I will be doing an Opti-Coat for a buddy of mine on his new car. But before I do anything I need to strip the existing wax/sealant. The problem is his car is at an underground parking lot with no water supply access. So I was thinking using ONR method but with ONR mixed with Dawn to strip the wax, then IPA wipe down before applying Opti-Coat. Would this method be good enough to strip the wax?
ONR and then IPA? You may find issues with the Dawn residue if you cannot properly flush it. I use diluted Dawn as clay lube and it is very difficult to remove without properly flushing it away......
ONR wash followed by a good IPA or Eraser wipe-down should be just fine. What polish are you finishing with?
I don't plan to do any polishing. As I only have about 4 hours to work with. Washing/stripping, claying and Opti-Coat should take about 4 hours total.
Here is what I would do... ONR, Clay with diluted dawn, IPA wipe down, or you can dilute the ONR and use it as lube in itself...... there is no real wrong way of doing it.
To each their own, but I only clay a car when I plan on polishing afterward...rarely do I get away without some amount of light marring from the clay and you will be sealing in any defects with the OC, making them more difficult to remove later down the road if you so choose. If the client is taking the car right away Opti-Guard should probably be used too, as OC should be allowed 12hrs to cure....not that it's going to fall off or anything.
I was kind of in this situation with a car last week, parked on the street. I used Zep diluted at 3:1 and sprayed down each section and let it dwell for a little bit before washing with ONR. It seemed to strip whatever was on there and washing top-down rinsed most of it off so it didn't mess up my wash solution too bad. You could also use IPA for the initial spray-down, or my favorite Griot's Garage Paint Prep.
Yeah the possibility of marring the paint from the clay crossed my mind too. But since the vehicle is about a week old, I am thinking the paint shouldn't be very contaminated (knock on wood). The client already knows the vehicle will not be moved for the next 12 hours (8 minimum).