MarcHarris
New member
UPDATE posted here: http://www.autopia.org/forum/car-de...gs-observations-autolavish-4.html#post1463814
Three nano-coating have hit the market running and have great potential for professionals to use them for their properties which make them extremely durable. Here's our opinions so far.
Take into account this and any review of these coatings (other than the few testers who have probably been using one or the other for over a year or two) is exactly this: initial findings. Until time passes and we all get to witness the durability, feel, application, and protection, we will not have a definite answer or "best". We might never get a solid answer.
The review will be on the application and product from there on. I think there are enough reviews and descriptions of what the bottle looks like, blah blah. We bought all the products straight, no discounts, no nothing. So this would be a genuine review, not a plug.
We expected all 3 products to be the same stuff more or less, but found all 3 to be very different. They smell different, they feel different (both as liquid and once cured), they go on very different and wipe off in their own way. The result may be similar, but that is where the similarity ends. This is great, because it means we as detailers can tailor the product to our usage and the vehicle. I prefer differences to standardization in things like this, as do most of us.
First: Opti-Coat on the work truck - Light Silver
We got Opti-Coat very early this year (January), but never got to using it until Summer (too darn busy FTW). We tried it first on our 3500 Mega Cab. The truck had never been polished, and never washed improperly. We did a quick pass of M205, a thorough wash, and went to town with the Opti-Coat.
The application was done late in the afternoon, outside, about 70 F and medium humidity. The dew point was dropping fast. The truck lives outside, so we focused on finishing before the dew point reaches the dropping ambient temp.
Using a foam applicator we squirted a bit on. It feels similar to Opti-Seal, maybe a bit more viscous. But it goes on just like Opti-Seal. It sucks onto the paint and starts to flatten. It is not very slick under the pad, so be careful not to put too much pressure onto the applicator or you could cause marring (with any of the products).
We went over an entire panel, waited about 10 minutes, and wiped off. The coating wiped off a little tacky at first, then eased up. The final surface was free of streaks after a clean towel, but not very slick at all. Being a silver vehicle, finding these streaks in diminishing light was difficult. Everything was gone over, all plastic, trim, wheels, etc.
The Opti-Coat did miracles to the black plastic exterior trim. The handles and mirrors never looked this good, and I have used everything on them (black wow, fade2black, blah blah, even Klasse AIO, Blackfire...). The paint looked glossy-er, wet, similar to Opti-Seal.
The next morning Jacob found the finish has many streaks in the areas that were not wiped down well. He had gone over the black trim a second time, and I did not get to wipe clean after the 10 minute wait, if at all. The result is something that looks like the trim was dressed very sloppy, and there is dressing around the handle on the paint, noticeable in changing light. The bumpers (chrome) and the side view mirror glass were the worst. We look back and think it wasn't wiped at all after going over with the Opti-Coat applicator. Jacob tried to wipe it off 12 hours post application curing outside in the damp and dew 50 F weather of the night using QD. Nothing moved. Even going all the way up to straight Mineral Spirits. No budge. The Opti-Coat is on there to stay.
Needless to say we were very impressed with its chemical resistance, and frustrated we didn’t apply as good as we should have. Lesson learned.
After a few months and a few washes we can say the Opti-Coat is still on there. It cleans off very easy with a pressure washer. It has resisted water spots and bugs. But it is not slick at all, and the paint feels uncoated under the hand. Beading is OK, but has not changed. Sheeting is OK as well. You can tell there is something there, but it is not like a fresh coat of wax or sealant.
Second: Opti-Coat on the Civic - Blue Pearl
Jacob's 92 Civic, about to be sold was next. He saw a video where A-Quartz was being applied with a rotary polisher under a small blue pad. Looked worth a shot. We would apply the Opti-Coat by machine. We squirted some into a 3M black (soft) 3� pad under the PC and speed 5. Using very very little pressure we let the pad glide over the paint. It was stickier than typical LSP, but went on fairly easy and straightforward. The gloss is definitely more than the Truck’s hand application, but this could be to the difference in color and paint (the Civic has been wetsanded a few times). However, once seen in the sun, we found lots of streaking and marring on the vertical panels. This paint is uber soft and temperamental. We applied inside the garage at about 70F and buffed off then let cure a few days in the dark, unmolested.
