2010 Camaro Coated with Gloss Coat


The Guz

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I did a paint correction and coating on this Camaro back on 12/20/2015

A brief background. At the time my uncle had asked me if I could polish up his Camaro. He saw my previous work and I said sure. It turns out he was going to hand over the keys to his son for his 18th birthday. So to make this a little more special, I decided to not only correct it but to coat it with Gloss Coat. At the time the new version of gloss coat was introduced. It was a perfect opportunity to try it out. This was the first time I had used gloss coat but not the first time I used a coating.

This is what it looked like when it was dropped off

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First up was cleaning up the interior. It just needed a good vaccum. I cleaned the floor mats as well as some touch ups to the cloth seats. I wiped down the interior (plastic, vinyl, rubber) and applied a non optimum protectant.

 

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Next up was using an iron remover to decontaminate the paint.

 

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Followed that up with a foam bath

 

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There was clearly no type of protection on this paint

 

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Pulled it into the garage and started to clay it. My uncle lives by a refinery so there was a lot of contamination on the paint.

 

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Moved onto my test spot with a polishing pad and polish. I used a non optimum polish.

 

Before

 

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After

 

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There was some deeper defects that still remained so I opted to move up to a compound

 

Another 50/50 of an area that was compounded

 

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One more

 

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After it was corrected and coated

 

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Once the correction was completed and the paint was wipedown with IPA, it was time to apply gloss coat

 

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Some afters after applying 2 coats of gloss coat

 

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This is not a true SS. My uncle found the badge at a local automotive swap meet and he put it on. We gave him a hard time about this lol.

 

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My 4th gen in the back of this 5th gen

 

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Cleaned up the engine bay as well.

 

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Once I was done I had kept the car for a few days until my cousins actual birthday. My uncle called me letting me know to drive over to his house. My cousin was surprised and was thrilled at how the car looked. His dad had told him the car was in for recall service. I set him up with a basic wash kit.

 

I have him coming back soon for a maintenance wash to see how the coating is doing. But last I heard from both of them is that the car looks great and is easier to wash.

 

 

 

 

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Nice work...great car...the SS badge surtanly gives it extra HP.

 

How long did you wait to apply the second coat of GC?

 

Thanks lol. We still give him a hard time about it til this day.

 

I applied them 1 hour apart.

 

 

Not only did my Dad NEVER gift me with a car like that...but I didn't give my kids wheels like that either. Very nice job and very generous father!

 

Thanks. He is one lucky kid to get a nice ride.

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  • 9 months later...

This is an update on how the coating fared.

It's been 17 months since I have seen this car.  I had my uncle bring it by to do a decon wash to evaluate how gloss coat has been doing.

I started off with the wheels and tires and then proceeded to spray Ferrex onto the painted surface.  I let that sit for a few minutes. I rinsed it off and saw some unexpected behavior. So I proceeded with a wash.  I used CarPro Reset to wash it.  As I was done washing this is what I saw. Similar behavior as when I rinsed the surface free of ferrex.

No beading or sheeting.  Water was laying flat.  Primarily on the flat surfaces.  The sides were barely clinging on.

Rear Quarter

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Hood

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Trunk

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Roof

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The only area that showed signs of life was the front bumper

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I dried the car off and then moved it into the garage thinking maybe it just had some built up road grime.   On an episode of the optimum synergy podcast dated on 2/21/2017 there is a discussion on how to do a decon wash using Optimum MDR at 3:1 and Power Clean at 3:1 and agitate each step with a dampened towel in ONR.   I won't go into too much detail on the steps.   After this is done it is recommended to rinse the surface with water.   I even did the so called wash, clay, wax method using optimum car wax and a fine grade clay towel on one area of the hood.   I did the baggie test and there was not very much contaminants on the paint.

I said lets give it another wash with Reset.   Well same behavior.   Gloss Coat has indeed failed on the above shown surfaces.   It was barely clinging onto the sides.  The front bumper was the only area that had any signs of life.   

Now this is the newest formula of Gloss Coat which is stated to last 3 years (36 months).  Optimum guarantees it for 2 years (24 months).  This is quite a disappointment that it did not even make it to 2 years before it failed.  

I asked my uncle was this taken to a tunnel wash or coin op wash.   He said no and that he washes all the cars at home with Meguiar's Deep Crystal car shampoo. 

The weather here in Southern California has been dry for the most part.   Other than December 2016 into around February/March 2017 time frame where it did rain more than usual. 

It is possible that Gloss Coat did not bond well as CarPro Eraser was used since Optimum Paint Prep was not out at the time. 

Anyway I could not let it leave with lack luster protection. 

I cleaned up the interior and protected it with GTechniq C6 Matte Dash

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Cleaned all the glass with McKee's 37 20/20.   The back window had some nasty crud on it and turned my applicator brown.   20/20 is good stuff.

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Treated the trim

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Polished up the stainless steel tips

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Meghan of Autogeek sent me this tire gel to review.  I went ahead and used it to get my thoughts ready for a review on the Autogeek forum. 

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1 coat in full sun on the rear tire.  I did not buff it.  It dried to the touch in about 20 mins. 

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1 coat on the front tire in full sun

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For protection I went ahead and just used opti-seal for the fact it is quick to use.   I let it sit for an hour before I wiped it down with optimum instant gloss detailer. 

