Results/Thoughts: Applying Opti-Seal/Opti-Coat with an Air Brush

Car is done. Sprayed on a coat of Opti-Coat 2.0.



In Anthony Orosco's video, he mentioned that you don't need to wipe down "high spots" when spraying. My own results differ a bit from his. I ended up spraying a bit too much on the glass of my sun roof (which was the first thing sprayed). It went kinda milky looking, as an area of over-application would look if you were wiping it on. I did not go over that area with an MF, I just let it cure. It still looks milky, and hitting it with an MF this late in the game did nothing. I did manage to get a few other milky areas, but I went back over them with an MF, which corrected the areas no problem. The key is to not wait too long before knocking down the high spots. I found that anything later than 10 minutes was too late (which I'm sure changes according to temp/humidity).



I used exactly 15 ml of product, coating everything but the wheels and front windshield. All other glass, trim, etc. was coated.



So how's the look? IMO, not as good as Opti-Seal. Not even close, really. There's a trade off... if you want a high gloss traditional sealant, go with Opti-Seal. But if you want an OK looking permanent coating, Opti-Coat is great. I'm not saying that the look isn't acceptable, it's just not as good as many boutique LSP's.



It's too late for pictures today, so I'll try to snap a few when I get back in to town next week, after it's first post-OC bath.



Spraying Opti-Coat is definitely something to consider if you're having problems getting it to look right by wiping it on. Yes, you still have to be concerned with areas of over-application, but they are *easily* taken care of with an MF as long as you don't wait too long.



I think one of the reasons some guys have a hard time with WOWA products is the "did I actually get any on the paint?" factor. With a non-WOWA product, it's darn easy to see that, yup, you really did put something on the paint. With a WOWA, it's often times not that easy. The advantage to spraying is that you can see exactly where the stuff is going, and that yeah, you did actually get it on your paint. It's also pretty easy to discern where you got too much.



Final thoughts...



Opti-SEAL is wonderfully easy to apply with an air brush, and the results are nothing short of stunning.



Opti-COAT is easier *for me* to apply with an air brush than wiping it on. No, it's not a complete no-brainer process like Opti-SEAL is, but it is still very doable, and the results are very good.



Advantages:





  • You can actually *see* the stuff going on your paint
  • Anthony Orosco says that you'll get "more of the actives" on your paint by spraying than wiping on

Disadvantages:





  • You still do get milky looking areas of over application if you're not *extremely* careful. These areas must still be knocked down with an MF prior to full cure.
  • More product used per car.
 
Just went out in search of more areas of over application. I was able to find a few using the incandescent lighting in the garage. All of the cloudy areas (including those on the sun roof) were taken care of by an ONR damp MF. Kinda surprising, given the length of time that's gone by since application. Hopefully, there's still a viable layer of OC left under the areas where the excess was removed. Time will tell.



Oh, and Rasky, the stripes look killer. :rockon:
 
TOGWT said:
Chemical Name: Amorphous siliceous mineral-silicate - MSDS I'm not so sure a respirator is overkill
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SuperBee364 said:
According to the Opti-Seal MSDS at http://optimumforums.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=12, I'm not seeing amorphous siliceous mineral-silicate as an ingredient in Opti-Seal. :nixweiss
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wascallyrabbit said:
i thought amorphous siliceous mineral-silicate was in the opti coat.



if memory serves me right opti guard comes with 40cc in a syringe. the consumer syringe is 20cc. so i think you'll be good if you get down to around/just under 20cc per application.
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Hmm. I'm not seeing Amorphous siliceous mineral-silicate in the MSDS for either Opti-Seal or Opti-Coat.
 
SuperBee364 said:
Just went out in search of more areas of over application. I was able to find a few using the incandescent lighting in the garage. All of the cloudy areas (including those on the sun roof) were taken care of by an ONR damp MF. Kinda surprising, given the length of time that's gone by since application. Hopefully, there's still a viable layer of OC left under the areas where the excess was removed. Time will tell.



Oh, and Rasky, the stripes look killer. :rockon:
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Awesome! Can't wait for the pics! Lets some some video of the water beading/sheeting too! ;)
 
Got a chance to meet/chat with Dr. G during SEMA. What a great guy. He spent about 30 minutes talking to me, taking the time to field every one of my stupid questions at length. Learned a bunch of stuff, including one that's applicable to this thread: how to cut Opti-Coat for spray application.



I told Dr. G about how I was intrigued by Anthony Orosco's spray application of Opti-Seal and Opti-Coat, and that I had been spraying both of them a bit. I told him about how it was still rather easy to get areas of over application with OC, following up with asking how I could cut it to make spray application easier. Dr. G recommended cutting Opti-Coat with up to 50/50 xylene. He ran through various solvents, but ended up recommending xylene for it's quick-to-flash properties.