After a few days the car was pulled outside the garage while we had a client’s car stay overnight for some work. It rained that night. The next afternoon when I pull in the Civic to the garage again Jacob notice killer water spotting. He imagined it would just be superficial, but after wiping with IPA, #34, and Optimum Wax, it was in there. He's sure he marred the paint more getting the etching out. It did come out, but the Honda will now need a light re-polish. The beading is poor, though much improved over the truck, and looks rather unreal, like a wax with further dispersed droplets over the panel area.
I prefer the hand application due to time constraints, and figure I could match the better beading with a better application. Using the PC seemed to be more in vain than the trouble to do it and the waste of a pad. But we shall see, I definitely want to continue to play around with its application.
Third: GTechniq C1 on Maserati GT - Dark Grey
Some of you may have seen our write-up on a stunningly sinister Gran Turismo on various forums. We did a 2 step correction on this ride and applied a coat of C1. This is a great customer of ours, so we knew this would be a vehicle we could keep an eye on and see how the coating comes along over the winter. This is mentioned in the writeup, but this GT sports Hakkapelitas (hard core snow tires) and will get driven daily this winter. Yep, a GT daily driver in Michigan winter. A coating was definitely the answer for this client needs.
The C1 says to wipe on and off immediately. We felt it felt slicker than Opti-Coat under the pad, but it feels even slicker once wiped dry. It wipes off easier than any of the coatings, and being able to wipe off immediately means we don’t spend much time waiting. The downside is that C1 needs to be wiped off various times. Similar to a high-carnauba content wax, the stuff seems to rehaze, at least on our applications.
The weather was about 50-55 F inside a heated garage, and about 35 outside and raining. The vehicle slept overnight and was driven the next morning to work and back. A day later we came back to do the interior, and gave the exterior a wash. The beading and sheeting was incredible. We used no towels to final dry, none. The blower got all drops off clean. Since the coating was easier to wipe off there was no towel marring, and no haze anywhere.
We were already impressed with Opti-Coat, and this trumped it in terms of ease of application and sheeting, and slickness under hand, something we feel is needed to provide to our customers as they expect that "just waxed feel" if they happen to wash the vehicle.
Something that would come to be noticed a week later is this picture of the paint under the Dual LED Brinkmann after application showing nearly no haze or lack of clarity:
Fourth: C-Quartz on Saab 9-3 Turbo - Pure Black
The C-Quartz was the last product to arrive to us, and we wanted to make sure it would be tested on a car that would benefit from the coating and we could continously evaluate; my girlfriend's 9-3 became the test subject. We polished the Saab with M105. M205, and Ultrafina to try to give the best look possible. The paint was straight black and ended up coming to about 95%+ correction with outstanding clarity. The paint looked amazing after the polish, so it would be hard to say if the C-Quartz improved upon it.
The C-Quartz was applied in a temperature of 50 or so degrees F inside, with it being 35F and raining outside. We applied and let haze as recommended. At 10 minutes with this temp the coating was not wiping off completely, similar to an un-hazed sealant. We decided to wait longer. At 20 minutes, and expecting something akin to Opti-Coat’s, we were pleased to find it was still easy to remove, and cleaned up better. We figured it needed the extra time to haze with the low temperature. Basically, C-Quartz is as easy to use as any sealant. BUT after we were done we noticed very light haze, almost like the paint was not finished down all the way to 100% clarity. We were sure it had been finished down, inspected after M205 and ultrafina on the PC, with IPA wipedowns, and even a quick re-wipe yielded no real change in the look: the haze was still there. An application of Reload seemed to help some, and improved the slickness slightly. We will see if the haze changes the next time we get a chance. We assume this is due to not letting it haze enough in this very cold weather. It did not seem to haze up the next time we used it, on the Audi, discussed further below.
