Opticoat: Can someone explain it to me in layman's terms

[SubieNate]

Originally Posted by b.e

9 mohs? You serious? You're saying that this coating can only be scratched by a diamond. A steel knife will find no purchase. Sandpaper will be its equal?

Whoops. I meant 9H on the pencil hardness scale. Definitely not the same thing.

I think one of the problems is individual detail shops that don't have any kind of scientific knowledge of the product writing advertising blurbs. Now that I think about it, I think I've read, "9H mohs hardness" on a website somewhere.

9H isn't a mohs hardness level. It's a pencil hardness level. Basically, anything a 9H pencil (the hardest pencil lead made) won't scratch gets a 9H, so it's a minimum threshold for the hardness. It could be much harder or just barely there, but if a 9H won't scratch it it gets a 9H rating using that test. So technically, most urethane clear coats pass that.

I've noticed on my own car that I have to worry less about swirl marks etc. with the coating on, and it's ability to shed water while driving is something I've never seen before, and I've waxed a LOT of cars.

I work with release agents for my job all the time, and optiguard/opticoat remind me of the properties of some of our polymer release films. They bond with the mold and make it so that NOTHING will stick to them. We're talking epoxies that will bond just about anything sliding right off the surface. The way opticoat sheds water and other contaminants reminds me of this, and I think this is one of the key benefits. When you rinse the car down, a much higher portion of the dirt/poo/dust etc that is on the car falls off easier so you don't have to push as hard or wash as aggressively. This combined with the slightly harder nature of the coating compared to the urethane clear coat makes for a nicely durable finish. Also, I've found that it doesn't etch when a bird craps on it. I got a bird bomb on my hood when I first bought the car and it etched the stock clear bad enough that it had to be polished out.

Optimum Australia has a good page on the hardness of the coating: http://www.optimumcarcare.com.au/con...pti-coat?.html

This guy:http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...0-cquartz.html

Did a pretty extensive review of Cquartz and Opticoat over a 2 year period. Let's see wax hold up to that. I think the best thing for me, is that it leaves a 2 micron (3 for optiguard) coating instead of the .02 microns a normal wax or sealant leaves. So even if it's not the ultimate in hardness, if you scratch it, the likelihood that the scratch has remained within the protective coating and not compromised the clear coat itself is much higher. That, to me, is a serious benefit.

Cheers,
Nathan

[Skippman]

So would you recommend taking delivery then going to a reputable detailer to have the Opticoat followed by a clear bra/PPF on the front bumper to cover the basics?

When I read that mohs blurb I about spit my coffee! A liquid that hardens like a corundum under room temperature? I'm pretty sure NASA would be interested in that.

[chenshuo]

Originally Posted by Skippman

So would you recommend taking delivery then going to a reputable detailer to have the Opticoat followed by a clear bra/PPF on the front bumper to cover the basics?

That's what i did. After i took delivery i did not drive much until i got opti-coat installed. A week after I got opti-coat i got clear bra installed. In just 3 weeks the clear bra already saved me from stone chip.

[SPEEDGOD]

I got my bumper done by Bryan Walroth in Toronto. He did an amazing job!

[OICU812]

When you do the clear bra, look into XPEL, seems far advanced over the old kid 3M.

[Richard Cranium]

Originally Posted by joop1987

They had a version of a acrylic paint sealer in the 90's. When people saw that it did not shine like regular wax, try tried to remove it ruined their paint.

You can get any body panel repainted for under $300 so why bother.

lol, you go ahead and let us know how that works out for you You obviously know nothing about paint and body work. It's much more complicated than just "getting a body panel repainted." If you're okay with that body panel sticking out like a $3 dollar bill, that's fine...there's a fair amount of blending that needs to be performed in order for say, an entire door or quarter panel to be repainted. Even if the paint came from the same batch the car was originally painted with, without blending out in to the surrounding panels, the repair will be incredibly obvious, look incredibly terrible, and be an incredible waste of money...unless you're paying with the aforementioned $3 dollar bills.

[Stealthx]

Zaino is in no where near the class of product as opti coat. Look up reviews and some detailing forums about optima and the products they produce. I highly recommend you applying it yourself, and get a real detailed, not a $99 hack job special. To thoroughly clean, clay, decontaminate, and polish the car. The coating is not a sealant, it's a coating. A type of hybrid carbide ceramic if I'm not mistaken. Once applied correctly over a prepared surface you'll never truly need to wax again. Just wash. Think of it as another clear coat that can take on acid rain, salt, etc. there are tests done by detailers that on there own testing and veal have poured bleach, and even muriatic acid on the coating it it barely did anything to it, keeping your paint and clear coat safe. It's a truly revolutionary product and not the typical detailed scam coatings. In all my year of detailing I can tell you how well most of the dealer coatings lasted. Not even in the same ball park.

[Skippman]

I ended up doing exactly what I asked. I took delivery from the dealer with the plastic sheeting still in place, drove it home, and had the Opti-Coat Pro and Opti-Glass installed the next day. The car looks flawless! I couldn't be happier. Now, to get the Xpel on there...

[Asphalt~86]

Forcefield of wonder.

[Ooops]

Can you get Option-Guard over the clear bra, door protection, etc. or would it have to e removed and reapplied?

[mid_life_crisis]

Originally Posted by Skippman

So would you recommend taking delivery then going to a reputable detailer to have the Opticoat followed by a clear bra/PPF on the front bumper to cover the basics?

Is ClearBra still the goto or are there better options now? Mine has the coating but, let's face it, you need all the protection you can get.

[Tman08]

Originally Posted by chenshuo

That's what i did. After i took delivery i did not drive much until i got opti-coat installed.

I'll be the same. Once my BRZ is delivered, I'll drive it once its color corrected and opti-guarded.

For those with this installed that have had rock chips, how bad was the damage? For example, did it damage into the paint itself, or just the opti-guard?

[OICU812]

It's been said but to repeat as seems weekly someone has the wrong idea of what super waxes "LOL" like opticoat, Exo, Opti Gaurd are....

Opti coat/opti gaurd DO NOT improve protection against chips, the only solution in that respect is 3M or such. Personally there are better films now then standard 3M, such as XPEL that is a better product and doesen't "yellow". Many folks have it on thought that Opti Coat is a rock/chip protection it is not, not one bit...

[Tman08]

Originally Posted by OICU812

It's been said but to repeat as seems weekly someone has the wrong idea of what super waxes "LOL" like opticoat, Exo, Opti Gaurd are....

Opti coat/opti gaurd DO NOT improve protection against chips, the only solution in that respect is 3M or such. Personally there are better films now then standard 3M, such as XPEL that is a better product and doesen't "yellow". Many folks have it on thought that Opti Coat is a rock/chip protection it is not, not one bit...

Exactly. I've known exactly what it does for sometime. More of a curious question of what to expect IF I have a few rocks (in terms of how deep theirs in particular were) from other owners.

I'm not going to be driving my car too much until its installed (as I am getting my BRZ early next month) as I want the paint in the best possible condition before its corrected and then applied.