Which comes first? Opti coat or clear bra
 

I plan on getting both opti coat and a clear bra for my brz. With that said, which one should come first? I figured opti coat first, but then the coat would be pretty useless in the front end where I plan to get it clear bra'ed. So should I opticoat the clear bra? Would that work or do anything? I read that you could OC a clear bra. Anyone done this? Suggestion?

Bra then opticoat.

I believe this is incorrect. You should Opticoat, then Clearbra.

Opticoat is a second clearcoat that should not be applied to a clearbra.

By opticoating the whole car, you have a completely sealed car for when you decide to remove, replace the clear bra.

when they alcohol wipe the panels down prior to applying the clear bra, you pretty much strip off the opticoat. kinda useless to have it done first.

I had opticoat installed and as far as I'm aware of the only way to remove it is by polishing it down. Naturally it will deteriorate and become less effective as the years go on so I will eventually have it reapplied.

Saying the prep for installing a clear bra would dissolve opticoat is like saying that an alcohol rub down would strip the factory clear coat.

Have you had first hand experience with your claim?

When you opticoat then bra, you have essentially rendered the opticoat worthless. If you do it this way, any imperfections on the bra show up and you're back to square one.

Bra, then opticoat.

As far as I know, you have to abrade the opticoat off. I don't think alcohol wipes will take it off.

People don't understand it's nothing like a clear coat. It is in no way comparable to a legitimate clear coat. It's basically a super thin, longer lasting wax. If an alcohol wash down does not take it off or break it down severely I would be very impressed. My experience is that I do body/paint for a living, and we do Xpel clear bra films as well

But, even if heavy alcohol prep doesn't remove the opticoat, what's the point in having it under clear bra film anyway?

I had opti-coat done first, then decided on a clearbra so the detailer opti-coated again over the clearbra. Made perfect sense to me.

It is possible to opticoat your whole car, clearbra it, then opticoat the clear bra :thumbup: Doesnt hurt to protect that clearbra as well.

There is nothing wrong with Opti-Coating your PPF. It's actually encouraged because it will provide additional protection to the film.

Ideal situation would be to coat > bra > correct swirls from installer > coat.

unfortunately, ill be going to 2 different installers for each product. Cant seem to find a reputable installer in san diego that does both. So OC , CB , then OCing again wouldnt be the best move financially. :sigh:

^ This.

I have 2500 miles on my black BRZ, is opticoat definitely something I should look into?

I have my car opti-coated. Opti-coating your car is basically going to add another permanent clear coat to your vehicle, and any detailer that is qualified to apply opti-coating is going to strip everything off your car before putting it on.

You'd then put the clear bra on and if you'd like to have the water replant, etc features that opti-coat offers on your clear bra, then the detailer should be able to apply opti-coating to that to I'd imagine, but I'm not certain of that.

I'd definitely talk to whoever is doing the opti-coating for you about these things to be certain. I'm interested in getting some sort of clear bra/shield as well because my front bumper is getting so f'd up :(

My car was badly scratched up by the dealership the day I picked it up, so my car had to be paint corrected by a detailed. He paint corrected and opti-coated it first, and then I had another installer come and do the Xpel on top of that. I couldn't have done clear bra first even if I wanted to because the paint definitely needed to be taken care of before the clear bra, because otherwise, the Xpel would cover all the scratched up paint and it would show all the scratches under it while the rest of the car would look good.

Ideally, I would do opti-coat, clear bra, then another opti-coat to cover the bra.

Alcohol does not take off opticoat. I got a little opticoat haze on my side pillar by accident. Only noticed it after it dried. Tried alcohol, wax, elbow grease. Nada. Had to compound it off.