In theory, this should allow a heavier, noticeably wet coat to be applied, without running in to cloudy areas of over application. Next week, I'm going to polish the OC off of half of my hood and re-apply it using a 50/50 OC/xylene mix. I'm chosing the hood, as it's a horizontal panel constantly exposed to the harsh desert south west sun. I want to see if cutting OC like this for spray application will have any negative long term effects on the OC film. Dr G believes that there won't be. His only caution was that, by cutting OC with xylene, the resulting layer of OC will be thinner than it normally would. Since spraying results (depending on how you spray it) in a thicker layer anyway, I'm hoping that the result will be an easier to spray product with normal coating thickness. Guess we'll see... :)
 
TOGWT said:
Chemical Name: Amorphous siliceous mineral-silicate - MSDS I'm not so sure a respirator is overkill
Click to expand...





Oh, I also did a bit more research into Opti-Coat and Amorphous siliceous mineral-silicate. It appears that there has been a bit of confusion.... There is more than one "Opti-Coat" on the market. The MSDS for *our* Opti-Coat (the one produced by Optimum Polymer Technologies) does *NOT* have Amorphous siliceous mineral-silicate in it. The MSDS shown here: http://www.menardifilters.com/pdf/opticoat_msds.pdf is NOT the MSDS for Optimum's Opti-Coat, but rather for Menardi Opti-Coat, which is a completely different product, and yes, it does have Amorphous siliceous mineral-silicate in it.



For reference, you can find Optimum Opti-Coat's MSDS for download here: http://optimumforums.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=11 note that there is no Amorphous siliceous mineral-silicate listed.



The MSDS for Optimum Opti-Seal is here: http://optimumforums.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=12 again, no Amorphous siliceous mineral-silicate listed.
 
I apologize for the triple post, but the home roasted coffee has been good to me this morning.. :)



I mentioned in an earlier post that I wasn't completely thrilled with the look of Opti-Coat. It had a pretty tough act to follow, as I previously had a sprayed on layer of Opti-Seal on the car, and it looked stunning. So yeah, I was a bit disappointed by the fact that the OC didn't measure up to OS's look. It still looked OK, just not jaw dropping.



I've washed the car twice now since the OC was applied. After drying, I thought the car looked pretty darn good. Much better than it had immediately after applying the OC. Am I seeing things, or are you guys seeing an improvement to OC's look after a couple of washes? Maybe the unbonded OC (over applied areas that are hard to see) is being removed by the wash, allowing the OC layer to look better?
 
SuperBee,



OC will almost always need at least 24 hours for it to fully cure and come into its "look". Temp and humidity also play a factor. Its cool here today in South Texas so as I am applying OC to an orange Boxster it takes longer to flash BUT this allows me to work the product more evenly before it starts to flash. In cooler weather I do smaller areas with less product .....usually.



Anthony
 
SuperBee364 said:
I apologize for the triple post, but the home roasted coffee has been good to me this morning.. :)



I mentioned in an earlier post that I wasn't completely thrilled with the look of Opti-Coat. It had a pretty tough act to follow, as I previously had a sprayed on layer of Opti-Seal on the car, and it looked stunning. So yeah, I was a bit disappointed by the fact that the OC didn't measure up to OS's look. It still looked OK, just not jaw dropping.



I've washed the car twice now since the OC was applied. After drying, I thought the car looked pretty darn good. Much better than it had immediately after applying the OC. Am I seeing things, or are you guys seeing an improvement to OC's look after a couple of washes? Maybe the unbonded OC (over applied areas that are hard to see) is being removed by the wash, allowing the OC layer to look better?
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I believe OC takes several months to reach its full hardness. I guess the look would evolve a little over that time too.
 
I just sprayed another vehicle with Opti-Coat today. Thought I'd share the experience.



I'm now convinced that this is *the* way to apply WOWA sealants/coatings. I learned a ton spraying my own car, and even more today. I must say that you can get Opti-COAT to look every bit as good as Opti-SEAL looks if you spray on the Opti-COAT.



It's as easy as this...



1. Use a .25 mm tip on a double action airbrush



2. Spray the Opti-Coat on the vehicle. Use a VERY LIGHT APPLICATION. Don't spray the panel to the point that it looks wet.



3. Wait for the initial flash over of the OC to occur. In today's 61 degree garage (Yes, I measured the temp. I don't think you should apply OC at less than 60 degrees or so), that took two minutes.



4. IMMEDIATELY after the initial flash (it's ok if the entire panel hasn't flashed; the high spots will still look wet, but the majority of the panel should be flashed), lightly wipe down the panel you just sprayed with an MF towel. Make sure it's a towel you don't mind throwing away, cause once you get opti-coat on an MF, it's trash.



5. Pick your jaw up off the floor, cause it's gonna hit the ground hard when you see how gooooood OC looks.



I was completely floored with how good it looks, honestly. My only two gripes about OC up til now were: 1. It's not the easiest to apply, and 2. the looks were just kinda OK.



