Optimum Polymer Technology Discontinuing Many of Their Products

L

Lonnie

Active member
I recently noticed that on The Rag Company web site that MANY of the Optimum Polymer Technologies (OPT) car-car products are sold out. When I called the TRC Customer Service hotline, the customer service rep, Rebecca, informed me that OPT is dropping/discontinuing many of their products. When asked why this is happening, she said their chemists are "just going in a different direction" and that products will be sold directly to installers and not through "distributors".

Her suggestion was to call or contact the company direct and find out which products are being dropped and any other questions you may have about how to obtain those soon-to-be-discontinued care-car products that are still available in their stock and how buy products in the future that will remain.

I would REALLY appreciate if a representative from Optimum Polymer Technologies would reply to this thread and inform the detailing community what exactly IS going on with their product lines and distribution/selling methods. Otherwise, I guess if you use OPT car-care products for yourself as a hobbyist or as a detailing business, it may be time to talk to the company yourself and get the lowdown "direct from the horse`s mouth."

This is VERY disconcerting and troubling to me as a hobbyist detailer who LOVES and uses many of their car-care products. My reason for calling TRC in the first place was to find some Carpet and Fabric Cleaner and Protectant in larger sizes, which she stated is one is the products being dropped and well at the Optimum Tire and Protection Coating.

Unfortunately, this is not the first OPT product "problem" associated with this company, as many Autopians will remember the fallout from the Professional Opti-Coat pricing fiasco for certified installers/detailers.
 
Things changed once Yvan Lacroix and Dann Williams left the company. That was the first sign that something at optimum was changing. You won`t be hearing from any reps as they don`t come on here. I don`t even know who is still a rep at that company.
 
There was a time I would have been sad about this, not anymore. Strike one was the "exclusive" Opticoat crap. Would have worked if there weren`t other great products out there. I would have kept buying it like a sheep probably, but thanks for forcing me off the train!

OCW, while still a fantastic product has been replaced for me by a couple of consumer products that work better and last longer. I`ll miss ONR but I just didn`t like it as much after they put in all the LSP like stuff in it. Their polishes were mediocore at best and their rubber and trim products were terrible.
 
​I would guess we would need to ask these questions on their Opti Forum or the Opti Facebook group.

With all the Reps leaving lately and hearing that Dr G. wanted to make changes; I kept hoping that meant moving back towards their roots of making everything available to the true enthusiast customers that pushed them along in the early stages of the coating wars. I am guessing that is not really a chance through.
 
Having to buy products direct from a manufacturer is just economically "cumbersome" to me. As a hobbyist, I do not buying a lot of different products in quantity or even in a larger container size (to some degree) but having to pay for shipping of a smaller dollar order is just not economically justifiable sometimes. BUT if you want to use their products, I guess you will pay the price.
It is one of the reasons I buy from detailing product and equipment distributors/resellers who sells multiple-manufacturer lines: One-Stop Shopping for all my detailing needs with an order dollar amount that may qualify for FREE shipping. (albeit every other year!!)

Could we petition OPT on all of this??? If a product does not sell because the cost of materials are too high OR no longer available OR they cannot make a set profit-margin, they will not (or cannot) make it or sell it. Or if, as stated, "they are going in a different product and marketing direction" from the decision made by the owner(s) or company management, "it ain`t gonna change their minds" no matter what the customers may want or even demand. and

Sometimes, bigger is not always better. Mass-marketing or having a large market share does not guarantee or even make a company "the best in the world." You can grow a company and increase your sales, which seem to be "the benchmark of business success", but sometimes pulling back and doing a few things well that appeal to a maintainable repeat PAYING customer base is the measure true business success. It works for Ferrari and Subaru.
 
Gee, I`d *really* hate it if I couldn`t get OCW. Between the UV protection, how well it works on fresh repaints, and it`s utterly Accumulator-proof nature, it`d be a huge loss for Yours Truly :(

OCW, while still a fantastic product has been replaced for me by a couple of consumer products that work better and last longer.
Click to expand...

Maybe you can relieve my distress :D What SprayWax works better while looking *exactly* the same as the OCW..while providing UV protection and being fresh-paint safe? Some others that people like (e.g., Meguiar`s UQW) are good for some things, but can`t replace the OCW for me due to other characteristics that I don`t like...
 
Looks like Autopia is still fully stocked with the OPT they do carry. We will have to watch these and those that do want to stash their favorites can still do so.
 
Just seems like an odd move in a niche world with too many good alternative products in it already.
 
