Polishing a car that has opticoat on it?

[asus389]

Hey guys,



My car had opti-coat applied to it about 8 months ago. It still looks pretty great and I have been doing my best to wash it properly, avoid marring etc... However, I noticed recently that there are some sections that have started to get some minor marring/swirls again. I have read that you can polish the opti-coat to "freshen" it up without removing it, but I am wondering how to go about doing this? Should it be done by hand or with a machine? What kind of pad/polish? Prep?



I have read that you can use poli-seal with a finishing pad. Has anyone tried this and can comment on how to go about it? Can it get swirls out? How might I go about doing this, can someone point me in the right direction or explain it to me?



thanks for any help!

[C. Charles Hahn]

I haven`t used Poli-Seal to polish on an OC`d vehicle, but I have done it with GPS on a HT crimson pad. Seems to work just fine. If you have some OC left you could always just use Hyper Polish and then re-coat the panels you work on instead....

[jmsc]

In your opinion, how did the marring/swirls show up? (i.e. what caused them?)

[asus389]

In your opinion, how did the marring/swirls show up? (i.e. what caused them?)



In the case of the hood area, a friend set down a backpack on there with a bunch of plastic fasteners which caused a bit of marring. I get some above the front fenders (which its not clear why), and there is some swirling on the side that I am pretty sure is the result of a body shop rubbing it with a dirty rag after putting on my rear bumper that they repainted it. The rest of the car is doing pretty well.



Its possible I have caused some swirls during my learning how to wash properly, but I am trying to be really compulsive about it. I don`t let the dealer wash it when I take it in, much to their annoyance. :chuckle:



I have been washing with ONR (with pre-hose down) and using the 2 bucket + grit guard method. Drying with microfiber. Its actually in really good shape considering I live in an urban (relatively) area. I`d just feel more comfortable if I could learn how to do spot repairs without having to redo the whole OC on the panel, if possible.



Its a black sapphire BMW and it shows everything...

[Scottwax]

Honestly, I`d just repolish the areas in question and re-coat the paint. Seems to me anything strong enough to remove anything other than very light swirls will probably go through the coating anyway.