SToronto

Hey Folks,

I am curious about getting Opti Coat on my car. What are people's experiences in the quality, negative effects on paint etc?

I understand it will mean less maintenance in terms of waxing my car, but I like doing that. Does the coating make the car look glossy as it does after a good waxing?

Thanks

Unique Car Care

With Opti Coat, the car will resist dirt and stay cleaner for a longer period of time due to it's hydrophobic characteristics. In addition, an application of Opti Coat creates a protective barrier on top of the paint which is about 2 microns thick, so it will take the brunt of any damage that would have been done to the clear coat. This includes protection from bird droppings, tree sap etching, light scratches and swirl marks. The coated surface will still scratch, but will protect the factory paint underneath and provide protection from harsh chemicals, acid rain, etc...

By itself, I wouldn't say that it looks any better than your favorite wax or sealant, but the good thing is that you can apply any wax or sealant over the coating if you wish. If you decide to apply Opti Coat to your car, I personally wouldn't coat the glass, as I think there are better products for it (Wolf's Glass Sealant). Opti Coat also works awesome on wheels.

If you like cleaning your car often, I don't think it's a 'must have' product, but it definitely keeps the car cleaner for a longer period of time compared to other waxes and sealants. You may also want to look into either Cquartz or Aquartz, as some people like it better than the Opti Coat. You can find any of these products from Detailers Domain.

Hope this answers some of your questions...

Be sure to post up some pictures if you decide to go ahead with it.


Good luck!
~Rick

SToronto

Thanks for the reply, sadly still undecided. What are your thoughts of getting applied on top of VentureShield Ultra?

detailersdomain

opti coat is nice choice.
out of all the coatings it will be permanent unless you polish it off.
Wolf's and Aquartz will last 6 plus month.

Let us know if you have any questions.

AudiOn19s

My Personal take is it belongs on any daily driver and on the wheels of everything you own.

My two garage queens however are not proteced by it nor do I intend to protect those cars with it. They don't see enough use for me to justify it and in a sick way I actually enjoy taking care of those cars on a regular basis.

It is a pretty amazing product though. One of my clients has a Black Mercedes that he took to a touchless wash and the morons in the pre-wash area scrubbed the hood with nearly dry wash brushes on a cold day and did what appeared to be a rather alarming amount of damage to the hood in the process. To my suprise the opti-coat too the brunt of the damage and it was relatively easy for me to polish the hood back out and re-coat to fix the issue.

It's been on my black daily driver for a awhile now. My only complaint is that I recently clayed the car in it's trouble areas and claying seemed to marr the opti-coat more easily than it would have the paint (odd because it's supposed to be as hard or harder than paint when cured) The coating is still protecting in those areas but will need to be stripped and re-applied when it warms up a little because it annoys me visually now.

Andy

Unique Car Care

Good to know Andy. Do you happen to have clear bra on the vehicles you applied Opti Coat on?

I install lots of clear bra's and have always wanted to apply Opti Coat to them to see the results, but haven't yet due to my fear of having an adverse reaction with the film. From what I have read on varios forums, the guys at Optimum say that applying Opti Coat over clear bra is completely fine. I know I have read that Aquartz (similar product) cannot be applied to a clear bra.

I may do some testing on my personal vehicle this week and will report my findings.

AudiOn19s

I installed clear bra on the mirror's only of our E55 then opti-coated them becasue of the same questions / concerns in my own head. This was just two months ago so I don't really have any data to report back yet.

Chris @ optimum advised it should work fine. I too am skeptical but tend to believe what they say.

Andy

jcslocum

Phil, OPti Seal or OPti Coat?? What is the difference??

SToronto

I am thinking maybe just wheels is a decent idea for now, cleaning brake dust sucks. But caring for the rest of the car is fun.

DetailDan

Opti coat on clear bra is fine.

95_993

I've been using OptiSeal on my DD audi and my black 993. The main reason is that I wanted an xtra layer of protection on the black beyond just wax. For some reason, the birds up here in Boston area hav some pretty toxic $hit that will etch the paint in hrs, especially black on a hot day. I apply it after polishing an before waxing. Happy with results so far.

Anthony Orosco

Opti-Coat works just fine on clear bra. I've used it on them for years.

Basically what OC does is seal it from oxygen exposure.

The new version of OC allows one to layer it and also plays nicer with wax toppers.

Anthony

TOGWT

Optimum Opti-Seal is a true paint sealant with no cleaning properties

Optimum Opti-Coat is a semi-permanent coating with a durability that is measured in years as oppose to months

jcslocum

Thank you!

SToronto

Went for the Opti-Coat. Looks great, but that has much to do with the paint prep before application. Haven't tested the beading qualities just yet.