Optimum Gloss coat longevity and re-coating

[rotts4u]

I bought a new Jeep Grand Cherokee in December of 2015 and completely prepped it and applied Optimum Gloss Coat per the manufacturers directions. It looked and lasted great until about a month ago April of 2017. Then I started to notice the water beading was very lazy and it didn`t have the same pop it had before. Along the last 15-16 months I used Opti Seal as a drying aid every other wash or two and this is a daily driver with about 24K miles on it now. It does sit in a garage at night. Before recoating I tried some Ferrex to see if that removed anything on the surface that may have been fooling me on the coating life but it didn`t really bring it back.

So I did ferrex on the whole Jeep, clayed it but didn`t polish then used the optimum paint prep and reapplied Gloss Coat again. It looked a bit better and the beading was better but still not like it was originally and not like my 2017 Subaru that I Gloss coated a few months ago. Water really beads like crazy on it just like my Jeep used to. So I guess I needed to completely polish it then re apply? Is that correct?

Tonight as an experiment I did just the hood, I used a DAO and some Wolfgang light polish, clay, ferrex paint prep then reapplied Gloss Coat to just the hood. How are most of you doing your re-coats of Gloss Coat?

Any tips for me or should I try a different product completely? I don`t have enough gloss coat to do the whole Jeep anyway so I am open to trying a new coating if there is a reason to switch. Overall I am pretty happy with 15 months. No sealant I ever used lasted that long.

[The Guz]

What was your clay method when you clayed Gloss Coat?

Do you recall when you purchased gloss coat? Sometime in 2015 it got a new formula tweak to become a 3 year coating instead of a 3 year coating. Of course this is going to vary depending on one`s location and how it was maintained.

I have some more information on how to chemically and mechanically decontaminate gloss coat. I can post that if you decide to stick with gloss coat.

If you want to try something else then you have some very good options as well.

[rotts4u]

The GlossCoat was bought in December of 2015 and was the "new" version. For the clay I used a Groits mitt clay with speed shine or maybe Optimum ONR as the lubricant. I can`t remember which, but I always sprayed the paint with paint prep before the application

[The Guz]

I forgot to mention that polishing will remove the coating. If you are open to trying a new coating you have some very good options. If you were happy with gloss coat then I say stick with it.

[Brewins]

Make SURE you remove all the residue from paint prep. After initial application, go over the paint again with a clean MF towel to get the paint residue free.