Setec Astronomy

Hi Brad, I think your questions may be answered in this thread:

It's out, I got a bottle a couple of weeks ago. https://www.opticoat.com/product/optimum-no-rinse-wash-wax/

It was the Podcast episode "Meet Roberto, the Opti Coat Cook, and Team Sugar High" from September 21, 2016. Whether you can still listen to that or not, I'm not sure.

Maybe the warehouse gentleman said he got to choose the scents, maybe that was it. I remember he talked about which is the most popular product (ONR), and how he made a 2000 gallon batch every two weeks or so, if I'm remembering correctly.

We used to have these discussions on another forum about the wheel-specific "waxes" and sealants. To Ron's point, I have suggested unless you are driving your car on the track with red-hot brake rotors, I don't think your wheels get any hotter than a black car in the sun. To me the wheel-specific products were just a marketing tactic to get you to buy another jar/bottle of product instead of using the one you already had.

I have found that some of these online detailing stores update their descriptions when a new formula comes out...and then never "un-update" them, so you can be looking years later and see a "new formula!" that was new 3 years ago. Happened to me a few years ago, I might even have started a thread here about it.

Back when Dann and Yvan did the podcast, they had one of the production guys on, who they said/he said was responsible for the colors and fragrance. I found it surprising also that those parameters weren't part of the "recipe", but apparently it was this gentleman who was "having fun" and changing the stuff sometimes. At least that's the way I remember it from the podcast a few years ago. I will say I'm one of the people who has accidentally picked up the wrong bottle because they all look the same, one time I sprayed Opti-Glass on my wheels when I thought I was spraying Opti-Clean, and wondered why the Opti-Clean seemed so much different than normal, but didn't realize until later what had happened. So clear bottles and different color products may not be a bad idea.

It should blend. It's only a micron or two thick.

I'd never heard of them--I just googled "Synergy Lite".

Their "pure shampoo" is Pure Shampoo, a product of theirs. Um...of course they are going to recommend their car wash and snow foam for their product. As Ron says, I'm 100% sure you'll be fine washing your new coating with ONR (after the 7 day curing period they specify).

Well, that's because some "wax" companies call their sealants "polishes", you know, like "furniture polish". Even that M company which started as a furniture polish company 100 years ago muddied the waters with some of their glazes in the old days. Like anything, some people dip their toe in the water and think they are swimmers, and to be fair, there are people who may have been "polishing" their car for decades with stuff from the auto parts store, who really don't know the first thing about paint care, but think they do--but they are well-meaning, usually. A lot of things are more complicated than most people would like to think they are...and in the old days people understood that. But with the internet everybody is an expert on everything, I'm sure I could find a YouTube video on washing your car with rocks...or if I can't, I could make one and get people to do it. Not that there was ever any place to get real detailing info before the internet, so I'd say we came out ok on that one.

Welcome to the forum! So what do you want to know about the rinseless wash?

C'mon Zippy, we live in a world where everyone has their own facts, why should car washing be any different?

Yes Power Clean (OPC) will remove the Opti-Bond, or at least most of it. Any kind of washing is going to be aggressive on a dressing. Your best bet is to use a soft (flagged) brush, and some regular car wash. That will remove the dirt and not completely remove the Opti-Bond. Your other option, long term, is to coat the tires with Optimum Tire Protection and Coating, then you can wash them willy nilly with your car wash and everything will slide right off. It may be a little too shiny for you at first, but it will dull down after a bit. Of course, back in the day it was the thing to do that you scrubbed and re-dressed your tires at every wash--so you can just do that.

She always washes her own car, I converted her to rinseless years ago. She just makes me mix up the rinseless wash for her, and do the wheels.

Well, I had to order a small bottle of the new ONR and ONRWW...besides, it was time for me to try a bottle of T.A.R. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it? Not sure if my wife is going to buy it.

Wow, this jumped out at me--that for "fashion" Hyper Seal apparently has an inefficient sprayer in comparison to "plain Jane" Opti-Seal. A concession I wouldn't expect from no hype/no marketing/no nonsense Optimum.

Ron obviously knows more about this than I do, and I haven't bought any OPT spray products for a couple of years at least, so maybe that's how they are coming now--just all my bottles have been blue, and the pictures on Amazon and at the OPT store show blue bottles. I mean the little squeeze bottles for ONR, polish, MDR, etc. have been clear for a long time, along with the little carpet cleaner spray, and the quarts, too, so plenty of clear bottles, I just haven't seen them for the sprays (other than the carpet cleaner 8oz).

The problem with OC 2.0, and perhaps Gloss-Coat (I've used Gloss-Coat, but I never had time to study it afterwards like I had time to do back in the OC 2.0 days), is that it "clogs" easily, so it may get a bad rap from that.

Um...huh? What happened to the blue bottle? Is that a clear bottle with pink liquid in it? Or a pink bottle? I don't recall an Optimum spray product ever coming in a clear bottle, other than Opti-Seal.

Great to hear the new formula ONRWW is coming soon, I just need to wash more cars so I can use up my quart of old formula. It's just that you use so little per wash (the way I do it). Good tip about the stronger mix for wheels...I rarely do rinsesless on wheels...because I have so much conventional car wash, I generally use the hose for the wheels.

My biggest complaint with ONR was always the staining of the media. Since the first pass could "permanently" stain the wash media black, it was hard to judge how dirty the car was and whether you had done enough passes on a particular panel to tell if it was safe to dry. Not only that, the staining wouldn't wash out, so this would carry over to subsequent washes. Over time I have learned that a pre-wash with some OPC helps to remove the staining, but I don't think I have used any other rinseless washes that have stained at all--or if they did--that didn't come out in the laundry. I always tried to tell myself that ONR was somehow different and better because it had this characteristic, but I didn't really believe myself. If the new formula has overcome this problem, that would be a huge improvement. As far as "trendy", at another forum we used to refer to this as the "Flavor of the Month Club". It's been a long time since Optimum has had any sanctioned proponents on other forums, and of course forums are somewhat passe these days. Perhaps the Opti-Coat maintenance products would have "trended" but since they aren't available through distribution, there is no promotion by distributors.

To some of the above comments, I have had etching happen in minutes--like you go in a store, come out and there's bird poop, get my QD/WW that I carry in the car, wipe it off, boom, etching. And yes, sometimes it does seem to disappear on its own...but only sometimes.

Those are etch marks, and can happen surprisingly fast on even a protected car, especially in the hot sun. So don't fault ONR--you usually have to remove some paint by polishing to remove the etch, however, they can sometimes be really bad and be down to the primer, and those obviously can't be removed. Of course lots of variables, what the bird ate, etc. Sealants and waxes help some, but you still have to get that stuff off right away, which just isn't going to happen with "normal" people. That etching can happen in minutes under the right conditions.

After coming back from a long patent-related absence, the Opti-Clay seems to now be gone from the store. Gone forever?