Polishing Opti-Coat? Frustrated!

[evoking]

Peeps, so I had my detailer do a 2 step polish and Opti-coat on my new - yes new black XKR. That was 3 months ago. I now can already see the fine spiderweb scratches. Do the average person the car looks great. But when you`ve paid $1k and saw flawless paint under halogen lights etc and now you see fine scratches in what was supposed to eliminate the need for polishing AND to see them so soon it`s very frustrating. I`ve only used microfiber towels etc.

This got me wondering if I bought into a gimmick and will still need to polish and wax the car every 3 months afterall!

1) I was told that the fine scratches are actually in the Opti-coat and not the paint yet. So my Opti-coat investment won`t just be gone with a light polish. Is this true?

2) How should I go about getting back the glass finish I started with? Hand polish with something like Klasse?

[mjlinane]

Welcome to AutopiaForums!!

First, OptiCoat is not a force field. You can scratch it or scratch through it. Generally, the same measures of care should be taken with it as without it.

The product for light repairs of OC is PoliSeal.

[TroyScherer]

Welcome to AF.


1. Like Mike already said, OC is not a force field. You need to think of it more as a harder layer of additional clear coat. So the proper wash technique is still important in maintaining the overal finish.
A lite polish should not totally remove OC but it will really depend on how thick the application is and how hard/amount you polish.

2. To get the glass like finish back you will most likely need to at least do a lite polish. Once you get it back to perfect I would make sure you adopt using a 2BM wash method and proper drying technique as well. It is all about how and how much you touch the finish.

[Todd@RUPES]

Peeps, so I had my detailer do a 2 step polish and Opti-coat on my new - yes new black XKR. That was 3 months ago. I now can already see the fine spiderweb scratches. Do the average person the car looks great. But when you`ve paid $1k and saw flawless paint under halogen lights etc and now you see fine scratches in what was supposed to eliminate the need for polishing AND to see them so soon it`s very frustrating. I`ve only used microfiber towels etc.

This got me wondering if I bought into a gimmick and will still need to polish and wax the car every 3 months afterall!

1) I was told that the fine scratches are actually in the Opti-coat and not the paint yet. So my Opti-coat investment won`t just be gone with a light polish. Is this true?

2) How should I go about getting back the glass finish I started with? Hand polish with something like Klasse?

Opti-Coat adds a layer indissoluble protection to the paint. It forms a thin, hard layer of protection over the paint. However, just like your paint, the Opti-Coat itself can still be subject to damage, water spots, rain damage, etc.

1) This sounds true. If the swirl marks have not penetrated the thickness of the Opti-Coat then you can polish it out with out fully removing the scratches.

2) The Opti-Coat surface is going to be harder than paint. You will likely need a paint polish and a machine to remove the swirl marks.

[Street Dreams]

May seem like a simple question but since the Opti Coat application how have you been washing the car? Do you use something like a duster or even wipe the car down when its a bit dusty?

[Rsurfer]

Welcome to AF.


1. Like Mike already said, OC is not a force field. You need to think of it more as a harder layer of additional clear coat. So the proper wash technique is still important in maintaining the overal finish.
A lite polish should not totally remove OC but it will really depend on how thick the application is and how hard/amount you polish.

2. To get the glass like finish back you will most likely need to at least do a lite polish. Once you get it back to perfect I would make sure you adopt using a 2BM wash method and proper drying technique as well. It is all about how and how much you touch the finish.

Good advice...I would add getting a foam gun to presoak before touching the paint with a wash mitt. One more thing, get a leaf blower to help in drying.

[JSFM35X]

First, Nice car, second-Sorry your having issues, but they are either self inflicted or inflicted by someone touching the car when washing, wiping or QDetailing. I have Opticoat on one of my vehicles and I can tell you that it is more swirl resistant than any other sealant or coating I have tried to date. itis not imperrvious, but rather more resistant.

You jet back Jag shows everything and it requires special washing and wiping care. Stick around here and ask questions if you are iintersted in learning. I found my way here by way of a 2008 Black Infiniti M35X that drove me crazy until i learned the necessary way to handle it.

[evoking]

Thanks for all the feedback. So I was initially just using manual power wash, then drying with microfiber. I have since gone to microfiber sponge and then dry with micro towels.

So if I machine polish wouldn`t I effectively fully remove the Opti? Is it true that the fine scratches I see are in face in the Opti layer and if I polish them out I will thin but not necessarily remove all the Opti?

[JSFM35X]

Where are you located? My advice it don`t take advice on how to treat a problem over the forum unless you have sufficient experince running a buffer. You can end up doing more damage that good. It is possible to use a fine polish to get out swirls and not remove the whole coating of OC. If the finish looked perfect before you started washing and now you see swirls, I would bet the swirls are on top of the OC and not in the paint. If they are in the paint below the opticoat, you will need to remove the OC to remove them.