Spraying a light coat, waiting for it to flash, and lightly wiping have solved both of those issues.



Even if you don't want to tackle spraying Opti-COAT, you might seriously want to consider spraying Opti-SEAL. It is sooooo easy to do. Opti-SEAL is very forgiving about over-application; any areas where you spray too much will eventually (just give it time) flash over to an a-mazing layer of thick glossy glass on your paint. You'll seriously be impressed at the "thicker clear coat" look you'll get from a sprayed on layer of Opti-SEAL. And after you've done it a few times, you'll probably be convinced that yeah, you *can* spray on Opti-COAT, too. :)
 
lostdaytomorrow said:
Just read through the whole thread and wanted to say thanks SuperBee for sharing your experiences. Helps my decisions out immensely.
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My pleasure, man. I'm just glad that my ramblings were actually useful to someone. :)



What did you decide to do?
 
Thanks for the update Brandt!





....you should be able to reuse the MF towels again if you toss them in a bucket of water right away. Adding some Micro Restore couldn't hurt either. ;)
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
So I take it from what you said, you didn't end up diluting the Opti-Coat with Xylene?
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No, I didn't cut it. Ron Ketcham said in another thread that xylene is one of those chemicals that can damage the clear coat. According to him, the damage won't appear right away, but it *will* eventually happen. I've never been one to question Ron on anything, and I'm not gonna start now. ;) I'm going to have to re-visit the issue with Dr. G... see if I can find a chemical that is compatible with both the OC and the clear coat. Spraying OC would be dead *easy* if you could cut it so you could spray the layer on a bit heavier.



The wife's SUV is up next for OC, so I'll let her.. or rather... her car be the guinea pig for diluted OC.



RaskyR1 said:
Thanks for the update Brandt!





....you should be able to reuse the MF towels again if you toss them in a bucket of water right away. Adding some Micro Restore couldn't hurt either. ;)
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Thanks for the tip on the MF's, Rasky, much appreciated. The ones I used were some worn out Eurow shags, so it was no big loss. :D



Edit: if Ron Ketcham should happen to read this, it would be great to hear of some clear coat friendly solvents I could run past Dr. G for determining their compatibility with OC for dilution/thinning.
 
SuperBee364 said:
No, I didn't cut it. Ron Ketcham said in another thread that xylene is one of those chemicals that can damage the clear coat. According to him, the damage won't appear right away, but it *will* eventually happen. I've never been one to question Ron on anything, and I'm not gonna start now. ;) I'm going to have to re-visit the issue with Dr. G... see if I can find a chemical that is compatible with both the OC and the clear coat. Spraying OC would be dead *easy* if you could cut it so you could spray the layer on a bit heavier.
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Guess I hadn't seen Ron post that; good to know though, so I don't go trying it on anything (or at least not on anything important). Thanks!
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
Guess I hadn't seen Ron post that; good to know though, so I don't go trying it on anything (or at least not on anything important). Thanks!
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Found it!



Ron Ketcham said:
Some will "swell" the paint substrate, no doubt.

Usually clorinated versions.

Butly cellosolve components used in many all purpose cleaners may create minor swelling as well.(I could spend a lot of time posting some serious concerns created by butly based all purposes and synthetic transit coating removers did to thousands of new vehicles that never got out of the assembly plants storage yards.)

Rule of thumb, if it "swells" the paint, it is attacking the chemical bond of the paint film, which usually means one may observe some damage later in the life of the paint system.

Lacquer thinner, xylene, toulene, acetone, MEK, etc are examples of solvents that may not show any adverse effects immediately after being used on a modern clearcoat system, however history has shown that at sometime in the future, the damage will become apparent.

When I was teaching the PrepExcellence detailing course at AI, students often questioned the same thing which enthusist ask,"why can't I use lacquer thinner, PrepSol, etc when I detail, after all the bodyshops use it?"

Why not, well a bodyshop is using these to remove any silicone residue, etc and are going to sand, prime and repaint the vehicle, so no concern.

Not true for the home or "professional" detailer, they are not refinishing the vehicle.

So, a few weeks or months or even a year or two passes and they can't understand why some area's of the clear is going away.

They did it, they just took the easy way and were not educated on what damage clorinated solvent blends may do to these modern paint systems.

Grumpy

Grumpy
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Oddly enough, two of the solvents mentioned in Ron's post were candidates that Dr. G gave me for thinning Opti-Coat. Time to find more thinning options...
 
I think we may need to summon Ron into the thread for some input/clarification. Just did some checking on another common "solvent blend" a lot of us like to use for adhesives, bugs, tar, etc. -- 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner. According to the MSDS, the main solvent in it, at 30-60% by weight, is Xylene.



3M's documentation specifically states that the product "Will not harm most thoroughly cured paints, vinyl, or fabrics when used properly."



With this in mind, I wonder if perhaps, in some situations, these solvents may be safe?
 
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