The looks was great, clear, crisp, wet. Both the C-Quartz and C1 seem to be glossier than Opti-Coat, but all cars with these coatings had better paint than the truck or the Civic. Paint color can surely make a difference and it is important to note that.
The Saab drove off that night about an hour after final wipe. It has not been washed yet to see if there was any detriment to the coating from getting it slightly wet within the first 48 hours.
Application pics:
The paint was typical GM black, nothing too difficult to deal with. Some areas are better, but a slight haze remains as can be seen in these pics. The lights should be much more tight in their appereance.
For the trim we used G-Techniq's Permanent Trim Restorer. It did a great job. The coating went on very easy, very even, very quick. It did not get tacky at all (unlike the Dodo Juice Supernatural Trim Sealant). The look is a nice satin, factory-new look. If the durability is decent; I'll easily vote it the best trim product on the market.
Now go back and notice the body side black plastic moldings and how great they look. They were bad looking discolored and chalky. Bad picture for it:
Fifth: All 3 on an Audi A4 Avant - Dark Grey
Jacob's Audi Wagon beater-mobile. It never gets cleaned, polished, anything. His girlfriend drives it daily. Poor thing. I plan to take some cool vids of these coatings on this car through the snow… so with this in mind we split up the car in sections and applied all coatings.
The car got M105, M205, and a final wash. It has many RIDS, but oh well. The car is going to the body shop for a new rear hatch (courtesy of a random truck in the parking lot backing into me), and a re-painted hood courtesy of very cheap paint protection film from eBay left on the paint for a year. When he pulled it off, the adhesive had stained the paint down to the base coat. Jacob sanded the area to see how deep the damage went, and he had to go through the paint to see where the damage stopped. The hood would be getting repainted anyway, and this shows an important lesson: stay away from cheap film!
Ambient was about 45 F and humid, inside the garage. We split the roof into 3 strips. On the pass side we have C1. On the driver’s side we have Opti-Coat. In the middle we left with nothing. After a few days cure we will apply something like Blackfire just to compare durability and beading. Hopefully the video will get how the surfaces look under the weather. The driver’s side of the vehicle got a varied application. Fender has nada. Driver door has Opti-Coat. The rear door has C1. The rear quarter has C-Quartz. The passenger side of the vehicle has C1. We went over glass, rubber, and plastic on each section. This was a great way to compare the look.
On trim, all coatings work great. They help even out and slightly darken the trim. But C1 is by far the darkest and glossiest on trim. It also works best on rubber window seals. The gloss on paint is about the same, at least under the fluorescents.
Driver side doors, B-pillar. Notice rubber window seal. Left is the front door, coated with Opti-Coat. Right is rear door, coated with C1:
Driver's side rear door and quarter panel. Left of rear door, coated with C1. Right is rear quarter panel, coated with C-Quartz. Roof and rack, arch, and top side-opening trim were coated in Opti-Coat:
Opti-Coat on driver's side roof rack:
All of the passenger side got C1:
Areas marked under the coating (notice the divide on the lower trim where C1 meets C-Quartz, the difference in color):
We also used GTechniq’s G3 versus Aquapel. Split the windshield down the middle, G3 on the driver’s side, Aquapel on the passenger side. The G3 feels like Blackfire compared to Aquapel! Ultra slick. So slick tape will not stick to it. It went on easy, came off easy. It should be crazy repelant, more than Aquapel. If it lasts as long as Aquapel (I get 3 good months out of an application on the truck) with more repel ability it will be our new glass coating. E also have G1 and G2, but have yet to try it. More on this later.
Hypothesis:
Opti-Coat: Acts like the most utilitarian and durable of all the coatings. I would recommend this to medium and hard clear coats on vehicles that get beat on hard, like the significant other’s daily drivers, trucks, SUVs, en fin the largest market of vehicles.
