I just got Opti Coat. Am I being too critical?
 

edit: added more pictures

I just bought a BRZ in New Hampshire on Nov 1 and drove it home to Memphis. I heard good things about a place called Word of Mouth Detailing, so I made an appointment to get Opti Coat put on. They said it was going to cost $200 if the car didn't need polishing. I dropped it off on Monday night, Nov 11. The owner, Joe, called me on Tuesday morning and let me know that there were scratches/swirls on the paint (which was true) and that the car would need to be polished and clay barred. I asked the cost and he said another $275. I wasn't excited about it but I wanted the car to look right, so I agreed.

Joe called back at about 3:00PM and told me that the car would be ready at 5:30PM. He said that the Opti Coat would probably take a couple of days to cure since it was cold outside. He told me to leave it in the sun during the day and garage it at night. Joe then lets me know that since the car is black that there may be some spots that show imperfections, but that the work's been done right and that it looks good. This is not really want I want to hear after the work is already done and I've paid over double the price I was originally intending, but I don't make a big deal of it.

I got to the detailer at about 5:30PM and it was already dark. There are not any street lights anywhere near my car, but I have some light from the inside of the shop, and from what I can see, the driver's side looks good. I paid the $475 and got into my car and immediately notice that the inside has been detailed. Once I get home I also notice that the tires have been cleaned and had product applied to them. This bugs me a little because I never spoke with anyone about having a full detail done and if I could have just had the polishing done at a cheaper price, then that's what I would have wanted. I put the car in the garage. It's pretty dim in there, but with a flashlight I find a spot near the gas cap that looks like it may have been missed when the Opti Coat was applied.

The next morning, I have to leave early, but I pull the car out of the garage and look at the spot I had found and it's obviously different than the rest of the finish, and there is a bigger spot just above the first with the same problem.

Once I get to work, the sun is coming out and I get to look the car over fully, and I find a bunch of smoky sort of swirls. I can't tell if it's a problem with the polishing that was done, if the Opti Coat is just not right, or if there is something on the surface that can just be rubbed off, but I don't plan on touching any of it until I take it back and have them look at it.

At this point I'm really disappointed. 90% of the car looks great, but I feel like I paid more money than I should have for this result. I just found a good flashlight and took some pictures of the spots that look like they were missed. The smoky swirls are not visible under this LED flashlight, so I guess I will have to wait until the morning to try to get pictures of that.

I haven't talked to anyone yet, but I plan on taking the car back by Word of Mouth in the morning to see what they tell me. Just wanted to check in here and make sure that my expectations weren't just too high and to make sure that I am not being unreasonable.

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I was able to get some pictures of the smoky swirls now that there is some daylight.

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Just go back and show them the spots.

If they don't fix it or its just a small that can cleaned off..well give them the "word of the mouth".


Keep us updated, i'm interested on how this turns out since i would like to get Opti Coat eventually.

Well, you want to make sure you're fully happy, so that's what I'd aim for... And nothing less. That's my belief.

All the best.

just take it back and show them the imperfections and they should fix it free of charge. I really don't see why they wouldn't.

and the price you paid seems pretty fair. at least that's comparable to what I've seen around the forums.


EDIT: make sure you give them a call as soon as possible to make them aware of the imperfections if you're not able to get the car to them the day after.

those are just high spots in the OC, spend 3 min to buff them off with a microfiber towel

but lol 275 just for opticoat youve got to be kidding me?

Sorry to say but you got ripped off. Big time. I charge $80 on to apply OC.

For reference I own www.streetdreamsmd.com

you guys are lucky. Kids this side of the world charge 500+ just for opticoat

The Opticoat itself is cheap. The syringe costs $65 here in Canada. The price most people pay ($300-$500) is for the prep. Opticoat bonds to everything under it, so the wax and contaminants have to be stripped. Then it has to be clay bar'd and polished to ensure no imperfections are left before Opticoat is applied. THAT is what you pay for in the Opticoat application. $80 to apply Opticoat sounds great, but I wouldn't want to apply Opticoat on top of wax and contaminants. It will permanently bond them under it. My car was fresh and less than a month old and still required us to work 9 hours on it before it was fully prepped for Opticoat. If you guys have some time and want to see the proper prep needed for Opticoat this is the write up on my vehicle:

http://www.detailingbliss.com/forum/...962#post354962

The scuffs you see are the high spots. Chris is right about the buffing to get it out, but I'd recommend applying the opticoat over that spot again. You are not being too critical, for that price the Opticoat should be applied 100% with 0 imperfections.

