Opti coat

Has anyone on here used opti coat? I'm thinking of having my truck done and was wondering what people thought of it.

 

I'm actually an authorized installer of the product (Mr. Sparkle Detailing - Long Island NY). So I'm pretty familiar with the prep, the product, and basically the whole thing.

its not bullet proof but its better than any other wax or sealant out there. Its really apples in oranges. Regular wax or sealant wears away over the course of a few months (or less / more). Opti Coat is there permanently. Can only be removed through an abrasive means (compounding, wet sanding).

It may need a 'cleanup' here or there (light polishing with the cleaner wax from the Optimum product line). But its not going anywhere. Also the product can go on all exterior trim (plastic or otherwise) and the wheels.

really sheds dirt easily and for my clients who have it installed, washes are a breeze

The whole thing with the install is the prep work. Paint has to be near perfect prior to application. So paint correction work is needed, which can get pricey. Referring to compounding and polishing the paint but guys like me aren't like the car wash workers. I've got a long list of polishers, cabinet full of pads, compounds, polishes, specialty lighting in the garage to see paint defects. Unless your truck is brand new, if you contacted me I'd put aside 2 full days on my schedule for all the paint correction work with Opti-Coat Pro install.

Be careful - 2 types of Opti-Coat on the market. "2.0" is the retail version. You could polish your truck and apply yourself if you like. Authorized installers like myself use Opti-Coat "Pro" which is less user friendly to apply, but more durable.

Any questions feel free to ask!

For anyone interested, link to map of authorized installers of Opti-Coat

http://www.opti-coat.net/approved-dealers.php

 

It is good stuff. My shop is an authorized dealer for Opti-Coat PRO and cQuartz Finest in Atlanta and our clients absolutely love both of them.

Here is a video of it after 1 year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4dsq6xM1X0

 

OK I had my truck sprayed with Opti-Coat PRO last spring what should I use as wax or polish or sealant I would be doing it by hand me and buffers don't get along lol.

Thanks John

 

You don't apply wax over opti coat...it's counter productive to the product. To answer the original poster.. Opti coat is okay. There are some off the shelf stuff that is pretty good. If a pro does it... C.Quartz Finest and Opti coat is good so you don't have to wax anymore.

To maintain opti coat they have a product to apply afterwards as maintenance I forgot the name. But I used GTechniq EXO on top of OC with great results. I had my detailer apply it for me. It's good stuff...I also applied it over the PPF of the front clip of my BRZ when I had it.

If you wash your own car... OC will still scratch if you are not careful with washing the truck.

 

Great stuff. I have it on my truck. My truck is 5 years old and it looks better than when it was new.


Truck looks clean even when it's dirty

 

How much did you guys pay to get it done?

 

It depends on the condition of the paint. If it's out of the dealer showroom new...they'll still want to charge $600+. If your paint has swirls galore, then the color correction will take longer. My new BRZ was a 12+ hour job. It all depends on your level of acceptance and how much the detailer will charge you. Last quote I had for my truck was even more, so I'm thinking of getting a high end polisher and doing it myself and using good products from autogeek. The consumer level aftermarket will be just as good as the pro stuff. The pro stuff will be "better" the factory will claim, but folks like Optimum that ones that makes OC, they don't offer lifetime guarantees anymore.

Also understand if you go off road....this is paint protection....not scratch protection...you'll end up still with scratches. OC and C Quartz are good for making it look shiny and sacrificial layer to damages.

 

So since I go off roading all the time it would not be a good idea to do this?

 

Probably not, you can but that's on you if you want to keep correcting it/polishing it out.

 

If you go off roading a lot and run into brushes...paint protection film will help, but it's meant for rock chips and street hazard...not off roading and rubbing against rocks and branches...if you don't rub into any of that...then yeah you're okay. I just saw a thread where someone complain the paint sucks because they can't run through a tree branch without scratches.