Application is straightforward and easy to achieve perfect clarity. Any haze is there to stay, so absolute clarity and the final wipe is the most important step during application. It has a decent working time, more than enough to go over the area calmly and uniformly, go find a towel, grab a beer, and get back for the wipe off.
Feel is not what I would desire. I wish it were slicker. Again, we have applied it just a few times, but each time the difference in slickness during wipe off and after cure by touch is really noticeable. I will comment further on the beading as I see them perform on the Audi.
C-Quartz: I would recommend this to most DIYers. If you have soft paint, use a larger applicator to help reduce the pressure needed to float it across the paint. But wiping off is so easy with C-Quartz you will have less risk of towel marring.
This is the easiest to use in terms of not messing it up. It has plenty of working time and is the most forgiving in terms of wiping off in time. Wipe off early and you will have to re-wipe a few times. Wipe off a little late and it seems to still wipe off. We left it on the Audi for about 30 minutes at 40 F and it wiped off very easy and nice. We should have waited even longer as part of the test.
Feel is much more slick than Opti-Coat, a noticeable jump. I still wish it were slicker, though. I love sealants. I love waxes. I wish I could love nano-coatings in terms of feel.
UPDATE: After curing on the Audi for a day, the C1 on the rear driver's door and the C-Quartz on the driver's rear quarter panel feel equally slick under your hand. Still not where I would want it to be, though. But acceptable, I think, to most people.
C1: I would recommend this coating for professionals who need to get it done faster. It is said to bond instantly to paint, which means we can be in and out and not have to worry about it getting driven, we hope. In general we as a community will gain more experience with their durability. Maybe our applications and findings may change completely once time makes its move.
C1 is also very easy to use. No wait to wipe off, and it wipes off quick and easy. Good for soft paints. But it sweats, or re-hazes. As you finish final wiping around the car you will start to see areas you thought you had gone over look like you haven’t. Around again and it looks hazy again! We kept using new towels and going over at least 3 times, then waited about 15 minutes as we packed up to leave, and inspected once more to be sure. We needed to wipe one area again. When we went back 2 days later the area showed no haze.
The feel is the most slick of all the coatings! As soon as you wipe off you will notice about the same jump C-Quartz had over Opti-Coat from C-Quartz to C1. Under the pad it feels the silkiest (silk, not slick). Under you hand it feels the silkiest, more like a wax. Towels glide over the surface the easiest. C1, like C-Quartz, is said to help reduce scratching and swirling. I believe anything that is slick helps reduce swirling, and I have seen videos should C-Quartz’s scratch resistance and it is quite impressive. This makes C1 my favorite so far in terms of feel.
UPDATE: After curing on the Audi for a day, the C1 on the rear driver's door and the C-Quartz on the driver's rear quarter panel feel equally slick under your hand. Still not where I would want it to be, though. But acceptable, I think, to most people.
Remember all your towels and applicators must be disposed of periodically during application. The C1 applicators were changed for each panel. The C-Quartz applicators as well. The Opti-Coat applicator was changed just a few times, and the pad for the PC was changed only once. Towels will get soiled. This is the one thing you do not want to streak by using a “full� towel. Get cheap ones, and throw them away once you are done using them. We used about 10 for the Maserati and C1 since we had to keep going over it again and again with new towels. We used about 4 for the Saab, and one final wipe after about 30 more minutes (which didn’t pick anything up, but better safe…).
Cotton make-up applicators work great. They have some stiffness to them to help when pushing during applications, but their layers separate and they get thrashed quickly. They absorb more than it seems and since you use so many you loose a lot of product. The Saab too ¾ of the bottle of C-Quartz. We used foam make-up applicators for the Audi. They were very soft, which is great. But they were hard to push around the paint, which meant I had to pinch them to hold them, and the applicator round became the applicator strip. We will play around with applicators as well, and see what we can come up with.