I'll take you up on that 80$ deal, i'm in nova.

Wow man I'm already on the ropes about getting this for my car....This didnt help. I hope you get this sorted out! That is too expensive to be let down like that.

I've seen $1,100+ for the 'usual' price including prep and removing a few swirls and then someone from WA said it cost even more over here!!!!!!!!!!

$80 is unbelievable!

WA is an anomaly. fuckwits think everyone works in mining. (says the guy whos typing this from Pt.Hedland :/)

I dont think you're too critical. If you would not care about your car, you would not polish or opti coat it at all.
As a detailer, either you aim for perfection, or you're in the wrong business. It's quiet odd for me that a detailer tells you on the phone that it may have some imperfections but the job has been done right. That just makes no sence to me, because if the job is done right the car will be perfect (ofc as long as the paint was not abused the past 10 years:-)

It's an easy fix. Don't let it scare you away. Opticoat imperfections can be remedied without much effort within 30 days. After that, it will need another prep job.

The detailer probably had insufficient light or was just lazy.

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I paid $375 for a 1-step polish, paint correction and opti-coat. No interior. Seems a bit high IMHO.

I went in and spoke with the owner. He said that the spots look like the product was heavy in those areas, but he thinks that having the sun on it for a few weeks may allow it to even out on its own (I don't believe this will happen, but OK). He asked for me to give it 3 weeks and if it doesn't look right that he'll do what it takes to correct it... he'll either redo those sections or strip it all off and start over.

So, to be continued...

As mentioned earlier those appear to be high spots when they applied the Opti-Coat (or Opti-Guard). I'm no expert, but I really don't think they'll go away on their own.

I Opti-Coated my BRZ and was careful not to leave any high-spots. Applying this is not hard and doing it right won't leave any spots.

In the Atlanta area they are charging $600 or more for the same service!

Just a heads up, those spots will not fix themselves.. I'm shocked to see this kind of work in the home town of opti coat!! Optimum polymer technology is in Memphis! If your installer needs help with his process to prevent high spots, have him give me a call or join the optimumforums.org site for more assistance.

Like everyone says easy fix, put a little painters tape beside all the spots you want him to fix, and he'll be able to polish those spots off with ease. I actually have a customer who has the same problem, the reason for my high spots was I was working in a very humid area with the heaters on ( winter) Opti Coat was streaking like crazy after I opened the door to let some of the steam out, I was able to control the streaking but I told the customer I may have missed a spot or two so he's coming back tomorrow so I can take care of it.

I've actually never seen a Opti coat/guard installation go as low as $80.

you quoted me $420-430 for that and $350 without.

yours is that low also.

While I'm a perfectionist about this stuff I know how difficult this sorta crap can get with weather conditions or poor lighting. Sorry about your unfortunate experience hope its fixed....

That the going rate in our city.

$350 is decon + installation
$420 is decon + 1 Step light polish + installation. In any case it's $150 for just the OG installation. I'm on the bare minimum (what I believe to be) because of what our market (GTA) is willing to pay.

I charge $395 just for a single stage polish plus $199 for Opti Coat ( forum members get it for $100).

They are high spots as mentioned and will not go away. They will need to be polished with a finishing pad and polish. Might as well take it back now and get it taken care of.

Just wanna throw out a thanks to everyone for supplying all this info on opti coat. I'm less and less scared to go for it the more I hear about it

In all fairness I was part of a group buy which reduced the price by $75. The detailer I go to does the polish + opti-guard for $450

Man I wish some of you were closer to me, locally the cheapest i've found Opti Coat is for $600. That is with all the prep to but that's still to much for me. I still do a pretty good job with maintaing my car though:)

Nevada eh? ROAD TRIP!!!

insufficient lighting is my guess which led to them not noticing the high spots and fixing them prior to the product curing. But I still fault them for not giving it a proper inspection in decent lighting prior to handing it off to the client

Bringing back an older thread, but do we know how this turned out? Did Word of Mouth make things right? Also OP, do you know if they used the OptiCoat Pro or OptiCoat 2.0 product?

just looks like streaking from a quick detailer. would probably come off with a few wipes of a microfiber cloth. NBD bro

You did not overpay for the detail if he's using correct products, prep, and procedure. Detailers in my area can cost 3x for the same service.

Not a big deal, I had some high spots after applying mine. Try buffing it with a microfiber and some quick detailer (make sure the area is clean first). If it doesn't come off it will need some very light polishing.