First MAJOR polish, seal and coat - product validation?

U

USMCStang

New member
Hi all,

I think I have a good handle on things from searching and reading through everything, but I want to make sure the methods and products I am planning on using are solid before sinking the money into anything.

Vehicle: 2010 F150 FX4, Supercrew, 6.5' bed. Candy Red Metallic. 93,000 miles. 20" aluminum wheels.
Background: Paint is in decent shape. Only light swirls, and rock chips on the front end. Regulary hand washed in warmer months with Meguiar's ultimate wash, and waxed twice a year with Meguiar's gold class. Never has been polished (to my knowledge) or sealed with any product.

Method and Products I plan to use: (I will need to purchase all products mentioned unless otherwise noted) This is just for the paint correction and coating. I realize there's a lot more that goes into the detailing aspect, so I've simplified the below list.

  1. Standard hand wash, using CG Citrus Wash & Gloss, 2 buckets, and a Meguiar's Waffle Weave drying towel.
  2. Decontaminate paint using Iron X, followed by Nanoskin Mitt lubricated by Nanoskin Glide diluted 7:1
  3. Using a Griot's Garage 6" buffer with 5.5" backing plate, begin correction with Orange Lake Country 5.5" pad and Meguiar's Ultimate Compund
  4. Using Blue Lake Country 5.5" pad, polish with Meguiar's Ultimate Polish
  5. Seal paint with Optimum Opti-Coat 2.0 (20CC should be enough for a BIG truck, right?)
  6. After 2 days of curing Opti-coat, top it with Hydro2

With all that said, there's obviously some other items (such as wheels, tires, glass, and chrome) that I haven't mentioned. For chrome, I've always used never-dull wadding, followed by gold class wax. I would probably use the opti-coat in this case instead of wax. Wheels and tires would be cleaned with Sonax, and Glass with Invisible Glass. Day to day maintenance would be using Optimum No Rinse Wash and Shine.

One question I can't seem to clarify: can opti-coat be used on black plastic trim? It would appear that it can.
 
I never used Opti Coat before but you might need to clean the surface after the Ultimate Polish. I'm not sure if leaves any residue that may affect the bonding of the Opti Coat.
 
FYI Red Candy is a metallic tinted clearcoat so you'll have some color on your pads from polishing. You haven't burned through the clear!
 
You'll need to do plenty of IPA or Eraser wipedowns if your coating. Ultimate Compound and Polish have some light fillers that might give you a false sense of correction, and affect the longevity of the coating. Doing IPA wipedowns will remove the oil residue and fillers left behind. Personally, I like use Optimum Hyper Compound and Polish before Opti-Coat. They contain no fillers, and work hand in hand with Opti-Coat. No IPA needed, although I still do it just for good measure.
 
Looks like a good plan and understanding.

As others have mentioned, you'll need to remove polish oils.

I recommend Pinnacle Black Label Surface Cleansing Polish.
 
Thanks thus far gents. I may end up spending a little extra and going with the Optimum Compounds and Polishes. I like the fact that they don't leave any residue.

Just washing the truck is going to take an hour or two, so the whole thing will have to be a weekend project. I've got one wheel that I'm going to really need to go to work on, since the brake pad had gotten chewed up and did a hell of a number on it as far as staining. I'm thinking P21 Gel, let it dwell awhile, followed by Sonax on it. I'll be removing the wheels from the truck for the detailing, since the insides are pretty bad.
 
no need to top coat the oc 2.0. other coatings could tend to impede the oc 2.0 finish properties. ( plus oc 2.0 has a very nice stand alone finish itself )
 
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