This is why I love Opti-Coat
 

Not trying to add to the wall of opticoat threads but just wanted to share my happiness on the forums since it rained pretty hard today.

My opti-coated frs vs. the car next to me.

That's awesome. I see you have 35/20 tint in your signature. Is that 20 all around with 35 on the windshield? How do you like that? That's the exact combo I'm wanting.

My windshield isn't tinted at all. I have 35 on my side windows and 20 on by small side and back windows. Personally I think it's the best combo simply because it can give the illusion my sides aren't tinted at all to cops since my side small windows are ever so slightly darker.

Not to add to the wax vs opticoat debate, but a $9 bottle of synthetic wax will bead water like the top picture for months. The car in the bottom pic looks like it has no wax at all.

Very true.

I wasn't really sure there was an opti coat vs wax debate? They are so different comparing them makes absolutely no sense.

100% Truth! Even the shittiest off the shelf wax will produce the exact same results and often times better. As mentioned that bottom pic looks brutal like someone washed the car with dishsoap (zero wax).

Getting tired of all the OptiCoat BS on this forum. Should just have a thread for all the sheep to post their rain pics and crap.

Maybe someone should start a thread with water beading on a waxed car since the folks here seem to have never heard of wax and its water repelling properties LOL

Opti-coat and wax are not used for their "water repelling properties." While those are very fun by-products/results, Opti-Coat and wax are there to protect the paint from environmental damages, such as UV rays, Acid rain and many others. Opti-Coat can do it's job up to 2 years and possibly more, Some waxes can last up to 5-6 months...a Crappy 9$ bottle will do 3 tops.

Just for you: Wax beading.

http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...868_7440_n.jpg

Hey just wondering what is the best temperature/ time i should wax my car? I got my frs over summer and i didnt opticoat it but i did buy some wax and a waxing machine.. i want to do it asap haha~~ sigh still early since its cold as hell out~~

I'd say optimal temperature is anywhere between 15 and 25 Celsius, but that doesn't mean that you can't do it in other temps. All products vary, so it wouldn't make sense to give you a specific temperature at which to apply your wax. The best time to wax your car is in fall and spring if you're limited in the number of times you can/want to wax the car, but the more often, the better. best would be once every 2-3 months, depending on the durability of the wax.

Do u work for or own that detailing business and do u apply opticoat there? U are a little bit off on ur info. Opticoat can do its job forever. It won't get washed off by rain or a thousand car washes so what (short of high speed polishing) would cause it to go away?. Also nu-finish is $8 at walmart here in the states. Technically on the bottle its called a liquid polish, but its basically a wax that'll last 6 months (says up to a year but I never let it go that long so idk).

Nothing can do its job forever. I honestly think the whole opticoat thing is overrated. I use Mothers California Gold...which is a carnauba wax.

Never had Opti-coat, Diamond Kote, etc on any of my cars. Just the occasional car wash. Cars still look good after all these years. No problems.

Carnauba wax don't last long, about 3 months. In my experience, i've used a few different kinds of wax before, and i highly recommend Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0. I wash my car about once a month in the summer and rinse once a week in the winter, i find the NXT Generation Tech wax 2.0 lasts about 8 months.

also, i find the NXT generation tech wax 2.0 really handy for plastic. once i accidentally damaged my dash board plastic with rubbing alcohol, then i applied some tech wax 2.0 the damage went away.

Spray wax every two months x two years = Approx $32
Opti-Coat (lasts 2 years) = Approx $400

Hmm.. can't make the math work.

Opti-coat lasts a lot more than 2 years. You thinking of C Quartz maybe?

Perhaps the best protection for paint is to leave it unwashed. The layered deposition of dust particles, and other mixed particulates in a hydrocarbon/plant resin matrix form a fairly thick and impenetrable covering to the paint. The only drawback is that some of the substances are not chemically inert. But they do provide a tough and resistant physical coating.

Hmm, is right. You can't make the math work. In your spray wax calculation, you didn't include LABOR. Yet, your opticoat number includes labor.

If you factor out labor, then opticoat is $69. And, as someone mentioned, OC lasts quite a bit longer than 2yrs.

Now, Mr. Mathematician, calculate the cost if you had a detailer paint correct and wax your car over the course of 2yrs.

I could see that if you don't wax your car yourself it's not really good but a bottle of 20$-30$ wax lasts about 2-3 years, and a few dollars for applicators/clothes and takes less than an hour after you wash your car...and you don't have to drive and drop your car off somewhere. Any one can wax a car and have nice results (waxing seems to be a lost art as I don't know much of my car friend who does it), from what I read, you need to know what you're doing to not screw up an opti coat application.

I would never attempt opticoat myself. If I thought I could do a good job of it I would pay the extra amount for the product. It would be silly for me to calculate in the cost of my leisure time "labor". As far as the two year figure for Opticoat, that's a conservative estimate. I don't doubt that it sometimes lasts longer.