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Recap, Gloss Coat has failed at the 17 month mark which is a little disappointing given that optimum guarantees it to last 2 years.  Doesn't really give me confidence on how it will hold up on my dad's car that also has gloss coat.  I hope it lasts longer than this. 

I told my uncle if he wants me to polish it later on I will do so.  The paint is swirled out.  My cousin is the owner of it so he has been taking over the maintenance of it in terms of washing the car at home.   I came to the conclusion of not re-coating this car.  If I ever work on it again it will either be a one step cleaner wax type product or a one step polish and seal.

This will be the last update to this thread with regards to gloss coat.

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Well OPT does say to stick within the family - use Hyper polish and Paint prep for best bonding of gloss coat and clean the car with ONR later on.

Paint prep is even suppose to have a catalyst built in for the coating to spread and bond better. But like you said it was not available at he time.  Instead 15% IPA wipe was mentioned on the syringe instructions before gloss coat.

IMO if a coating lasts 12+ months its done its job. At that point you need to decon, clay & lightly polish either way.

I wonder what would happen if you used a non abrassive paint cleanser on it...perhaps it would deep clean paint/coating and help it to restore some beading (just my thoughs, never tried it).

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Guz, I don't have a good answer for you.  In my experience when Gloss-Coat has seemed to fail, the car has needed a good decon wash and the hydrophobic properties returned.  You've done that.  The only other cause of failure is improper application and knowing how thorough you are, I don't believe that's the case.  Before Paint Prep there were a lot of Coatings applied after IPA/Eraser/Dawn/Power Clean/etc wipe downs without product failure, so that doesn't sound like the cause.

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7 hours ago, A&J said:

Well OPT does say to stick within the family - use Hyper polish and Paint prep for best bonding of gloss coat and clean the car with ONR later on.

Paint prep is even suppose to have a catalyst built in for the coating to spread and bond better. But like you said it was not available at he time.  Instead 15% IPA wipe was mentioned on the syringe instructions before gloss coat.

IMO if a coating lasts 12+ months its done its job. At that point you need to decon, clay & lightly polish either way.

I wonder what would happen if you used a non abrassive paint cleanser on it...perhaps it would deep clean paint/coating and help it to restore some beading (just my thoughs, never tried it).

The reason I stayed away from IPA was due to it lacking lubrication which can lead to marring.  IPA has also been known to soften paint.  I am sure you are aware of all that since you know what you are doing. 

Well here is the thing.  This is the first time I have washed it in 17 months to see how the coating has held up.  For all I know it could have failed a lot sooner (6 months, 8 months, 12 months).  I just don't know.  With Optimum always stating it lasts up to 2 years when technically it is a 3 year coating is the part that is a bummer.  I saw nowhere near those claims.  It's a bummer not getting this type of performance.  Perhaps this was just a fluke.   

Most people are happy with 12 months but with proper care one can get a sealant to last that long for cheaper.   So that is where the debate is always comes up. 

 

36 minutes ago, Ron@Optimum said:

Guz, I don't have a good answer for you.  In my experience when Gloss-Coat has seemed to fail, the car has needed a good decon wash and the hydrophobic properties returned.  You've done that.  The only other cause of failure is improper application and knowing how thorough you are, I don't believe that's the case.  Before Paint Prep there were a lot of Coatings applied after IPA/Eraser/Dawn/Power Clean/etc wipe downs without product failure, so that doesn't sound like the cause.

I agree.  A decon wash usually works well.  But it was completely dead after trying the decon wash method described on the Opt Synergy Podcast.  I'm hoping it was just a fluke.  It's a little disheartening. 

We shall see how it holds up on my dad's.  It will be coming up on a year in the next couple of weeks and I plan to give it a decon wash.

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Shame really...I applied it to 2 friends cars and never got to apply it to my own except on the driver door but since I always use a spray wax or spray sealant to dry the car I really dont know how long it lasts on its own. Now I ran out of it but will buy another syringe this year either for clients or my own cars.

Ill be interested how Gloss coat on your dads car is holding. Please let us know.

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Optimum suggests Gloss-Coat will last 2-3 years because it's not as durable or hard as Opti-Coat Pro, and more affected by driving conditions and quality of maintenance.  Yvan had an interesting observation on facebook that the use of Megs 205 may have caused bonding issues if not completely removed.   Not trying to make excuses for performance, it's just that Gloss-Coat has been in the market for over 4 years and we don't hear complaints.  Will have to see how its works on your Dad's car...

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23 minutes ago, Ron@Optimum said:

Optimum suggests Gloss-Coat will last 2-3 years because it's not as durable or hard as Opti-Coat Pro, and more affected by driving conditions and quality of maintenance.  Yvan had an interesting observation on facebook that the use of Megs 205 may have caused bonding issues if not completely removed.   Not trying to make excuses for performance, it's just that Gloss-Coat has been in the market for over 4 years and we don't hear complaints.  Will have to see how its works on your Dad's car...

Yeah that was based on my post in the group.  It's an interesting statement about M205.  I've used it with other coatings and never had any issues so I am finding it hard to believe with what was written about M205.  

I do understand that at the end of the day each coating manufacturer is going to recommend using their products to correct and protect the paint.  The so called synergy.  Nothing wrong with that as it is meant to  prevent issues of coating failure by not sticking with the product line.  At the end of the day each manufacturer has to generate sales by pushing the product line.  

We shall see how it holds up on my dad's car.  I used Rupes polishes on that one but used optimum paint prep. 

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