I will be trying out the PC + SMR soon when the weather warms up and I have a couple questions. How do you guys handle the areas much smaller than the 6" pad? Like areas around the taillights, headlights and windshield pillars? I would imagine you just do these areas by hand? What's the procedure there, just put on a light smear with a cotton applicator and then buff with a MF cloth?
CQuartz Ford Flex
- Thread starter Chinaski
- Start date
wizardofahs
New member
I was wondering the same thing. On my civic i have a spoiler in the rear... just enough to leave about a 4 inch strip that the pc can't get under.. i missed on the SMR on it and it looks pretty bad. I'm thinking of just working really hard and doing that part by hand.
vettefan67
New member
One option is to hand polish.
Another is to tape it off and go over it, depending on the area. Make sure the sharp edges are all taped off . . .
Another is to tape it off and go over it, depending on the area. Make sure the sharp edges are all taped off . . .
First off I don't have any before photos as I didn't have time and being that this is my own car, there was no correction needed other than some rock chips and a few small scratches put into the paint by people other than myself. I mainly just wanted to post my thoughts (thus far) on CQuartz.
My process was as follows:
Cleaned a few tar spots and sticker adhesive off wheels with Tarminator
Removed gigantic dealer badge of trunk lid (what a pain in the butt getting all that foam adhesive off)
Filled rock chips with Dr. Colorchip
Removed the few random scratches with Megs MF 3" pads and D300 compound
Clean wheels with DP Wheel Gel and IronX
2 bucket wash with Optimum Car Wash and a little ONR mixed in
Clayed
Removed water spots off glass with DP Glass Restorer and GV110v2 using LC flat white pad
Polished gloss black plastic window pillars with Menz 85RD and both LC Tangerine Hydro and LC Crimson Hydro 4" pads.
Had to polish entire vehicle with Optimum Hyper Polish and LC flat white pads to remove previous coatings of BFWD that IPA and APC wasn't even making a dent in.
Did heavy IPA + Optimum Power Clean wipe down
Applied Perl at 1:3 ratio on all exterior plastic and rubber, including tires
Applied CQuartz
Applied Reload
Now for my thoughts on the CQuartz.
First off, I was concerned I wouldn't have enough. I had read a few people complain that 30ml wasn't enough to do a sedan. So I ordered a 50ml bottle, it came with a blue dense foam block, a pack of blue mf applicators and a couple loosely put together cotton applicators . Well, I only used half the bottle to do the entire Ford Flex including all paint, glass, wheels and two coats on the hood. You only need a very small amount per panel. You can see and feel when the CQuartz is no longer being spread by the applicator.
Application itself is very simple. Take the blue foam block and mf applicator and place the mf over the black fuzzy side of the foam block and hold onto the loose sides of the mf with your fingers. Then just put a few drops going along the mf and begin applying CQuartz to the paint using straight lines in a north to south direction, then cross back over it with straight lines in a east to west direction.
Hazing time is kind of dependent upon ambient temperatures. Temp in my garage was 66 degrees Fahrenheit. I let the CQuartz sit for 30 minutes before buffing off.
Removal was easier than I thought. Just lightly buff off the haze and use plenty of fresh sides of the mf towel you're using. I used a 12 pack of 'Vroom' mf towels and just threw them out when done since you aren't suppose to use the the mf again after CQuartz gets on it.
The feel of the CQuartz after buffing isn't very slick, not like a sealant or wax at all, just very clean and smooth feeling.
The look is very nice. I was expecting a very plastic appearance but was pleasantly surprised by the nuba-ishness of it. Plus the flake in the paint really stands out. More so than with anything else I had put onto it.
One thing I didn't like was the smell...very potent chemical odor.
After letting it sit overnight I put a coat of Reload on the following morning. Pretty straight forward, spray on and wipe off. It does need time to flash completely off though, you'll get some light oily haze at times but it goes away after a few minutes.
