0Autogeek.net

After wanting to try this product for a long time, we got a small sample and I finally got my hands on it!

Products used:

Optimum Opti-Coat
Optimum Power Clean
Optimum Car Wash
Optimum Tire Shine
Optimum Hyper Polish Spray w/6.5" Lake Country Tangerine Hydro-Tech pad
FLEX XC3401 VRG Dual Action Polisher
Pinnacle XMT Speed Clay
DP Universal Clay Lubricant
Griot's Garage Paint Prep
DP High Performance Glass Restorer w/Purple 6" LC Kompressor pad
Cobra Blue Micro-Chenille Wash Mitts
Daytona Speedmaster Wheel Brush
Long and Short Handle Wheel & Tire brushes
Cobra Guzzler Waffle Weave drying towels



For those who don't know what Opti-Coat is, it is not a sealant or wax. It is an actual permanent coating by Optimum and I like to think of it as adding another layer of clear coat to the car. This product is not available to the general public, and can be obtained directly through Optimum if you sign a waiver and have a business license.

The 2008 Toyota Highlander belongs to my parents and sits outside 24/7, and pretty much never gets washed let alone waxed. Never been clayed or polished in any way. As you can see from the pics below, this paint has seen better days. This car is going to New York for approximately 4 months, later this week. I will have my father take it through some touchless washes to see how it cleans up, and send me before/after pics and some beading shots down the road.

This is after a rinse and no beading is present. The amount of embedded contaminants is just horrible!












The first step was to pre-soak the whole SUV with Optimum Power Clean, diluted 3:1 water:OPC. For this step, I used one of our Chemical Resistant Pressure Sprayers. Notice all the gunk and brake dust running off the wheel/tire...




Fully soaked








Daytona Speedmaster in action!






Short Handle Wheel Brush




Long Handle Wheel Brush - perfect for wheel wells.




Rinsed clean...that's a lot of filthy run-off!






After washing with Optimum Car Wash (love the new scent) and pulled in the Show Car Garage




Used XMT Speed Clay with DP Universal Clay Lubricant for the claying step.








Now that the paint is clean, there is some swirling that needs to be addressed. For an '08, I was surprised at how minimal the swirling was...considering the few times it was washed it was done by local girls in bikinis or done with a brush (notice: I had no control over any of this!).

It was pretty tough to get the swirls to show up, but my 300 lumen LED flashlight did the trick.








Weapon of choice? Flex XC3401VRG with the new Optimum Hyper Polish Spray and a Tangerine LC Hydro-Tech 6.5" pad. The most impressive part was that I polished this entire vehicle with that same pad! I've never been able to do that before with any polish, ESPECIALLY with a Hydro-Tech pad. I was truly amazed at how "efficient" this polish was to use and being in spray form, it did not cake up my pad.








Ok, now that that's over with...I wiped down the entire vehicle twice with Griot's Garage Paint Prep. This product strips the surface of any oils and leaves a squeaky clean finish. It worked pretty similarly to Meguiar's Body Solvent IMO.


5 CC's of Opti-Coat were left in our sample syringe, and this was JUST enough to complete the entire vehicle (all painted surfaces, lights, glass, plastic trim, wheels).

0Autogeek.net

THIN was the goal here. I spread a nice, thin application with a foam applicator and made sure I was very thorough in the process.








Product was removed with an Indigo Edgeless polishing cloth. This towel, with its short nap, made removal of Opti-Coat pretty painless.






All trim surfaces were coated, and the difference was dramatic.














Products used (sans Opti-Coat)




All finished














My two favorite shots.









Clarity - check; flake - check






Of course it had to rain all weekend, so I leave you with these beading shots.










Overall impressions of Opti-Coat were, while it is not a hard product to use, it is beyond the abilities of Average Joe. I would say just about anyone on this forum can use it with good results - thin application is key and to quote Mike Phillips "you need to pay attention to the task at hand". You don't want to slab this stuff all over your hood, go answer the phone, drink a beer, and come back an hour later!

Other random notes: Optimum Car Wash smells awesome (I know I said it already; I had to say it again), Optimum Power Clean cleaned very effectively, Optimum Hyper Polish is just awesome. If you don't have it, you need to buy some!

Also, since I know someone will ask, we have no plans to carry Opti-Coat. I won't say it won't happen because anything is possible, but right now it's not in our plans in any way, shape or form. I did this write-up for educational purposes, and to satisfy my own curiosity.

Updates will come in the future. In the meantime, feel free to post any questions or comments. Thanks for looking!

dvilin

Very impressive results, would be nice if the Opti-Coat became available.

EVIL_C5

interesting, I must have been under a rock and missed all of the posts on opti-coat....

peter pan

Awesome finish and once you put Opti-Coat on what else needs to be done to keep the shine up or more to follow here

tlc0706

Pan's question is a good one and for a 24/7 outside vehicle: What is life expectancy?

blackmachdown

supposedly in testing people have been getting well over a year

0Killrwheels@Autogeek

Impress indeed Matt ...

RaskyR1

Looks great Matt! I applied the Opti-Coat to my Acura last weekend and I have already gotten several complements on my car. Hope it works as well as the reviews I've seen so far. I'm most interested in the cleaning properties. I coated all glass, trim, and wheels too.


For those who want to know more about it David Fermani has one of the most thorough long term reviews I've seen to date.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...st-review.html