DIY or Proffessional Coating?

[Marine Clerk]

I Like what the Guz is saying about CQuartzUK. I had an 1992 Black Maxima. If you breathed on it that would make it mar the paint was so soft.

A wax like FK1000P would help with the bird bombs but will do nothing to prevent marring in a paint that soft.

Opticoat Pro would be very expensive. Optimum Gloss-Coat is just a glorified polymer and won`t provide any hardness on a soft paint.
CQuartzUK would be my choice. It`s a hard coating and not too terribly difficult to put on. I think it will help with the marring and the bird bombs.
Used CQuartzUK on a couple of rear quarter panels on my Landcruiser.
The polish used was the Menzerna FG400 with a white pad. Plus HD speed on a green pad.
Car Pro Eraser got what little was left behind for a squeaky clean surface.
Just make sure not to repeated go back over a surface you have applied your initial coat on. That`s how you get high spots.
Pay close attention to covering the panel with your initial pass.
After it sets up wipe off and just let it set in the sun for an hour or two. You don`t need an IR lamp.

[Audios S6]

If you are comfortable doing a coating, check out 22ple coatings. I dont think there is easier application and works great even without a topper.

Pro level coatings are typically better but for most it might not be. If your car is darker and you daily it, wash it a lot etc. You may want to repolish/coat every year or 2(as a personal preference). So why pay for a Pro level coating that may last 4-5+ years, if you may plan to remove early. That is what I always tell people.

My daily that is garaged kept and babied went 2 years without a polish and it looked great. Then I decided to polish it and it was so glossy after, Now I wont go more than 2 years without a repolish and coat on my daily. But like I said its personal preference.

^^^^ this x1000.

If: This is a show car for you and you always want it looking it`s best. You have defects that are seemingly unavoidable (brushing up against it, working on it).

Then: forego the coating in lieu of a show wax.

It sounds like you are capable of polishing since you have taken out etching from bird bombs in the past. Just commit to a care regimen to keep it in pristine condition. I don`t think a coating is going to solve all your problems and feel you will be throwing money away, especially if you go with a pro option.

As far as the bird bombs reappearing, I can think of 2 highly plausible reasons:
1. You didn`t actually remove the bird bomb completely, simply masked it with polishing oils.
2. The sun has opened up the pores of the paint and the bird lime has found its way in there. When the paint gets hot again, the pores open up again and allows the bird line to escape. The way to avoid this is to heat cycle the paint after you think you`ve gotten the etching out. Bring the spot up to 130F, then spray with ice cold distilled water to cool it off. If the bird bomb returned, continue the polishing process. If it does not return, finish with the confidence that it should not return in the future

[KEVINS]

I did some research wanting to find out the differences between the consumer versions vs the pro versions of coatings and found some great info on the Opti-Coat forum for their products. The answers I`m posting below were taken from their forum from different questions but the answers sure help me understand the differences:
Forums - Optimum Forum

Q: Is Gloss coat Sio2 based formula or SiC? Ive read somewhere its SiO2 and Opti coat pro is SiC. Is that true?

A: Gloss-Coat is a hybrid containing both SiO2 and SiC components. Opti-Coat 2.0 was all SiC, just a less robust formula that Pro.

*Unlike SiO2 based coatings the SiC based coating actually bonds to the paint and the SiC is formed as a chemical reaction in that process, not by having Nano particles of the ceramic floating in a resin. SiC is superior to SiO2 coatings chemically.

* Opti-Coat–Pro (SiC) becomes one with the paint instead of suspending nano particles of a harder substance in a resin like SiO2. This gives Opti-Coat Pro far superior chemical resistance, as the chemical must break down the SiC, and not break down a resin holding SiO2 nano particles.
....our technology forms a continuous cross linked polymer that bonds to urethane or other surfaces vs. the silica systems which dry to form particles that are loosely attached to the surfaces. It is easier to layer silica based since you just adding layers on top of each other, however, they wear off which is why they need layering while with our system the polymer is bonded therefore it does not wear off.

ks