OC 3

[digital808]

I’m  wondering if his test panel is single stage paint or is it clear coat/base coat?

If it’s single stage paint, his test is already voided in regards to Opti Coat Pro Coatings. 

[bcwang]

4 hours ago, Tug Bankert said:

Just keep in mind, whether this Scott guy sings opti praises or criticizes, he is not a pro installer. I'm not really sure what credentials he has considering he is new to YouTube and is not well known at all with only 28k subscribers. 

The best way to learn about coatings is talking to actually installers. 

I think he is a pro installer for some lines he uses, and is a detailer by trade. He has also been doing product tests for 4 years now. He’s not new but his audience is niche, so subscriber base is relatively small.  
 

From the video it sounds like he had thorough discussion with the pros who use each line so he can properly install each one of the coatings for the comparison to be fair.   He did quote some cure times which were awfully sounding like opticoat times, so at least he should get the 7 day cure done correctly. 
 

3 hours ago, Mr.Outback said:

Scott HD appears to follow a very specific test pattern (foam/rinse/foam again/wash with "again" foam/rinse.  Panels are kept facing sun behind his shop, exposed to elements, and rotated 90 degrees while still facing sun.  So far to my knowledge he hasn't tested "driven vehicles" ala Pan the O and Chicago Auto Pros.

I like his test pattern as it gets lots of sun and rain like an outdoor parked car 24/7 in Texas heat.  Sure it won’t be able to see what salt road exposure and road film does, but at least it’s consistent for all products and the failure speed between swatches is easy to see. He seems the only person who puts many coatings in a single test and makes exposure even enough to compare fairly.  And whatever condition he is in causes most products to wear out much faster than most product claims, so we don’t have to wait years to see results. 
 

 

30 minutes ago, digital808 said:

Wonder how he got a hold of Pro/Pro+ or Pro3? According to Opti-Coat contract, authorized installers are not suppose to give away pro coatings and in regards to Pro3, it’s a very exclusive coating.  Someone just did a “NO NO” 

 

Just took a quick peak at the video!  Lot#’s were scratched out!  LOL!  Will be interesting though to see the test results.  

 

I think if he got the tail end of someone’s syringe who wanted to help him get this test out, which could help opticoat with visibility, it’s a good thing. I wanted to see opticoat against a lot of the coatings he’s been using for years of different coating tests and this is the first time it’s happening. This will be very interesting to say the least. I hope it doesn’t dissappoint. This could be the kind of result that brings in more Opti coat sales and gives installers an objective test done by an impartial tester to reference when selling their coating to customers, without optimum doing anything. 
 

[digital808]

29 minutes ago, bcwang said:

I think he is a pro installer for some lines he uses, and is a detailer by trade. He has also been doing product tests for 4 years now. He’s not new but his audience is niche, so subscriber base is relatively small.  
 

From the video it sounds like he had thorough discussion with the pros who use each line so he can properly install each one of the coatings for the comparison to be fair.   He did quote some cure times which were awfully sounding like opticoat times, so at least he should get the 7 day cure done correctly. 
 

I like his test pattern as it gets lots of sun and rain like an outdoor parked car 24/7 in Texas heat.  Sure it won’t be able to see what salt road exposure and road film does, but at least it’s consistent for all products and the failure speed between swatches is easy to see. He seems the only person who puts many coatings in a single test and makes exposure even enough to compare fairly.  And whatever condition he is in causes most products to wear out much faster than most product claims, so we don’t have to wait years to see results. 
 

 

 

I think if he got the tail end of someone’s syringe who wanted to help him get this test out, which could help opticoat with visibility, it’s a good thing. I wanted to see opticoat against a lot of the coatings he’s been using for years of different coating tests and this is the first time it’s happening. This will be very interesting to say the least. I hope it doesn’t dissappoint. This could be the kind of result that brings in more Opti coat sales and gives installers an objective test done by an impartial tester to reference when selling their coating to customers, without optimum doing anything. 
 

LOL!  Obviously you have no clue that whoever gave him those Opti-Coat coatings just pretty much screwed himself/herself with Opti-Coat as each authorized installer signs a contract. Obviously, that someone just breached its contract. And being that he also has Pro3, there’s not too many installers that install Pro3.  So that person may get caught. 

[Mr.Outback]

30 minutes ago, bcwang said:

I think if he got the tail end of someone’s syringe who wanted to help him get this test out, which could help opticoat with visibility, it’s a good thing. I wanted to see opticoat against a lot of the coatings he’s been using for years of different coating tests and this is the first time it’s happening. This will be very interesting to say the least. I hope it doesn’t dissappoint. This could be the kind of result that brings in more Opti coat sales and gives installers an objective test done by an impartial tester to reference when selling their coating to customers, without optimum doing anything. 