Of course any and all comments are welcome. Lets get some good discussion going about these coatings so we can all enjoy them to their maximum
Thanks for reading!
Three nano-coating have hit the market running and have great potential for professionals to use them for their properties which make them extremely durable. Here's our opinions so far.
Take into account this and any review of these coatings (other than the few testers who have probably been using one or the other for over a year or two) is exactly this: initial findings. Until time passes and we all get to witness the durability, feel, application, and protection, we will not have a definite answer or "best". We might never get a solid answer.
The review will be on the application and product from there on. I think there are enough reviews and descriptions of what the bottle looks like, blah blah. We bought all the products straight, no discounts, no nothing. So this would be a genuine review, not a plug.
We expected all 3 products to be the same stuff more or less, but found all 3 to be very different. They smell different, they feel different (both as liquid and once cured), they go on very different and wipe off in their own way. The result may be similar, but that is where the similarity ends. This is great, because it means we as detailers can tailor the product to our usage and the vehicle. I prefer differences to standardization in things like this, as do most of us.
First: Opti-Coat on the work truck - Light Silver
We got Opti-Coat very early this year (January), but never got to using it until Summer (too darn busy FTW). We tried it first on our 3500 Mega Cab. The truck had never been polished, and never washed improperly. We did a quick pass of M205, a thorough wash, and went to town with the Opti-Coat.
The application was done late in the afternoon, outside, about 70 F and medium humidity. The dew point was dropping fast. The truck lives outside, so we focused on finishing before the dew point reaches the dropping ambient temp.
Using a foam applicator we squirted a bit on. It feels similar to Opti-Seal, maybe a bit more viscous. But it goes on just like Opti-Seal. It sucks onto the paint and starts to flatten. It is not very slick under the pad, so be careful not to put too much pressure onto the applicator or you could cause marring (with any of the products).
We went over an entire panel, waited about 10 minutes, and wiped off. The coating wiped off a little tacky at first, then eased up. The final surface was free of streaks after a clean towel, but not very slick at all. Being a silver vehicle, finding these streaks in diminishing light was difficult. Everything was gone over, all plastic, trim, wheels, etc.
The Opti-Coat did miracles to the black plastic exterior trim. The handles and mirrors never looked this good, and I have used everything on them (black wow, fade2black, blah blah, even Klasse AIO, Blackfire...). The paint looked glossy-er, wet, similar to Opti-Seal.
The next morning Jacob found the finish has many streaks in the areas that were not wiped down well. He had gone over the black trim a second time, and I did not get to wipe clean after the 10 minute wait, if at all. The result is something that looks like the trim was dressed very sloppy, and there is dressing around the handle on the paint, noticeable in changing light. The bumpers (chrome) and the side view mirror glass were the worst. We look back and think it wasn't wiped at all after going over with the Opti-Coat applicator. Jacob tried to wipe it off 12 hours post application curing outside in the damp and dew 50 F weather of the night using QD. Nothing moved. Even going all the way up to straight Mineral Spirits. No budge. The Opti-Coat is on there to stay.
Needless to say we were very impressed with its chemical resistance, and frustrated we didn’t apply as good as we should have. Lesson learned.
After a few months and a few washes we can say the Opti-Coat is still on there. It cleans off very easy with a pressure washer. It has resisted water spots and bugs. But it is not slick at all, and the paint feels uncoated under the hand. Beading is OK, but has not changed. Sheeting is OK as well. You can tell there is something there, but it is not like a fresh coat of wax or sealant.
Second: Opti-Coat on the Civic - Blue Pearl
Jacob's 92 Civic, about to be sold was next. He saw a video where A-Quartz was being applied with a rotary polisher under a small blue pad. Looked worth a shot. We would apply the Opti-Coat by machine. We squirted some into a 3M black (soft) 3� pad under the PC and speed 5. Using very very little pressure we let the pad glide over the paint. It was stickier than typical LSP, but went on fairly easy and straightforward. The gloss is definitely more than the Truck’s hand application, but this could be to the difference in color and paint (the Civic has been wetsanded a few times). However, once seen in the sun, we found lots of streaking and marring on the vertical panels. This paint is uber soft and temperamental. We applied inside the garage at about 70F and buffed off then let cure a few days in the dark, unmolested.
