Ceramic Pro 9h

[dem00n]

Originally Posted by Greg Gellas

If Opti-Coat is over hyped. I will be happy, FOR FREE! to do a tape line and Opti-Coat half of your car! You are local to me as I am in NJ. and then you can see for yourself.

That's a very kind of you to offer but i'll have to say no.


I'll give a full write up on why i think Opti-coat is overrated tomorrow when i'm fully awake.

I did send a PM to 911 telling him some reasons why Opti-Coat is over hyped but i'll do a more detailed reason tomorrow .


Night everyone.

[dem00n]

Alright, first off i'm not professional detailer, i'm just college kid who experiments with every damn thing he gets his hands on, there's also the fact i refuse to follow the crowd due to my hipster lifestyle. (Thats a joke) I call myself the weekend washer

So what i wanted for my car was the best protection of the clear coat and paint. So if you ask that question on this forum everyone is going to tell you to use Opti-Coat. Now i never heard of this product outside the forum, i asked the few car guys i know and i got confused faces. So i deiced to do some research on this "miracle" product. Now most of the reviews are great and some bad, but kind of hard to trust. These reviews are written right after Opti-Coat is applied so what use is that going to be if i wanna see how Opti-coat ages? Its a lot like reviewing new guitar strings on your guitar right after you put it on the guitar but never getting the info on how long the strings last, how did long they lasted before they lost tone or just broke off. The information is pretty much useless to me. Eventually i found a few that talked about Opti-Coat after year or so of application, some complain that the shine wasn't really there, some swear by that product is great and then there was one interesting one. A man applied Opti-Coat and went to car washes often (you know the ones with those spinning spools and those flappy things that hit your car?) he pretty much said after a year or so the Opti-Coat vanished , his paint has the run of the mill swirls and fine scratches.

So by the looks of it, most people are satisfied with the product but there's a few bad fishes. Time goes and i met a kid in my college with a Honda Civic SI that applied Opti-Coat awhile back, he says the reason he got it applied was because he was told it would prevent rock chips and small road debris from damaging your car, after inspecting his front bumper and sides it didn't really do a good job. The car was shinny and did look clean but the shine...was plastic. It looked like it had a clear bra on that was waxed, i understand some people like the plastic shine look but i personally don't.

After that i emailed a few detailers in the NY, NJ and CT area and asked what were there views on opti coat. I did email a few on here, mostly said exactly the same thing. Most of the deatilers didn't know what the hell Opti-Coat was and there was two who knew what it was but didn't use it on the cars they deatiled. First guy pretty much told me it acts like a second clear coat but he didn't like the price or the outcome and didn't use it on his customers cars. Second guy whom was Larry from Drive Clean basically told me Opti-Coat isn't what i was looking for (best protection) and recommend a few other routes to peruse. He also said that its truly all personal preference and it depends on the paint really.

Opti-Coat may work for the run of the mill car guy but i always look for the best, theres also the fact that i'm an 18 year old kid and if i'm going to spend $400-800 to apply Opti-coat on my car i need to know its the best god damn thing in the world and it isn't to me.

So, whats the best protection for your car in my eyes? That's a whole other adventure!

[911fanatic]

I appreciate the pm you sent me and I'll try to address your concerns here if thats ok. Lets start by stripping away all the hype, the bullshit, the wild claims and see what we have left. What we have is one of the longest lasting UV protectants for your paint and exterior trim that has ever been manufactured. This product IS extremely durable. It is not BULLETPROOF. This is where people get confused. It is designed to withstand the abuse of regular carwash soaps and similar products, TOUCHLESS drive thru washes and the ravages of mother nature. That is it my friends. It is very like applying an additional layer of clearcoat to your car. It is harder than regular clearcoat and that means that it is less susceptible to scratch during one of the aforementioned carwash scenarios. It does not mean that you can drag a piece of metal across it and not do any damage. You cannot go through repeated swirl-o-matic washes, beat the crap out of the car and expect the Opti Coat to survive. You have to treat it as you would any other sealant or wax. You cannot drive behind a gravel truck and expect to have perfect paint on the front of your car. IF YOU WANT PROTECTION FROM ROCK CHIPS, CLEAR FILM IS YOUR ONLY OPTION.
As for it’s looks, if the car is properly prepared, Opti Coat looks amazing. At my shop we have noticed that a quick once over with a finishing polish to amp up the gloss a bit ( on properly prepared paint ) makes a huge difference in how it looks. We have prepared somewhere around three dozen cars with Opti Coat over the last few months and have stayed in touch with a few clients to chart the progress. So far not a bad experience. I’m going to assume this is because we explained in detail what this product will and will not do and how to take care of it.
I purposely waited until someone did a long term test of this product before deciding to sell it to my clients. Like you, the hype was too much to believe. David Fermani completed a two year test in which he washed with Dawn each week and used a touchless once a month. After two years, he video taped the car in a touchless and the foam was sliding off. Proof enough for me. Here is a link to that test. I hope I have touched on your concerns and if you have any questions, you are more than welcome to pm me or call me direct at 604.561.5121.