 

Given the small size of HD's test areas, it certainly seems feasible to borrow a set of used syringes from an appropriate installer that have just enough product remaining to apply to the panel.  As for what authorized detailer would do that, I've absolutely no idea. It seems any reputable coating maker's gonna have enough product in its dispenser to coat a vehicle  (do dispensers come in different sizes?  Petite for that Rio N?  Gigantic for that coal-burning lifted Hummer?) and have a bit left over.

Hopefully Scott HD's tests will provide some useful durability info.

[Tug Bankert]

bc,

He did not get the cure times right. Opti coat is 30  days to full cure. Coating is not fully hardened at 7 days

By the way guys, these "chemical" tests are in no way real world tests. Chemicals don't fall out of the sky and rain on a car. This is the worst way to test a coating. It may test beading properties, but as we have established, beading does not necessarily mean a coating is intact or not

[bcwang]

1 hour ago, Tug Bankert said:

bc,

He did not get the cure times right. Opti coat is 30  days to full cure. Coating is not fully hardened at 7 days

By the way guys, these "chemical" tests are in no way real world tests. Chemicals don't fall out of the sky and rain on a car. This is the worst way to test a coating. It may test beading properties, but as we have established, beading does not necessarily mean a coating is intact or not

Tug,

I think he did just fine with his test protocol. He doesn’t do chemical tests. His test would be similar to a realistic user situation. Based on what he said for this coming test set and what he’s done in the past, it’s coat, cure for 7 days with no water contact, then starting at that 7 day mark, spray with water to show initial performance of all coatings. After that, every month or two, it is foaming with honeydew  snow foam, rinsing, foaming again, rinsing, then washing with a mitt, then rinsing and reporting water behavior. There are no harsh chemicals or mechanical arasions to try and accelerate the test. I feel his test protocol mimics what a person would actually do to take care of their car. This is as real world as it get to a common person’s care of a car. 
 

What he’s doing is exactly what you’d tell your customer they could do once getting opticoat. You’re not going to say they can’t wash their car for 30 days to allow full hardened cure. The only rule is to not wash it for 7 days. And he is following that rule. 

[Mr.Outback]

2 hours ago, bcwang said:

Tug,

I think he did just fine with his test protocol. He doesn’t do chemical tests. His test would be similar to a realistic user situation. Based on what he said for this coming test set and what he’s done in the past, it’s coat, cure for 7 days with no water contact, then starting at that 7 day mark, spray with water to show initial performance of all coatings. After that, every month or two, it is foaming with honeydew  snow foam, rinsing, foaming again, rinsing, then washing with a mitt, then rinsing and reporting water behavior. There are no harsh chemicals or mechanical arasions to try and accelerate the test. I feel his test protocol mimics what a person would actually do to take care of their car. ............

He could create a "road film" concoction and every so often, spray it evenly on the panel,  allow it to dry and remain for a given time, then do his wash/etc. procedure before checking for beading.  But his testing's pretty thorough as is.

[Tug Bankert]

2 hours ago, bcwang said:

What he’s doing is exactly what you’d tell your customer they could do once getting opticoat. You’re not going to say they can’t wash their car for 30 days to allow full hardened cure. The only rule is to not wash it for 7 days. And he is following that rule. 

I'm not sure why non pro detailers are telling a pro detailer what they tell their customers. It's quite presumptuous.  I do tell my customers to wait 30 days as do I wait 30 days when I coat own vehicle. I also tell them never to use soap because it is an antique product and it belongs in the museum. Washing a coating with soap and then watching the beads tells you absolutely nothing about a coating.  The only true test for a coating is to actually wash it normally over the course of years. No soap. Rinsless wash only. Soap leaves a film and attracts dirt, even on a coating. I really don't understand why people still use that junk 

[bcwang]

4 hours ago, Tug Bankert said:

I'm not sure why non pro detailers are telling a pro detailer what they tell their customers. It's quite presumptuous.  I do tell my customers to wait 30 days as do I wait 30 days when I coat own vehicle. I also tell them never to use soap because it is an antique product and it belongs in the museum. 

I apologize Tug. I didn’t mean it as what you specifically tell your customers. I meant it as what pro detailers generally tell their customers as it’s the same official recommendation from opticoat and their reps. This is evidenced by what my pro detailer told me when I got opticoat pro and pro plus installed.   By postings by multiple other customers on what their installer told them when they were worried about when to get their car rained or washing off bird crap that came before or after the 7 day period, and by postings of other pro installers who echo’d the 7 day full chemical resistance readiness cure time with regular washing being allowed at that point. 
 