After a few days the car was pulled outside the garage while we had a client’s car stay overnight for some work. It rained that night. The next afternoon when I pull in the Civic to the garage again Jacob notice killer water spotting. He imagined it would just be superficial, but after wiping with IPA, #34, and Optimum Wax, it was in there. He's sure he marred the paint more getting the etching out. It did come out, but the Honda will now need a light re-polish. The beading is poor, though much improved over the truck, and looks rather unreal, like a wax with further dispersed droplets over the panel area.
I prefer the hand application due to time constraints, and figure I could match the better beading with a better application. Using the PC seemed to be more in vain than the trouble to do it and the waste of a pad. But we shall see, I definitely want to continue to play around with its application.
Third: GTechniq C1 on Maserati GT - Dark Grey
Some of you may have seen our write-up on a stunningly sinister Gran Turismo on various forums. We did a 2 step correction on this ride and applied a coat of C1. This is a great customer of ours, so we knew this would be a vehicle we could keep an eye on and see how the coating comes along over the winter. This is mentioned in the writeup, but this GT sports Hakkapelitas (hard core snow tires) and will get driven daily this winter. Yep, a GT daily driver in Michigan winter. A coating was definitely the answer for this client needs.
The C1 says to wipe on and off immediately. We felt it felt slicker than Opti-Coat under the pad, but it feels even slicker once wiped dry. It wipes off easier than any of the coatings, and being able to wipe off immediately means we don’t spend much time waiting. The downside is that C1 needs to be wiped off various times. Similar to a high-carnauba content wax, the stuff seems to rehaze, at least on our applications.
The weather was about 50-55 F inside a heated garage, and about 35 outside and raining. The vehicle slept overnight and was driven the next morning to work and back. A day later we came back to do the interior, and gave the exterior a wash. The beading and sheeting was incredible. We used no towels to final dry, none. The blower got all drops off clean. Since the coating was easier to wipe off there was no towel marring, and no haze anywhere.
We were already impressed with Opti-Coat, and this trumped it in terms of ease of application and sheeting, and slickness under hand, something we feel is needed to provide to our customers as they expect that "just waxed feel" if they happen to wash the vehicle.
Something that would come to be noticed a week later is this picture of the paint under the Dual LED Brinkmann after application showing nearly no haze or lack of clarity:
Fourth: C-Quartz on Saab 9-3 Turbo - Pure Black
The C-Quartz was the last product to arrive to us, and we wanted to make sure it would be tested on a car that would benefit from the coating and we could continously evaluate; my girlfriend's 9-3 became the test subject. We polished the Saab with M105. M205, and Ultrafina to try to give the best look possible. The paint was straight black and ended up coming to about 95%+ correction with outstanding clarity. The paint looked amazing after the polish, so it would be hard to say if the C-Quartz improved upon it.
The C-Quartz was applied in a temperature of 50 or so degrees F inside, with it being 35F and raining outside. We applied and let haze as recommended. At 10 minutes with this temp the coating was not wiping off completely, similar to an un-hazed sealant. We decided to wait longer. At 20 minutes, and expecting something akin to Opti-Coat’s, we were pleased to find it was still easy to remove, and cleaned up better. We figured it needed the extra time to haze with the low temperature. Basically, C-Quartz is as easy to use as any sealant. BUT after we were done we noticed very light haze, almost like the paint was not finished down all the way to 100% clarity. We were sure it had been finished down, inspected after M205 and ultrafina on the PC, with IPA wipedowns, and even a quick re-wipe yielded no real change in the look: the haze was still there. An application of Reload seemed to help some, and improved the slickness slightly. We will see if the haze changes the next time we get a chance. We assume this is due to not letting it haze enough in this very cold weather. It did not seem to haze up the next time we used it, on the Audi, discussed further below.