[Blighty]

I love my ceramic pro.

I was close to getting opti-coat, but I liked the layering in ceramic pro (I just want as much super hard stuff as I can get). Someone here said you can also layer opti-coat, but I dont think it's designed for it.

dem00n, there are 2 version of opti-coat, and it's very confusing. I'm not suprised that there would be a lot of reviews from people who tried it but didnt get the results others have. One version is a professional only product, the other is standard off the shelf. The off the shelf stuff is actually called Opti-coat 2.0, and it's not as good, but much cheaper. It also doesnt have the lifetime warrenty that opti-coat has.

I havent used opticoat, but my detailer says it was the best paint protection product (the proffessional version) he could get. Until he found the ceramic pro that it

[911fanatic]

Originally Posted by Blighty

I love my ceramic pro.

I was close to getting opti-coat, but I liked the layering in ceramic pro (I just want as much super hard stuff as I can get). Someone here said you can also layer opti-coat, but I dont think it's designed for it.

dem00n, there are 2 version of opti-coat, and it's very confusing. I'm not suprised that there would be a lot of reviews from people who tried it but didnt get the results others have. One version is a professional only product, the other is standard off the shelf. The off the shelf stuff is actually called Opti-coat 2.0, and it's not as good, but much cheaper. It also doesnt have the lifetime warrenty that opti-coat has.

I havent used opticoat, but my detailer says it was the best paint protection product (the proffessional version) he could get. Until he found the ceramic pro that it

The only differences between the two are that the consumer version doesn't flash off as fast making it easier for the DIY'er to apply, it goes on a bit thinner and doesn't come with a warranty. If maintained properly, both should last forever unless polished off. It makes it confusing with them constantly changing the names as well.

[TM]

I was thinking about getting my car opti-coated, but the shop I talked to told me that they are also going to start offering ceramic pro 9h as an option. It certainly sounds appealing.

Any pictures of a twin with ceramic pro?

[OICU812]

You don't want to scratch your baby? Expel or 3M. Opticoat and such products seem daily to be confused to be some bionic shield against scratches and chips, well they're not....by a long shot.

[TM]

I'm doing it more so for the gloss and easier wash process.

I've had SunTek PPF before and caring for it took just as much time as without.

[TheDemons]

Originally Posted by TM

I was thinking about getting my car opti-coated, but the shop I talked to told me that they are also going to start offering ceramic pro 9h as an option. It certainly sounds appealing.

Any pictures of a twin with ceramic pro?

I have Ceramic Pro on my 86 (sorry, I don't have any photos on my work computer), it does its job of protecting the paint from bird poo etc. But, as stated before, it can still get scratched, chipped, swirls etc.

I noticed once the Ceramic Pro was applied, I found less dust to sit on the car (car is outside 100% of the time).

I can not compare Ceramic Pro to Opti-Coat, as I've not seen any Blue 86's with Opti-Coat to directly compare.

It does look glossy almost all the time, and the water beading makes drying the car easier.

I also have the Ceramic Pro applied to the face of the wheels (rims), seats and carpets. Does its job.

Hope that helps!