About the soap comment, I won’t go there. I’ve never heard of limitations on what you could wash opticoat with. I don’t know how you would classify honeydew snow foam by chemical guys either. All I know is Scott uses the same protocol for every wax, sealant, coating test to make it fair game.  And he’s had coatings make it 2 years with beading still using that protocol. 
 

I, like you apparently, personally would try to wait 30 days without washing myself to get the full hardness cure too. But I’d also just leave it garaged and undriven during those 30 days because it prevents the chance of bird crap, bee crap, bug guys and other crap that always lands on a car driven or parked outside. But I also know I go to extremes to get optimal performance out of a product that others don’t care enough to or don’t have the means of keeping a car unused and protected for a month.   Most likely in driving it, people will want to wash off the corrosive poop and guts off right away so they also don’t negatively affect the coating, and going 30 days without getting any of that on, at least in my area, is pretty much impossible.  

[bcwang]

5 hours ago, Mr.Outback said:

He could create a "road film" concoction and every so often, spray it evenly on the panel,  allow it to dry and remain for a given time, then do his wash/etc. procedure before checking for beading.  But his testing's pretty thorough as is.

I guess I prefer Scott’s current methods as it’s a closer match to conditions I have.  I barely get rain so road film is rare, it’s always horizontal panels that lose their beading first where I live. And a road film concoction is an artificial variable that you never know what’s actually in it, whether it gets onto sun exposed parts, how it could be tailored to affect some products but not others. I think it’s better he keeps it all with Mother Nature doing the wear and tear. All variables like weather conditions are outside his control so would be what the majority of people would encounter anyway. 

[Tug Bankert]

 bc,

Whatever way you look at it the testing these guys are doing is trying to get the coating to stop beading which means nothing. Beading does not mean anything. I have had extremely contaminated vehicles bead like mad because they have been slimed with off the shelf wax

[bcwang]

4 hours ago, Tug Bankert said:

 bc,

Whatever way you look at it the testing these guys are doing is trying to get the coating to stop beading which means nothing. Beading does not mean anything. I have had extremely contaminated vehicles bead like mad because they have been slimed with off the shelf wax

Tug,

What do you suggest as a way to tell a coating is still there and protecting the paint? 

 

By the way, Scott at viewer requests has also done decon washes at the end of the test when near everything has failed to see if some coatings revive.  
 

I’ve seen that Scott is pretty open to suggestions to make the tests as fair as possible and to show what viewers want. You are free to go and comment about your concerns of his protocol if you think it’ll make opticoat get judged unfairly, it’ll be more useful to let him know before he starts the testing. The panel is still in cure until oct 1st. 

[Tug Bankert]

bc,

So first, you know the coating is still there because of the ease of cleaning. If bugs and dirt are sticking and not want to let go. Second, the paint will oxidize if there is no coating present. These changes may be subtle but still noticeable. Third, if you coating was known to only last 3 to 5 years you can assume it is gone by year 3. Don't be cheap. Go get it redone.

On a side note, Scott uses an apc to try to make the coating fail and then he does a decon to see if he can revise a coating? A decon is done with an apc. So an apc can make it fail and also revive it. I'm really not concerned with this guys testing. It will in no way change opti coats sales good or bad. Please understand what I am saying and I hope you don't take this personally but I hope you take it seriously, (not just you but all those reading this). An apc test on a coating proves or disproves absolutely nothing. Even if you get it to stop beading that DOES NOT mean the coating has failed. I don't understand why you all get hyped up about some soap on a coating to see if the beading stops? Is that why you got the coating? Because of the water beads? If that's the case then you don't understand what a coating is or does. It's just a coating. It's a product that saves you time and money because it's easier to clean. No hype, just a tool. If you bought a hammer that was suppose to be indestructible and you wanted yo try and break it. Why? For what purpose? Just go use the hammer for what it is intended for. 

By the way, if I need to suggest to Scott to do the test for opti coat a certain way and he would do it then he shouldn't be doing the testing in the first place. Fun fact, if you really want to test the failure rate of a coating I have the answer...Polish the coating, poof, gone! End of testing. Let's go home. 

[bcwang]

12 hours ago, Tug Bankert said:

On a side note, Scott uses an apc to try to make the coating fail and then he does a decon to see if he can revise a coating? A decon is done with an apc. 

I think you must be confusing the Scott I’m referring to with someone else, because it doesn’t sound like you’ve been watching the LSP testing videos we’ve been talking about. He doesn’t use APC to try and make the coatings fail. He only washes the panels once a month with honeydew snow foam. The rest is up to the environment. 

[Tug Bankert]

Whatever he uses is of no consequence. But you guys, including Scott, are focusing on beading which means not a whole lot.