The looks was great, clear, crisp, wet. Both the C-Quartz and C1 seem to be glossier than Opti-Coat, but all cars with these coatings had better paint than the truck or the Civic. Paint color can surely make a difference and it is important to note that.
The Saab drove off that night about an hour after final wipe. It has not been washed yet to see if there was any detriment to the coating from getting it slightly wet within the first 48 hours.
Application pics:
The paint was typical GM black, nothing too difficult to deal with. Some areas are better, but a slight haze remains as can be seen in these pics. The lights should be much more tight in their appereance.
For the trim we used G-Techniq's Permanent Trim Restorer. It did a great job. The coating went on very easy, very even, very quick. It did not get tacky at all (unlike the Dodo Juice Supernatural Trim Sealant). The look is a nice satin, factory-new look. If the durability is decent; I'll easily vote it the best trim product on the market.
Now go back and notice the body side black plastic moldings and how great they look. They were bad looking discolored and chalky. Bad picture for it:
Fifth: All 3 on an Audi A4 Avant - Dark Grey
Jacob's Audi Wagon beater-mobile. It never gets cleaned, polished, anything. His girlfriend drives it daily. Poor thing. I plan to take some cool vids of these coatings on this car through the snow… so with this in mind we split up the car in sections and applied all coatings.
The car got M105, M205, and a final wash. It has many RIDS, but oh well. The car is going to the body shop for a new rear hatch (courtesy of a random truck in the parking lot backing into me), and a re-painted hood courtesy of very cheap paint protection film from eBay left on the paint for a year. When he pulled it off, the adhesive had stained the paint down to the base coat. Jacob sanded the area to see how deep the damage went, and he had to go through the paint to see where the damage stopped. The hood would be getting repainted anyway, and this shows an important lesson: stay away from cheap film!
Ambient was about 45 F and humid, inside the garage. We split the roof into 3 strips. On the pass side we have C1. On the driver’s side we have Opti-Coat. In the middle we left with nothing. After a few days cure we will apply something like Blackfire just to compare durability and beading. Hopefully the video will get how the surfaces look under the weather. The driver’s side of the vehicle got a varied application. Fender has nada. Driver door has Opti-Coat. The rear door has C1. The rear quarter has C-Quartz. The passenger side of the vehicle has C1. We went over glass, rubber, and plastic on each section. This was a great way to compare the look.
On trim, all coatings work great. They help even out and slightly darken the trim. But C1 is by far the darkest and glossiest on trim. It also works best on rubber window seals. The gloss on paint is about the same, at least under the fluorescents.
Driver side doors, B-pillar. Notice rubber window seal. Left is the front door, coated with Opti-Coat. Right is rear door, coated with C1:
Driver's side rear door and quarter panel. Left of rear door, coated with C1. Right is rear quarter panel, coated with C-Quartz. Roof and rack, arch, and top side-opening trim were coated in Opti-Coat:
Opti-Coat on driver's side roof rack:
All of the passenger side got C1:
Areas marked under the coating (notice the divide on the lower trim where C1 meets C-Quartz, the difference in color):
We also used GTechniq’s G3 versus Aquapel. Split the windshield down the middle, G3 on the driver’s side, Aquapel on the passenger side. The G3 feels like Blackfire compared to Aquapel! Ultra slick. So slick tape will not stick to it. It went on easy, came off easy. It should be crazy repelant, more than Aquapel. If it lasts as long as Aquapel (I get 3 good months out of an application on the truck) with more repel ability it will be our new glass coating. E also have G1 and G2, but have yet to try it. More on this later.
Hypothesis:
Opti-Coat: Acts like the most utilitarian and durable of all the coatings. I would recommend this to medium and hard clear coats on vehicles that get beat on hard, like the significant other’s daily drivers, trucks, SUVs, en fin the largest market of vehicles.