[housecat]

Originally Posted by dem00n

Alright, first off i'm not professional detailer, i'm just college kid who experiments with every damn thing he gets his hands on, there's also the fact i refuse to follow the crowd due to my hipster lifestyle. (Thats a joke) I call myself the weekend washer

So what i wanted for my car was the best protection of the clear coat and paint. So if you ask that question on this forum everyone is going to tell you to use Opti-Coat. Now i never heard of this product outside the forum, i asked the few car guys i know and i got confused faces. So i deiced to do some research on this "miracle" product. Now most of the reviews are great and some bad, but kind of hard to trust. These reviews are written right after Opti-Coat is applied so what use is that going to be if i wanna see how Opti-coat ages? Its a lot like reviewing new guitar strings on your guitar right after you put it on the guitar but never getting the info on how long the strings last, how did long they lasted before they lost tone or just broke off. The information is pretty much useless to me. Eventually i found a few that talked about Opti-Coat after year or so of application, some complain that the shine wasn't really there, some swear by that product is great and then there was one interesting one. A man applied Opti-Coat and went to car washes often (you know the ones with those spinning spools and those flappy things that hit your car?) he pretty much said after a year or so the Opti-Coat vanished , his paint has the run of the mill swirls and fine scratches.

So by the looks of it, most people are satisfied with the product but there's a few bad fishes. Time goes and i met a kid in my college with a Honda Civic SI that applied Opti-Coat awhile back, he says the reason he got it applied was because he was told it would prevent rock chips and small road debris from damaging your car, after inspecting his front bumper and sides it didn't really do a good job. The car was shinny and did look clean but the shine...was plastic. It looked like it had a clear bra on that was waxed, i understand some people like the plastic shine look but i personally don't.

After that i emailed a few detailers in the NY, NJ and CT area and asked what were there views on opti coat. I did email a few on here, mostly said exactly the same thing. Most of the deatilers didn't know what the hell Opti-Coat was and there was two who knew what it was but didn't use it on the cars they deatiled. First guy pretty much told me it acts like a second clear coat but he didn't like the price or the outcome and didn't use it on his customers cars. Second guy whom was Larry from Drive Clean basically told me Opti-Coat isn't what i was looking for (best protection) and recommend a few other routes to peruse. He also said that its truly all personal preference and it depends on the paint really.

Opti-Coat may work for the run of the mill car guy but i always look for the best, theres also the fact that i'm an 18 year old kid and if i'm going to spend $400-800 to apply Opti-coat on my car i need to know its the best god damn thing in the world and it isn't to me.

So, whats the best protection for your car in my eyes? That's a whole other adventure!

Thanks for your input, you are truly an educated person and know how to do research.

I want to add that I think that these ceramic/resin coat products are bunk and unnecessary. The main reason is because modern cars already have excellent clear coats, which provide scratch, chip, and UV protection. That doesn't mean they are 100% resistant to the elements, but it's really pointless to try to prevent paint damage. It's going to happen, it's part of owning a car. If it gets bad enough, then you can get your bumper/hood/fender repainted. But since the bumper is plastic, rock chips really don't matter since they won't rust.

The remaining argument for opti-coat is for its hydrophobic properties. Well wax does the same thing and costs a tenth of the price. Wax can last up to 6 months, the same life span as some opti-coat applications. Opti-coat is more chemical resistant than wax, but I'll never wash my car with dish soap or god forbid Windex. Furthermore, we don't have acid rain where I live.

[dem00n]

Originally Posted by housecat

Thanks for your input, you are truly an educated person and know how to do research.

I want to add that I think that these ceramic/resin coat products are bunk and unnecessary. The main reason is because modern cars already have excellent clear coats, which provide scratch, chip, and UV protection. That doesn't mean they are 100% resistant to the elements, but it's really pointless to try to prevent paint damage. It's going to happen, it's part of owning a car. If it gets bad enough, then you can get your bumper/hood/fender repainted. But since the bumper is plastic, rock chips really don't matter since they won't rust.

The remaining argument for opti-coat is for its hydrophobic properties. Well wax does the same thing and costs a tenth of the price. Wax can last up to 6 months, the same life span as some opti-coat applications. Opti-coat is more chemical resistant than wax, but I'll never wash my car with dish soap or god forbid Windex. Furthermore, we don't have acid rain where I live.

I don't know about that first part.

I agree with the rest though.