I applied Opti-Coat to my GTI back in August, right before my semester at college started. Since then I've driven my car quite a lot and only run it through an automatic car wash once. It's obvious the Opti-Coat is doing its job...my car still looked relatively clean for something that had been parked outside for months. Well today I finally went to detail it, and noticed some unusual behavior. On some the roof the water would sheet up...and not move at all, just stand there. It moved a bit around the edges of the roof after a while, but not much. In other areas of the car, the water would sheet, and then slide off the car at varying paces...faster on the sides of the car and slower on the hood. I thought Opti-Coat was supposed to bead, not sheet. And when I blew the car off with a leaf blower, the water came off the roof somewhat well...not as well as it should with a coat of wax/opti-coat but better than it would if there were no protection on the paint. One more odd thing happened...when I was drying, the surface looked like this until I got it completely dry...odd. Since I had a lot of Opti-Coat left when I applied it, I figure I probably just put it on wayyyy too thin and some areas wore off relatively quickly? If this is the case, I have plenty of Opti-Coat to reapply but no paint correction materials...would it be best to simply apply another coat, or would I want to clay it and do an IPA wipedown before I did?
My car did the exact same. Idk man. I just returned mine. I put mine on in August too. Mine did the exact same thing except mine didn't sheet at all. It was like there was nothing there. I cleaned the polishing oils off of my car with prep sol and ipa before I applied it along with washing it.
From the pic, it looks like the roof wasn't prepped. All those color variations are contamination that are not visible when the surface isn't wet. You should not see those at all when the surface is clayed, polished, and stripped. Opti Coat will only bond to paint and not stuff sitting on paint, so that's probably what happened with both your cars...something was left behind in areas. Prep sol and IPA can leave residue behind that's why I recommend a Power Clean or Dawn Wash. Also, if you use Meg's or Menz Polishes they can have a swelling effect that can inhibit bonding. Rusty, If you plan on reapplying, you should clay and at least finish polish the area. Opti Coat is only layerable without polishing for around 30 days or until it fully hardens...at that point it can still be layered, but you will need to scuff the surface with at least a finish polishe for it to stick.
I sprayed my car down with opc and wash it with ocw after I used prep sol. That's why I don't know what went wrong. I did use menz p085rd though.
Thanks for the info. But unfortunately, I don't have polishing materials right now, nor do I have time to order them before my spring break is over...and once I go back to school I'll be there till may without time to do anything to my car. What would you advise me to do in order to protect my paint for at least the remainder of the semester?
You could go to Walmart and pick up Meguiar's Ultimate polish or Compound and use them by hand to prep the surface. OC isn't that hard to remove.
Okay...so wash (obviously), clay, then polish...should I do like a Dawn wash or anything after I polish it? I don't wanna do an IPA wipedown 'cos that may have been my problem before. I assume I don't want to go straight from polish to applying Opti-Coat.
You definitely need to wash the paint after polishing. Rather you spray it down with an APC and wash it normally or use dawn.
Another quick question then...I won't have time to hand polish my car this week or any time till May. Since the Opti-Coat is already failing, would I be able to apply a durable sealant/wax (I'm thinking Collinite 845, Menzerna PL or Autoglym HD) and be able to expect it to last until May? I know waxes and sealants usually don't "stick" very well to the slippery Opti-Coat surface but if the Opti-Coat is failing in places due to improper application, would applying an LSP help protect those areas until I can get around to polishing the Opti-Coat off and re-applying?