Accumulator said:
Gee, I`d *really* hate it if I couldn`t get OCW. Between the UV protection, how well it works on fresh repaints, and it`s utterly Accumulator-proof nature, it`d be a huge loss for Yours Truly :(



Maybe you can relieve my distress :D What SprayWax works better while looking *exactly* the same as the OCW..while providing UV protection and being fresh-paint safe? Some others that people like (e.g., Meguiar`s UQW) are good for some things, but can`t replace the OCW for me due to other characteristics that I don`t like...
Click to expand...

Yep. Nothing that does it all like OCW. But TW Ice spray wax is so good I find myself using OCW to get rid of it. You’d hate it though, it has that obnoxious thing over the top look. And it’s probably not fresh paint safe. Though TBH If I need a fresh paint safe LSP frequently I have bigger problems.
 
Maybe it has to do with falling out of flavor of the month club. And lets be honest, so many companies have too many products that overlap.
 
I haven`t been to the OPT forum in a few months, but I just stopped over and see if there is an explanation there...and there was nothing remotely about dropping any products (however, they did announce 6 months or so ago that they were dropping the lotion polishes in favor of the spray polishes). From what I understood, apparently Dr. G had the big C and was not really engaged for a couple of years, and I guess he didn`t like what had been going on in his absence, so he decided to change direction a bit.

I wouldn`t be surprised if the TRC/OPT thing is just some sour grapes from the whole Yvan thing (you know, the "I`m retiring" and then going to work for someone else).

Anyway, I don`t see evidence of any major product or distribution changes (there was some mention on the OPT forum of review of the dealer, as in coating-installer/dealer, program)...as was obliquely noted earlier in the thread, PBMG had already dropped a number of the products they considered slow moving.

EDIT: I should say that when they discontinued the lotion polishes (announced on their forum Jan. 20, 2020), they were immediately gone from the factory store; while checking yesterday I saw nothing else "missing" at the factory store.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I wouldn`t be surprised if the TRC/OPT thing is just some sour grapes from the whole Yvan thing (you know, the "I`m retiring" and then going to work for someone else).

Anyway, I don`t see evidence of any major product or distribution changes (there was some mention on the OPT forum of review of the dealer, as in coating-installer/dealer, program)...as was obliquely noted earlier in the thread, PBMG had already dropped a number of the products they considered slow moving......
Click to expand...

OK I may need to "correct" myself and maybe misunderstood this "dealer only" distribution thing.
Like I said above, I prefer One-Stop Shopping, and I hope that Optimum products will still continue to be available at "select" internet car-care distributors/resellers like The Autopia Store (and its affiliate Palm Beach Motoring Group).
 
Well, it`ll be swell if this was a false alarm, at least with regard to the OCW.

Dan- Yeah, I haven`t needed the Fresh-paint Safe feature for ages, but OCW is sure better than my glazes when I do. But the way it looks just the way I want my LSPs to look is something I appreciate all the time. Seems like so many products do that "darkening" thing any more, and that`s just not what I want on my paints.
 
While I enjoy using their car wash soap and find Hyper Polish works well on soft paint, I will find other products to replace them should they actually go away. That`s too bad.
 
I`m a little out of the loop lately, but I think you guys are overreacting, unless something has happened to Dr. G, which is possible, I did see the forum guy over there say "Dr. G is kind of hard to get to right now" or something like that.
 
I’m just surprised anyone in this day wouldn’t have all their products at Jeff B’s detailing depot. I order products that they have because they come the next day, shipped free. No order too small.
 
Dan said:
I’m just surprised anyone in this day wouldn’t have all their products at Jeff B’s detailing depot. I order products that they have because they come the next day, shipped free. No order too small.
Click to expand...

Many of the OPT products are there.
 
UPDATE:

Someone started a thread at the OPT forum, linking this thread and asking what the story was. The answer was that (as I previously stated) the lotion polishes (Optimum Compound II, Optimum Polish II, and Optimum Finish) have been discontinued in favor of the spray polishes. Also the clay towel was dropped because of some copyright issue(?).

They did admit to "substantial out-of-stocks" but that these were due to the pandemic, robust sales, and some personnel turnover issues. Dr. G is back to working full time, so he`s fine, and they are staffing up, so all is good, I think you OCW guys can rest easy.
 
"So now you know the rest of the story. Good Day?" (tag line from the late mid-day newscaster Paul Harvey)

Thanks Sect for informing us (me) on what is happening at Optimum Polymer Technologies.

Glad to hear OPT founder`s Dr. David Ghodoussi is back at the helm after his recent bout with cancer. We are all indebted to his contributions to the car-care product and detailing community.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top