Application is straightforward and easy to achieve perfect clarity. Any haze is there to stay, so absolute clarity and the final wipe is the most important step during application. It has a decent working time, more than enough to go over the area calmly and uniformly, go find a towel, grab a beer, and get back for the wipe off.
Feel is not what I would desire. I wish it were slicker. Again, we have applied it just a few times, but each time the difference in slickness during wipe off and after cure by touch is really noticeable. I will comment further on the beading as I see them perform on the Audi.
C-Quartz: I would recommend this to most DIYers. If you have soft paint, use a larger applicator to help reduce the pressure needed to float it across the paint. But wiping off is so easy with C-Quartz you will have less risk of towel marring.
This is the easiest to use in terms of not messing it up. It has plenty of working time and is the most forgiving in terms of wiping off in time. Wipe off early and you will have to re-wipe a few times. Wipe off a little late and it seems to still wipe off. We left it on the Audi for about 30 minutes at 40 F and it wiped off very easy and nice. We should have waited even longer as part of the test.
Feel is much more slick than Opti-Coat, a noticeable jump. I still wish it were slicker, though. I love sealants. I love waxes. I wish I could love nano-coatings in terms of feel.
UPDATE: After curing on the Audi for a day, the C1 on the rear driver's door and the C-Quartz on the driver's rear quarter panel feel equally slick under your hand. Still not where I would want it to be, though. But acceptable, I think, to most people.
C1: I would recommend this coating for professionals who need to get it done faster. It is said to bond instantly to paint, which means we can be in and out and not have to worry about it getting driven, we hope. In general we as a community will gain more experience with their durability. Maybe our applications and findings may change completely once time makes its move.
C1 is also very easy to use. No wait to wipe off, and it wipes off quick and easy. Good for soft paints. But it sweats, or re-hazes. As you finish final wiping around the car you will start to see areas you thought you had gone over look like you haven’t. Around again and it looks hazy again! We kept using new towels and going over at least 3 times, then waited about 15 minutes as we packed up to leave, and inspected once more to be sure. We needed to wipe one area again. When we went back 2 days later the area showed no haze.
The feel is the most slick of all the coatings! As soon as you wipe off you will notice about the same jump C-Quartz had over Opti-Coat from C-Quartz to C1. Under the pad it feels the silkiest (silk, not slick). Under you hand it feels the silkiest, more like a wax. Towels glide over the surface the easiest. C1, like C-Quartz, is said to help reduce scratching and swirling. I believe anything that is slick helps reduce swirling, and I have seen videos should C-Quartz’s scratch resistance and it is quite impressive. This makes C1 my favorite so far in terms of feel.
UPDATE: After curing on the Audi for a day, the C1 on the rear driver's door and the C-Quartz on the driver's rear quarter panel feel equally slick under your hand. Still not where I would want it to be, though. But acceptable, I think, to most people.
Remember all your towels and applicators must be disposed of periodically during application. The C1 applicators were changed for each panel. The C-Quartz applicators as well. The Opti-Coat applicator was changed just a few times, and the pad for the PC was changed only once. Towels will get soiled. This is the one thing you do not want to streak by using a “full� towel. Get cheap ones, and throw them away once you are done using them. We used about 10 for the Maserati and C1 since we had to keep going over it again and again with new towels. We used about 4 for the Saab, and one final wipe after about 30 more minutes (which didn’t pick anything up, but better safe…).
Cotton make-up applicators work great. They have some stiffness to them to help when pushing during applications, but their layers separate and they get thrashed quickly. They absorb more than it seems and since you use so many you loose a lot of product. The Saab too ¾ of the bottle of C-Quartz. We used foam make-up applicators for the Audi. They were very soft, which is great. But they were hard to push around the paint, which meant I had to pinch them to hold them, and the applicator round became the applicator strip. We will play around with applicators as well, and see what we can come up with.
Of course any and all comments are welcome. Lets get some good discussion going about these coatings so we can all enjoy them to their maximum
Thanks for reading!
