Optimum Opti-Coat

Forrest

I streak opti seal because I am lazy. With opti coat you have a time limit. You just stay on that section and make sure its good before you move on. In that manner I bet you wouldn't have a problem

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kree

Yeah, I guess its the same for me. However, it is hard to see opti-seal on silver when applying it and I usually notice where I streaked it later. Maybe I'd have to buy some halogen lights or something if I do this next spring.

NXTAZEE

You should not attempt this with out proper lighting. Reflected light off a wall is also great for seeing high spots. I need to make up something like a photographer uses to reflect light, that would be ideal.

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Forrest

Only thing that is stopping me is proper lights. I read that the harsher the light, the more you will see defects.

I am kind of thinking of this product Amazon.com: Coleman Cable 07776 Two-Light 1000-Watt Quartz Halogen Light with Tripod: Home Improvement but my garage would still have poor lighting with that. I would only be able to focus one panel at a time.

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NXTAZEE

That is the purpose of proper lighting, to show the defects. It's pretty hard to polish out defects if you can't see them. I use three types of light to find defects and to make sure they are gone. I sure hope you don't plan on putting OC over a car with defects in the paint.

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Forrest

My plan was to polish a section then OC it. I don't want to do the entire car at once due to I just want to take my time and make sure each section is done right.
Last time I polished I felt I did a really good job. In the brutal sun I couldn't see any imperfections. But the entire time when I was in the garage I just keep wishing I had more lighting.

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murphman

i purchased a bunch of lighting from Home Depot that take a few minutes to hang in the garage and the are good to go, lots of light now when i detail in there. I believe the light housing was $20 2 lights to each housing and it was like $5 for a pair of lights so $75 - $100 get you 3-4 lights with housing. You should check it out, they are not the best quality housing but do their job.

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Forrest

Thanks I didn't even think about that. I will go check it out.

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Junkman2008

I can see every imperfection in paint given enough of any type of light. Be it sun or halogens, I have never had any trouble seeing paint damage.

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Forrest

Your a pro and I am just a chump still haha. Actually I went to home depot like murphman said and there was a lot of lighting solutions that were affordable. I suspect this time around I will be better off.

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Junkman2008

Keep in mind that if you are working in a air conditioned environment, light choice is not as important. But if you are working in a garage that is hot and humid in the summertime, the more light you get adds to the heat in the garage. You could literally tan yourself.

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FricFrac

Impresive. So you either have the ability to change the light source wavelength to one that the flaw will defract or reflect the light or change the flaw so that it defracts or reflects the wavelength of light you have available..... Sorry but that's just defying physics...

I think what you meant to say is you have excellent eye sight and with a broad spectrum light source you can easily detect flaws in paint and clearcoat.

Broad band gives you the majority of wavelengths to reflect or refract. Narrow band will help eliminate reflections and refractions of items of no interest (eg non-flaws) and help highlight flaws. That's why multiple various light sources are helpful.

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kellyefields

This isnt Bill Nye "The Science Guy" is it?

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Junkman2008

I cannot even begin to explain how I can do it, I just know that when I fix my paint, you won't find a scratch in no matter what light source you use. If I needed a different light source for different scratches, then my paint wouldn't look flawless no matter where it was looked at. At night under the bright supermarket parking lamps, under the blazing hot sun, in my garage under the natural incandescent bulb lighting or halogen lighting, I can see every scratch. Add to that the power of my camera flash and when I claim it's flawless, you can take that to the bank.



haven't heard about him in a while!

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Armonster

Now that we have established the sufficiency of Junkman's detailing e-peen, let's get back on topic. Anyone have a report/opinions on their opti-coat?