Best bet is post you location, have a local pro from this board come out and give you an estimate and perhaps the fee to repair the damage could be thought of as a learing session. I am sure this detailer will tell/show you how to properly care for you car to avoid this in the future.

It is not that hard to do care for the paint finish correctly, but I is a process. The more OCD you are the longer the swirl free finish will last. I got my wash process down to the point that I really only polished the black car 1X per year to get out the random fine swirls caused by life in general. A stranger brushing up agianst you car, a bird bomb removal gone bad etc....

Good Luck.

Thanks for all the feedback. So I was initially just using manual power wash, then drying with microfiber. I have since gone to microfiber sponge and then dry with micro towels.

So if I machine polish wouldn`t I effectively fully remove the Opti? Is it true that the fine scratches I see are in face in the Opti layer and if I polish them out I will thin but not necessarily remove all the Opti?

[evoking]

I`d like to get with a good detailer as I`m now back in Dallas so no access to my Austin detailer. The paint is still great by most people`s standards I`m just now OCD because I understand more. So my guess is that the fine scratches are in the Opti-Coat.

So wo`s the who`s who in Dallas detailing?

[Rsurfer]

I`d like to get with a good detailer as I`m now back in Dallas so no access to my Austin detailer. The paint is still great by most people`s standards I`m just now OCD because I understand more. So my guess is that the fine scratches are in the Opti-Coat.

So wo`s the who`s who in Dallas detailing?

Scottwax in Arlington, Tex. can be found on Autopia.org.

[Chris@Optimum]

Thanks for all the feedback. So I was initially just using manual power wash, then drying with microfiber. I have since gone to microfiber sponge and then dry with micro towels.

So if I machine polish wouldn`t I effectively fully remove the Opti? Is it true that the fine scratches I see are in face in the Opti layer and if I polish them out I will thin but not necessarily remove all the Opti?

From the beginning, compounding and polishing have taken away coating thickness with the only way to restore it being a repaint. During new car prep on assembly lines about 2 microns are removed during the removal of sanding scratches via compound/polish. Optimum Coatings can add 1-4 microns to current paint systems without a repaint and with the ease of wiping it on. This means every time you polish, you can add the thickness you remove back effectively never going into your factory coat again!

Optimum Coatings can be polished without fully removing them, but that`s hard to discern due to all the variables of application. You may/may not need to recoat after polishing, but at least you not have had to remove part of the factory coat. Optimum Coating improve chemical and biological resistance to the point that it`s rare something would etch it. It also has a hardness near diamonds on its own, but remember that will lessen due to the hardness of the substrate it is applied to. So it will improve mar resistance, but it will never make paint mar proof.

If I read your post right, you pressure rinse, then dry the car. If so, your troubles lie within your maintenance plan. While it would seem that the less you touch your paint, the better...this should only be the norm for dry touching. Car wash shampoos, all purpose cleaners, and virtually all cleaners rely to some degree of agitation to work effectively. Spraying pressurized water, or even allowing cleaners to soak will not remove road film. Search the forum for "two bucket method" or for "No Rinse or Rinseless washing how to`s" to eliminate the cause of the maring and then you can enjoy the benefits of the coating to its potential. Even if the car looks clean after a pressure rinse, the drying towel is dragging debris over the surface with every pass, because it wasn`t removed in the wash unless you used a mitt and a well lubricating shampoo. After a month of not making the maring any worse, then you may consider polishing out the defects again. My good friend Richard Wright has a thread highlighting a vehicle he details that is still swirl free two years later because of good maintenance practices.

With all the choices from No Rinse, to foam guns and the choices of sponges, mitts, and brushes...there`s bound to be a combination that`s safe and fun for you. The coatings make dirt and bugs release much easier and the water beading makes drying easier...so find something you like and use it often as Mike Phillips says. Speaking of Mike, you should check out his book, "The Art of Detailing" in th Auto Geek store. He cover washing techniques very well.

[evoking]

I had initially did pressure washing. Have switched to microfiber mitt at home. So to polish the Opti-Coat do I need to have a detailer use power or should I just roll up the sleeves and use a mild polish by hand?

[TroyScherer]

I had initially did pressure washing. Have switched to microfiber mitt at home. So to polish the Opti-Coat do I need to have a detailer use power or should I just roll up the sleeves and use a mild polish by hand?

You can try by hand at first, just to make sure. But I would guess you are going to need to break out the power tools...

[Chris@Optimum]

I had initially did pressure washing. Have switched to microfiber mitt at home. So to polish the Opti-Coat do I need to have a detailer use power or should I just roll up the sleeves and use a mild polish by hand?

I`m of the opinion that machine polishing with the right pad/product will always beat hand polishing. The consistency and control one has via machine simply doesn`t exist by hand.