BRZ Opti-Coat

I decided recently to Opti-Coat the BRZ and took yesterday and today to go ahead and get that done.  I went with the usual foam wash with Chemical Guys Maxi Sud and All Purpose Cleaner added in for some extra stripping power.  Followed by a Nanoskin clay, polish with HD Adapt, wipedown with CarPro Eraser and GTechniq Panel Wipe, then Opti-Coat.

Then after the solid foam bath and deep wheel and wheel well cleaning.

Time to let the brushes soak in some APC to clean them out while I pressed on.

Following the standard rinseless wash, I went with a Microfiber Madness Duo wipedown.  Dry Me Crazy followed by the Crazy Pile to knock out any towel marks or stray water left behind.  Not that its possible the Dry Me Crazy soaks up a ridiculous amount of water.
 

Nanoskin clay was next, I used Ultima Waterless Wash as the lube and just a simple waffle weave to wipedown residue leftover.  Waffle weaves are great for claying since the surface is already clean you don't need to worry about the short nap and they are lightweight, easy to use, can be folded numerous times, and soak up multiple times their weight in liquid.

D'oh!  Bottle of V07 fell and broke the sprayer, good thing I keep a few extras around and used up a bottle of CarPro Eraser on this detail.

Following with the duo wipedown, I've began to really use this technique in most aspects, two towels is better than one especially on softer paints.

RID down below, didn't try chasing this one too far, may have to use some Dr. Colorchip later on to see if it can be filled in slightly.  I don't think I'm ready for wetsanding just set but that may change.

For the polish I went with HD Adapt and a Blue Uber Pad.  Worked pretty good overall, just a light polish for most but there were a few areas where I needed to go over it again or use varying amounts of pressure.  Found a few spots after I had opti-coated where I missed some, oh well just a project for another weekend.

So, I finally decided to pass this along, I see it quite a few times about draping the cord of an orbital polisher over the shoulder.  But personally I don't think it's good enough, I've had it fall off on more than one occasion. What I've moved on to doing is wrapping the cord around my opposite leg as well, this prevents slack from building up which keeps pressure tighter on the line.  Technique only but I like it and will continue to use it.

Wipedown post polish was done with CarPro Eraser until it ran out then followed by GTechniq Panel Wipe.  Both work great, Eraser by far has a better scent but ease of use is just about equal.

Again I went with a crazy pile to ensure nothing was transferred to the surface.

Opti-Coat time!  Dual Pro Applicator as used and a Gold Plush disposable towel.  I'm not a huge fan of trusting these towels to remove all the residue and be used on the paint again.  Also, interesting issue, since I don't use Opti-Coat too often the blue applicator tip must have had some stuck in it because it refused to work, I ended up going without a tip and using it that way.  The black locking tip still works perfectly.

And the final product, followed by more than one walk-around to check for high spots and missed spots.  Found just a couple, but for a daily driver 85-90% is acceptable but I'll be sure to go back and knock out those couple missed areas and re-apply Opti-Coat.  Ensure if you do this to tape around the area to reduce the area you are removing Opti-Coat from since it needs to be re-applied after polishing.

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My Latest Haul

Courtesy of CarPro-US

 

2 Microfiber Madness Crazy Piles

2 Fast Glass Cloths

2 3" Low Profile Crimson Hydrotechs

16oz Spotless Water Spot Remover

Expect a review on Spotless coming up.

All in all excited to try out the Crazy Pile towels on the new BRZ.  Fast Glass cloths are indispensable, one just wasn't enough, they are perfect not only on cars but all around the house.  Spotless is mainly for water spots on the window and the Hydrotechs are just to fill a gap in my pads since I have 3" in the Tangerine and Cyan version and my only crimson was pretty well trashed by Blackfire Black Ice (definitely keep a dedicated pad for that wax it just does not come out after multiple washes).

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Products List: Basic Washing and Drying (Foam Gun, Rinseless Wash, and more!)

Lately I've been responding to quite a few people on what I personally recommend or use to wash and dry my car to keep proper care of it.

I figured I'd consolidate a list (with links!) of what I use for maintenance washes and you can find my technique here.

For all but the most soiled of vehicles I've moved on to pre-soaking with a foam gun.

Foam Gun and Soap

Here is the Gilmour foam gun I use from Amazon (tip if you can find the same gun from Butcher's I paid $36 for it)

           This is definitely a technique and not necessary, this just allows the dirt settled on to be moved off before touching the paint and I have found it to soften the dirt and grime on there.  It significantly reduces the dirt I have picked up with wash media.

As for foam gun shampoo I have been experimenting with a few but my recommendation as of now is Chemical Guys Honeydew.

I follow the foam gun spray with a simple rinse off then move on to rinseless washing. 

Rinseless Wash and Towels

The staple for this of course Optimum No-Rinse (for my Wash & Wax Version review click here)

For the original version click here.

For wash media I use re-usable wash media, this allows different sides of the towel (4 in total) and different towels after each side is used every time I touch the paint.  This reduces the risk of inducing swirls and scratches.  Here is a great video link that explains this in detail.

As for towels, for washing I use these from MicrofiberTech they are paint-safe 360gsm weight.

Another recommendation many recommend are the 530gsm weight found here.

Note: Use the coupon code NEWS5 for an added discount.

For drying towels my absolute favorite is the Microfiber Madness Dry Me Crazy, one towel is absolutely more enough to dry a car.  I follow it up with a simple light buff with a 530gsm towel as found above just to eliminate any residual towel marks that may have been left.

Wheels and Tires

Check out my review page here for multiple links on wheel and tire products

Thanks for reading!