All in all it was an easy product to apply, looks good and now the only thing is durability. I really hope I get at least 2 years out of it!
I'll be trying Opti-Coat on a different car this weekend. I should be able to take more pics of the during on that one.
Here are some after photos.
Not sure why this photo is so blurry.
The flake really pops!
My process was as follows:
Cleaned a few tar spots and sticker adhesive off wheels with Tarminator
Removed gigantic dealer badge of trunk lid (what a pain in the butt getting all that foam adhesive off)
Filled rock chips with Dr. Colorchip
Removed the few random scratches with Megs MF 3" pads and D300 compound
Clean wheels with DP Wheel Gel and IronX
2 bucket wash with Optimum Car Wash and a little ONR mixed in
Clayed
Removed water spots off glass with DP Glass Restorer and GV110v2 using LC flat white pad
Polished gloss black plastic window pillars with Menz 85RD and both LC Tangerine Hydro and LC Crimson Hydro 4" pads.
Had to polish entire vehicle with Optimum Hyper Polish and LC flat white pads to remove previous coatings of BFWD that IPA and APC wasn't even making a dent in.
Did heavy IPA + Optimum Power Clean wipe down
Applied Perl at 1:3 ratio on all exterior plastic and rubber, including tires
Applied CQuartz
Applied Reload
Now for my thoughts on the CQuartz.
First off, I was concerned I wouldn't have enough. I had read a few people complain that 30ml wasn't enough to do a sedan. So I ordered a 50ml bottle, it came with a blue dense foam block, a pack of blue mf applicators and a couple loosely put together cotton applicators . Well, I only used half the bottle to do the entire Ford Flex including all paint, glass, wheels and two coats on the hood. You only need a very small amount per panel. You can see and feel when the CQuartz is no longer being spread by the applicator.
Application itself is very simple. Take the blue foam block and mf applicator and place the mf over the black fuzzy side of the foam block and hold onto the loose sides of the mf with your fingers. Then just put a few drops going along the mf and begin applying CQuartz to the paint using straight lines in a north to south direction, then cross back over it with straight lines in a east to west direction.
Hazing time is kind of dependent upon ambient temperatures. Temp in my garage was 66 degrees Fahrenheit. I let the CQuartz sit for 30 minutes before buffing off.
Removal was easier than I thought. Just lightly buff off the haze and use plenty of fresh sides of the mf towel you're using. I used a 12 pack of 'Vroom' mf towels and just threw them out when done since you aren't suppose to use the the mf again after CQuartz gets on it.
The feel of the CQuartz after buffing isn't very slick, not like a sealant or wax at all, just very clean and smooth feeling.
The look is very nice. I was expecting a very plastic appearance but was pleasantly surprised by the nuba-ishness of it. Plus the flake in the paint really stands out. More so than with anything else I had put onto it.
One thing I didn't like was the smell...very potent chemical odor.
After letting it sit overnight I put a coat of Reload on the following morning. Pretty straight forward, spray on and wipe off. It does need time to flash completely off though, you'll get some light oily haze at times but it goes away after a few minutes.
All in all it was an easy product to apply, looks good and now the only thing is durability. I really hope I get at least 2 years out of it!
I'll be trying Opti-Coat on a different car this weekend. I should be able to take more pics of the during on that one.
Here are some after photos.
Not sure why this photo is so blurry.
The flake really pops!
bmw5541
New member
Thanks for the review, Your Flex looks great!
imported_Indy YZF
New member
Looks good, off topic, how do you like your flex, we are looking at getting one either this year or first of next year.
Thanks!
So far so good! Didn't want a minivan and most SUV's don't seem to utilize interior space very well considering how big they are. The Flex imo looks like the offspring of an old Ford Woody and a new Mini Cooper.
imported_Indy YZF
New member
I'm in the same boat, hate minivans and SUVs sit too high. Plus the flex is sweet looking. Your clean up really did bring out the metallic (I'm looking at Dark Ink or Kona Blue with a silver roof).