Does the paint prep brand matter?

512detail

512detail

New member
Thanks to the awesome ACC staff I have some newly acquired BF Crystal Coat
I also picked up PBL V2

I have a little bit of the PBL surface cleansing polish left, enough to do one vehicle, maybe two

I picked up a bottle of Optimum Paint Prep recently (wanted to give a spray paint prep a try)

My question is....

Don't they all do the same thing? Remove oils, so I wouldn't image either brand would leave anything (oils) left that would be most beneficial with the same brand's coating.
Do I really need the same brand's paint coating prep?
Aside from one being easier to use than the other I don't see why it would matter..unless some are just simply better than the others.


If so I guess I will need to buy the BF brand I just like the price of the Optimum but have not tried a spray prep yet.

And no, I don't want to make an IPA mix.
 
This is a good question for anyone who has some knowledge of the chemical makeup of these coatings and their accompanying cleaners. The end result is the same, a totally clean surface, and how you get there shouldn't matter one would think. Who knows if there is some type of "primer" in the polish or whatever that will help the coating bond properly.

im curious to know as well here
 
ShaneB said:
This is a good question for anyone who has some knowledge of the chemical makeup of these coatings and their accompanying cleaners. The end result is the same, a totally clean surface, and how you get there shouldn't matter one would think. Who knows if there is some type of "primer" in the polish or whatever that will help the coating bond properly.

im curious to know as well here
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I mean I understand the concept of oils working together (i.e. GEP before WDAFPP/MS) but unless one just works better than others....what's the point?

I can understand the subjective argument behind what LSP looks better but this would be a purely objective discussion based on the chemical makeups of the products---
does one brand use better ingredients? I have no idea.
A clean surface is a cleaned surface, right? I'd think the towel you wiped up with would have more of an effect than the brand paint prep.
 
My gut feeling is that clean is clean regardless of brand used to get there. That said, if you're starting from scratch and buying a particular brand it probably makes sense to get both the coating and the prep from the same manufacturer.

I'd hate to jump through all the hoops to put a long lasting coating on only to have it fail prematurely leaving me to wonder if the problem came down to using a non-compatible surface prep. I recently purchased Black Label Coating but have a new full bottle of BlackFire Prep. That's likely what I'll use. I guess that means I'm either to lazy too acquire the Black Label Prep or just flat out cheap. ;)
 
jrock645 said:
I wouldnt think it would matter since even after the pbl cleanse lotion, i still do an IPA wipe
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doesn't that defeat the point of using the cleanse lotion? I get wanting to be double safe, really...but an addl IPA wipe indicates to me you don't trust the ability of the cleansing lotion.
 
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