .
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You arent wrong. They tweaked the 2.0 formula early this year or late last. There is a post on L2D about it.
 
Thanks Old Tiger for your comments. I hadn't seen anything in regard to storage life on the Optimum website. They really should have more information about such an excellent product. Thank goodness for this forum.
 
Old Tiger said:
You arent wrong. They tweaked the 2.0 formula early this year or late last. There is a post on L2D about it.
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I'll have to check but I think I got all 4 of my syringes prob like around sept . more than likely the untweaked . would u know if that could be layered say within 5-30 mins ? or I am sol on layering with untweaked version . also how does 2.0 do on plastic trim ? does it have a darkening effect and last long ? how would u remove it also from plastic trim if u had to ? I use uttg right now , but being that I prob have untweaked version I'll just have to use it up on something if it works well .
 
i want to get opti-coat but i love waxing too much! LOL however i think i may just bite on it so i can have something to show customers exactly what it is and what it does. i do wish someone had a high quality video of it being applied to light colors...
 
Houckster said:
Thanks Old Tiger for your comments. I hadn't seen anything in regard to storage life on the Optimum website. They really should have more information about such an excellent product. Thank goodness for this forum.
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You are very welcome sir!
 
poweraid said:
I'll have to check but I think I got all 4 of my syringes prob like around sept . more than likely the untweaked . would u know if that could be layered say within 5-30 mins ? or I am sol on layering with untweaked version . also how does 2.0 do on plastic trim ? does it have a darkening effect and last long ? how would u remove it also from plastic trim if u had to ? I use uttg right now , but being that I prob have untweaked version I'll just have to use it up on something if it works well .
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Im pretty sure you dont have latest version. It does well on trim but doesnt darken it much. I would apply UTTG and then use a strong cleaner like TarX to remove all residue. Then I would try oc.
 
opie_7afe said:
i want to get opti-coat but i love waxing too much! LOL however i think i may just bite on it so i can have something to show customers exactly what it is and what it does. i do wish someone had a high quality video of it being applied to light colors...
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Chris Thomas has a great application video. I think the car is light. He uses a mist sprayer and a MF pad. I dont have a link but someone will.
 
poweraid said:
I'll have to check but I think I got all 4 of my syringes prob like around sept . more than likely the untweaked . would u know if that could be layered say within 5-30 mins ? or I am sol on layering with untweaked version . also how does 2.0 do on plastic trim ? does it have a darkening effect and last long ? how would u remove it also from plastic trim if u had to ? I use uttg right now , but being that I prob have untweaked version I'll just have to use it up on something if it works well .
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Removing it from plastic would be problematic I think, just from the standpoint you have to abrasively remove it and there is no way to remove it completely without hitting those abrasives against the plastic.

Regarding which version of Opti-Coat 2.0 you may have, my understanding is that if you have a car on the syringe, you have the new one. I got my first one last fall during the VIP sale on it (Sep - Oct?) and it is the same syringe I received in the mail today.
 
opie_7afe said:
i want to get opti-coat but i love waxing too much! LOL however i think i may just bite on it so i can have something to show customers exactly what it is and what it does. i do wish someone had a high quality video of it being applied to light colors...
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I most definitely plan to wax over my opti-coat, I figure it is cheaper than a head shrink... I haven't tried it yet but I don't doubt the waxes will wear off quicker, however, you are still going to get the visual change from the wax for some period of time.

When I opti-coat the wifes car, I plan to do only part of the trunk, let it cure for 30 days, and then try to do a side by side comparison of wax on opticoat, opticoat, wax on paint....

Your right, she isn't completely happy about having part of her trunk "unprotected" as she put it, but it has been like that for the last 8-9 years and for crying in the mud, what about science?
 
poweraid said:
with the explanation that chris did as far as layering I'll admit I was wrong in the fact 2.0 can be layered . I also have not see this explanation in any threads . if one were to go back on previous threads u will see many of times can not be layered , will not bond ...... . I don't know what else to say . I was wrong and so were a lot of others before me then also . given the fact that u can layer within the guidelines chris has given , I'd prob layer too now .
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I'm sorry, I meant to address that. The original OC (pro only) went through all three steps in just a few hours-days. It could not be layered at all without a light polish in between applications. We initially stated that it couldn't be layered because in a sense, the polishing step changes the idea of true layering...ie one coat topping another. OC 2.0 has always had the potential to layer, but we didn't discover it until we tried it after its release. Then, we decided it wouldn't be that hard to update the pro version to perform similarly so the pro version got an update.

So, there was a time when Opti Coat wouldn't layer. It was when it was pro only...before OC 2.0 and before we started calling the pro coating Opti Guard.
 
Chris@Optimum said:
I'm sorry, I meant to address that. The original OC (pro only) went through all three steps in just a few hours-days. It could not be layered at all without a light polish in between applications. We initially stated that it couldn't be layered because in a sense, the polishing step changes the idea of true layering...ie one coat topping another. OC 2.0 has always had the potential to layer, but we didn't discover it until we tried it after its release. Then, we decided it wouldn't be that hard to update the pro version to perform similarly so the pro version got an update.

So, there was a time when Opti Coat wouldn't layer. It was when it was pro only...before OC 2.0 and before we started calling the pro coating Opti Guard.
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Thanks Chris! I got confused. I get the OG from you and I didnt realize that the tweak was only for OG. BTW please post your most excellent video again!
 
I'm definitely coating all my cars now that I've read this, I'm lucky and dot have any products yet. If I made high spots do I just wile them with a MF? What I don't understand is I paint Homes, and if you try to fix paint while it's drying it's worth to just redo it all as it will smear. Also will this work on a gel coated toy hauler?? Thanks!
 
Jomax said:
I'm definitely coating all my cars now that I've read this, I'm lucky and dot have any products yet. If I made high spots do I just wile them with a MF? What I don't understand is I paint Homes, and if you try to fix paint while it's drying it's worth to just redo it all as it will smear. Also will this work on a gel coated toy hauler?? Thanks!
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You don't wipe it while it's drying or it WILL smear. You wipe it on the panel, wait for 90% of the panel to flash clear, then lightly wipe off what hasn't flashed (only excess). If you wait until the excess has started to dry in those thick areas it will smear. You don't buff the panel, rub it in, or anything like that.
 
Chris@Optimum said:
You don't wipe it while it's drying or it WILL smear. You wipe it on the panel, wait for 90% of the panel to flash clear, then lightly wipe off what hasn't flashed (only excess). If you wait until the excess has started to dry in those thick areas it will smear. You don't buff the panel, rub it in, or anything like that.
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Sweet, it makes sense and seems easy to do!
 
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