If you treat your truck more like a car then yeah...OC will work well, but there are other products on autogeek that will do just as good of a job for $50 to $100. The majority of the charge is the labor for paint correction and the name and marketing of OC where they force their dealers at certain pricepoint. It's not an iron shield, but it was nice that it made the paint a bit more smooth and resistance to things stick...C.Quartz will probably do a better job, but both are good.

Guess what I'm saying in short is OFF road and paint protection isn't used together very often. Then again my definition of off roading is running into ditches and rocky patches and trying to get out of it and sometimes you will encounter a branch where you will scrape the shit out of the paint. PPF will help, but have to be realistic about the protection you are looking for if you off road.

 

All I get is the occasional tree branch scratch, but I don't want to have to go out and get my truck polished every time I get one...

 

OC is to protect the paint from not needing to wax and such...if bird poops on your truck...you still need to wash it off quickly so it doesn't etch through the paint. Same thing as water spots. My point is why do you want to spend the extra money on OC if you go off roading and rub up against a tree branch and such. If you enjoy doing that...then invest the money in something else. That's just my suggestion. Though if you want your truck to look a little bit shinier...actually OC will dull it a bit. C. Quartz finest has a shinier pop to it. OC isn't bad...will do the job as I mentioned. Just trying to figure out why you want OC?

 

I don't necessarily want it, I actually just found out about it today. I would just like to have a really shiny truck. But not for 600+ bucks haha

 

Can do you yourself for less than $100 to $150. Harbor freight DA polisher for $50 to $60 and then another $50 to $100 in supplies. Just go slow and not too much pressure when learning...keep pads clean and you shouldn't have swirl marks or pig tails. I haven't done it yet, but I spent a lot of time with my detailer. Since the last quote was too much, I thought about just buying pro gear and doing it myself.

 

Yes having the "pro gear" I.e. Polishers, different pads, and compounds is always better than shelling out to have it detailed every other month or so. And lighting is your friend! Don't want to miss a spot.

 

When you say paint has to be near perfect do you mean like no scratches or spider-webbing at all? I did a full paint correction myself on my rig back in march and then I was stupid and took it down a narrow trail, it got some light brush scratches on it, but I know that the original paint correction I did probably removed enough clear coat to where you wouldn't want to use any abrasives on it again. Or would you say that it would be safe to use a less aggressive polish like Meguiars 205 again? My truck was practically brand new at the time of the original correction I did, just to get it 99% perfect, it's a '15. So would you say it'd be safe to do another light, and not so aggressive correction to remove minor defects? Thanks!

 

color correction if done right...you would be able to do several times before you got down the base paint. If you have a 2015 and you did a one time color correction and then you feel that you can't do it again...you did too much abrasive. The point of color correction is to remove all defects that you can remove. You wash the truck, clay bar, wash again, then you remove all grease and residue left from cleaning and claying. Now you do color correction for any light scratches and swirl marks that you can remove. The point is that once OC or any other paint sealant is that any defect not removed is going to stay and show when you apply the paint sealant.

If it's only a section of the truck that has deep scratch and you can't go any further...adding OC will add a mini layer of protection... If you do it yourself... then wouldn't be bad...worse comes to worse is that section of the damage is resprayed. The worse part of paint repair is color matching. I had a black car and a pro shop with big reputation didn't color match to my standards...I was never happy with it...but black is hard to color match.

 

Do you have the opti coat pro or the do-it-yourself opticoat 2.0 ???
That looks really good. How's it holding up?

 

I believe it's the pro. Unfortunately the truck stays outside, I use a cover once in a while but it's a pain to put on and remove, specially when it gets wet after night. Since we don't have water to spare here in Cali, I'm also using meguiar's D115 rinse free express wash and wax. After I'm dome the truck looks great again, And if it gets a dirty you can still see the reflection.
I would higly recommend this product. Just make sure it gets installed by a professional and that the paint it's flawless before the application.