Does Opticoat guaranties that it will last for 2 years? Or they will just say "The coatings are still there, you just can't see it"

Looks like Lifetime but this is from the OZ site.

http://www.optimumcarcare.com.au/pro...rotection.html

EDIT: Most likely depends on your OC dealer. I can't find anything regarding US OC guarantees other than the manufacturer saying it's a permanent treatment without actually saying anything about the warranty. The Australia site shows Warranty info. Maybe it's a mandated thing out there.

Actually, the Opti-Guard 2.0 only costs $69 on ebay. If you can find time for yourself to do the work, it will only cost a little over a hundred dollars after buying all the prep items....

yeah....no.

When prepping a car for Opti-Coat, it takes small amounts of products that come from bigger bottles, and machines that run the total to upwards of $1000. Then you have to figure that the work needs to be done right, which is rarely the case with someone without experience.

You are assuming the worst case scenario of requiring major paint correction with your price estimates. If it's just minor to no paint correction required, you can easily quantify the $60-70 for OC and apply it yourself.

Honestly, this is no different than anything else someone wants to do in this world. If you want to put in the time and effort to research and learn how to do something properly and do it yourself, then by all means go for it. If you don't want to do that or you're worried that you may mess it up, then hire someone to do it. The key to this is that you have to remember that even the professionals were DIY'ers or amateurs at some point. Understand the risks involved and whether you want to accept them and choose the path that makes the most sense to you.

Then why bother even doing Opti-Coat if you`re going to accept less than perfect? A quick look at what it takes to get decent results:

Rotary polisher (because even brand new, the paint will be damaged) Cheap ones can be had for $100, a good one is $300+
DA polisher to finish the paint perfectly $150 for a porter cable
Polishing pads $25
Bottle of megs 205 $30
Opti-Coat $70
Degreaser/Dish soap $5
Buckets/Wash media $20

This is JUST the basics to have a decent amateur job. The total is already at $600. And this doesn't even guaranty results because it's being done by a DIYer. If the job gets messed up, then it's even harder to fix because Opti-Coat MUST be polished/compounded off.

As professionals, we use more than just what's listed here. We also don't buy the small bottles for the most part, or cheap machines. So it's understandable that the total cost to perform 1 single Opti-Coat application requires more than $1000 in equipment/product.

As I said, this is to get a perfect job. You can obviously get Napa OTC products and try the job yourself, but it won't be close to a pros result...and in the end, the Opti-Coat will be the one getting the blame because no one takes responsibility for messing up.


I am not saying this to confront or argue with you. I am saying this because if it isn't said, that is exactly what will happen. People will buy the Opti-Coat themselves, do a less than perfect job, and claim Opti-Coat is garbage...which in the end, will hurt all the detailers that offer the service.

There are always a few other things that get factored into the equation as well.
Experience and reputation. More experience and better reputation more money.
Insurance
Advertising cost(websites ect)
Income taxes
Basic living costs
Equipment improvements
Profit (ya most professionals actually want a profit)
If they are mobile, gas and mechanical repairs, insurance
Etc.


sent using my thumbs, mispelling most words

Who said I accepted less than perfect? What I don't accept is the idea that only someone else labeled as a professional can do something. As I stated above, if you want to do it right and put in the time/effort to do it and are willing to take the risks, then there's no reason not to do it. If you want to speak specifically about me, you can interpret that to mean that I have already purchased all the required tools/materials to fully detail and do paint correction (in addition to body work, mechanical, etc.) a long time ago and have had enough experience working on cars over the past 20 years to be able to do a "perfect" job. But I do not choose to work in the auto field as my profession as I'm sure applies to many other folks. Doesn't mean that a DIY'er can't be even more skilled than a professional.

I think I made my point pretty clear already. If you want to DIY, you can as long as you understand the risks and are comfortable with doing the job. If that doesn't fit you, then hire someone. But at the same time, for as many DIY'ers out there that may screw it up as you stated, there are just as many folks who call themselves professionals who also screw it up just as bad. This not only applies to the detailing world, but to any other field.

As for your last comment, that will happen with any product if it's not used/applied properly. Most folks who do bad mouth a product on the internet are usually proven to be a result of incorrect use/application once you do some digging. In almost every OC thread you find, not only here, but on other car forums and detailing forums alike, you will always see that someone will always point out that prep is key as once you apply OC over an imperfection it will be there permanently unless you polish off the OC and correct it. Unless you are a detailer that only offers OC, it shouldn't hurt you since there are other coatings out there.

Hope that makes my point a bit clearer to you. As you stated. . not trying to argue, but just trying to make the point that it's not rocket science. Just like there are folks like me and presumably yourself as well who are perfectionists when it comes to things like their paint, there are also folks that don't care and only want to apply OC so that they don't have to wax all the time and will live with any existing imperfections.