How much can you polish Opti-Coat till it`s gone?

[Richard Grasa]

For reference, does anyone know how much polishing Opti-Coat can take before it`s removed? I`ve heard anywhere from a single light polish to multiple heavy compounding passes, but can`t seem to find any definite answer. I`ve done many installs, but have yet to polish one afterwards.



Also, how does OC react to say HD Polish/LC orange for swirl removal, does it act like hard Audi paint or more like a softer paint? I would like to get an idea of what to expect if anyone ever requests me to polish an OC`ed car. Will I be looking at having to reapply the coating after even a light polishing like some say? I know it would overall depend on how deep the defects are, but just get a general idea, what do you think?

[LilJayV10]

From what I have read the only way to completely remove OC is to wetsand it. If that`s true you should be able to polish the heck out if it.

[C. Charles Hahn]

From what I have read the only way to completely remove OC is to wetsand it. If that`s true you should be able to polish the heck out if it.



That`s not entirely accurate; just like with anything else related to paint correction/abrasive compounding and polishing, there are a number of factors that will affect how much material is being removed. It`s entirely possible to remove more material through heavy compounding than by sanding. It also largely depends on how thick the cured layer of OC is.... not all application methods produce an equal amount of film build.

[911fanatic]

After speaking with David at Optimum, he said to only use a finishing pad and Optimum Spray Polish. Anything more aggressive could remove it.

[sundog]

After speaking with David at Optimum, he said to only use a finishing pad and Optimum Spray Polish. Anything more aggressive could remove it.



Agreed. I have removed the opti-coat on my whole car once and some panels twice. I needed to use a very aggressive setup. Flex 3401 with orange ccs pad and menzerna si1500 and moderate/heavy pressure did the job. I could tell where it was left by the beading. Very long day! Spot polishes are really hard to do so usually the whole panel needs to be compounded even for a tiny defect (door ding). It`s done a nice job as a sacrificial layer against the jerks in the Target parking lot!

[Guitarist302008]

I have used Menzerna IP with a Meg`s yellow pad and done 2 passes on mine and it still had that slick sort of feeling, like there was still something there, I also did a pass of Menzerna FP on a blue pad and still it felt a little slick. I actually think OC does polish, because I applied 2 coats to my hood and roof after doing this and it did look MUCH better.

[911fanatic]

Good to know that it doesn`t come off that easily!

[Guitarist302008]

Good to know that it doesn`t come off that easily!



Not in my own experience. I`d like to strip it off the sides of my car to try some other things, but how much time it would take would be my biggest issue, which is why I have been pondering the idea for quite a while. However, in fairness I must say that on my WRX which has thin, cheap paint that I could count stone chips on one hand with 13k miles on my car, There is no sandblasted areas behind the tires which is typical of AWD cars. That part of makes me want to just polish both sides and do the double coat that I did on the hood and roof before.

[Rob4092xx]

Opt-Coat 2.0 is a hard layer on top of the paint. There is no reason to polish it since the polish will never touch the paint surface. You cannot get swirl marks in Opti. If you have them, you have gone through the Opti to the paint.

[Guitarist302008]

Opt-Coat 2.0 is a hard layer on top of the paint. There is no reason to polish it since the polish will never touch the paint surface. You cannot get swirl marks in Opti. If you have them, you have gone through the Opti to the paint.



That`s not correct... opti-coat is not unscratchable, it will marr and scratch just like normal paint will. The idea is that it`s the OC taking the marring and not the paint itself.

[Ron Ketcham]

That`s not entirely accurate; just like with anything else related to paint correction/abrasive compounding and polishing, there are a number of factors that will affect how much material is being removed. It`s entirely possible to remove more material through heavy compounding than by sanding. It also largely depends on how thick the cured layer of OC is.... not all application methods produce an equal amount of film build.

Charles, just hard for many to get past the "marketing words" of products. An example is the "ceramic clear" used on some European builds. Testing done by Daimler/Chrysler, back when that is who they were, showed that the "ceramic" portion of the clear was removed when on average .2 (2/10th) of mil of the clear was buffed off. The ceramic portion was part of the clearcoat and just as with the UV blockers, migrated during curing to the top portion of the clear. It is "not" down through the complete clearcoat film build.

[RaskyR1]

Opt-Coat 2.0 is a hard layer on top of the paint. There is no reason to polish it since the polish will never touch the paint surface. You cannot get swirl marks in Opti. If you have them, you have gone through the Opti to the paint.



Where in the world did you hear such complete nonsense???

[C. Charles Hahn]

Where in the world did you hear such complete nonsense???



I could always take a wild guess.... ;)

[RaskyR1]

I could always take a wild guess.... ;)





LMAO! I was thinking the same. ;)