Originally Posted by zmcgovern4

Paint coatings, such as Opti-Coat, are an extremely wise investment.

Opti-Coat (and other premium paint coatings) will have a higher surface hardness than most factory clear coat finishes. For this reason, as you had implied, they have the ability to reduce light swirls and marring that often result from washing and drying.

Obsidian is a very soft clear coat. As you might know, clear coat hardness varies greatly from one manufacturer to the next, and often even between different colors in the same manufacturer. For instance, my smokey granite mica is much more tolerable than obsidian.

With that being said, NOTHING will permanently protect your vehicle from swirls and marring forever. The fact of the matter is that if you are touching your vehicle, you risk the chance of damaging it. All you can do is use proper technique and minimize the amount of swirls/defects so that future polishing is much easier and less evasive.


Swirls and scratches are removed via machine polishing which actually removes a fine layer of paint. For this reason, you want to minimize the severity of the surface defects so that less material needs to be removed to refine the finish.




Besides surface hardness, premium coatings such as Opti-Coat Pro and CQuartz Finest are crucial to maintaining your paint. Some other benefits that these products provide are:

A thick, durable layer of protection: First, let me clarify that wax (despite the common belief) is used for protection, not to make your car super shiny! Wax will wear away in as little as a couple of weeks depending on your environment and the condition in which you keep your car. These semi-permanent coatings will offer years of protection.

Wax is also very thin, making it very easy for environmental contaminates such as bird droppings, acid rain, bug splatter to penetrate the layer of wax and reach your paint. Bird bombs and bug guts, for instance, are quite acidic. They can and will cause permanent damage that requires repainting. High quality paint coatings are thick enough that these contaminates will be stopped before they can reach your factory finish. This will help to preserve your paint much better than traditional forms of protection (ie wax or sealant).

Also, due to the added thickness of a premium coating, any light surface marring will reside in the coating and NOT in the clear coat. This means the next time the vehicle is polished, the coating will be removed and not the clear coat (or at least much less paint).

*Remember, these coatings are a sacrificial layer of protection... they are meant to take the abuse so that your paint does not have to! Note: they are not meant to protect from rock chips like a clear bra, they simply provide long lasting, durable protection against environmental contamination and damage.


Ease of Maintenance: Because these coatings resist dirt and debris MUCH better than traditional protection, routine washes are much easier. No scrubbing is required and dirt easily wipes away. This makes it safer to wash your car and reduces the chance of introducing wash induced marring or swirls.

Gloss & Shine: Some of these coatings, CQuartz Finest in particular, offer ridiculous gloss. Your car will have that "just detailed" after you wash it look for years, not weeks.


^My car 1 year after it was last polished and coated... still looks pretty good, huh


I could keep going, however I have an entire article on this subject that will be published on the Detailed Image Ask-A-Pro Blog in the near future, so keep an eye out.

More info on CQuartz Finest here & here.

More info on Opti-Coat Pro here.


-Zach