How is the Paint Quality of the cars?

phantomias

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Jan 11, 2022
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As you may heard Tesla cars had paint degradation/damage problem, when they were washed at car wash facilities. (Ph level of the water used at car wash facilities are not proper for these cars)

Did anyone who received their cars, had the chance to wash their yet? Is there anything to report on paint quality?
 
I've washed mine at least 4 times already, but all the reports from owners here have been that our detailers and wrap guys have commented on how nice the paint is on this car.
 
My Detailer told me Teslas have the worst paint of any car he has worked on. He said my Porsche paint was very good but he obviously hasn’t seen a Lucid yet so we’ll have to see what he thinks when I finally get it.
 
I had a detailer working on a different car. I showed him the Lucid and he asked me if they ceramic coated it at the factory because the paint was so good. I checked later with the studio and they confirmed that it is not coated from the factory. Take that for what it is...
 
I had our car Opti-Coated last weekend. The installer found no flaws in the paint anywhere and thought it was a beautiful paint job. He did notice small deformations in the sheet metal under the front driver and passenger door handles that appear to be artifacts of the die forming. I had a lot of trouble seeing what he was seeing but finally did so when I squatted down and sighted down the side of the car with the sun in a just-so position. Frankly, it's something I know I'll never see again and doubt I'll ever think about again. (He also found a loose rubber gasket in the trunk lid.)
 
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I had our car Opti-Coated last weekend. The installer found no flaws in the paint anywhere and thought it was a beautiful paint job. He did notice small deformations in the sheet metal under the front driver and passenger door handles that appear to be artifacts of the die forming. I had a lot of trouble seeing what he was seeing but finally did so when I squatted down and sighted down the side of the car with the sun in a just-so position. Frankly, it's something I know I'll never see again and doubt I'll ever think about again. (He also found a loose rubber gasket in the trunk lid.)
May I ask what is the opti coating?
 
Ceramic coating meant to harden the paint and make it easier to keep clean and prevent fading from bird crap and other stuff
 
Opti-Coat is a class of ceramic coating that has a few key differences from other coatings. Most ceramic coatings consist of silicon dioxide particles embedded in a carrier that adheres to the clear coat of the car. Opti-Coat is a ceramic carbide that is not embedded in a matrix but bonds at the molecular level with the clear coat. It has a hardness of 9 on the MOHS scale, as opposed to 7 for silicon dioxide coatings. It is also impervious to almost all chemicals a car might encounter as well as to pH extremes.

It also requires professional application, as it is somewhat tricky to handle. The car first has to get a paint correction (if needed) and be polished to prepare the surface for the molecular bonding. Opti-Coat Pro3, which is their newest product, requires four coats of two different compounds. However, it builds to an 8-micron thickness, which is thicker than the typical clear coat on a new car. It is also permanently hydrophobic and never needs waxing.

The big downside of ceramic coatings, including Opti-Coat, is that it does not give the resistance to rock chips and similar encounters that good a PPF (paint protection film) will give. On the other hand, it is easier to touch up a small chip with Opti-Coat than with a PPF, which usually has to be replaced.

We had an earlier generation of Opti-Coat on a car we just traded at six years, and the paint was still pristine.
 
with Opti-Coat, can you take the car to a regular car wash or is it too risky?
 
Opti-Coat is a class of ceramic coating that has a few key differences from other coatings. Most ceramic coatings consist of silicon dioxide particles embedded in a carrier that adheres to the clear coat of the car. Opti-Coat is a ceramic carbide that is not embedded in a matrix but bonds at the molecular level with the clear coat. It has a hardness of 9 on the MOHS scale, as opposed to 7 for silicon dioxide coatings. It is also impervious to almost all chemicals a car might encounter as well as to pH extremes.

It also requires professional application, as it is somewhat tricky to handle. The car first has to get a paint correction (if needed) and be polished to prepare the surface for the molecular bonding. Opti-Coat Pro3, which is their newest product, requires four coats of two different compounds. However, it builds to an 8-micron thickness, which is thicker than the typical clear coat on a new car. It is also permanently hydrophobic and never needs waxing.

The big downside of ceramic coatings, including Opti-Coat, is that it does not give the resistance to rock chips and similar encounters that good a PPF (paint protection film) will give. On the other hand, it is easier to touch up a small chip with Opti-Coat than with a PPF, which usually has to be replaced.

We had an earlier generation of Opti-Coat on a car we just traded at six years, and the paint was still pristine.


Cost of applying Opti-Coat Pro3?
 
The big downside of ceramic coatings, including Opti-Coat, is that it does not give the resistance to rock chips and similar encounters that good a PPF (paint protection film) will give. On the other hand, it is easier to touch up a small chip with Opti-Coat than with a PPF, which usually has to be replaced.

A good PPF film will have healing properties. For example, SunTek PPF, which is used extensively here in the SW, will "heal" itself when heat is applied (for small things such as scratches and small dings).
 
XPEL ultimate full frontal + Opti-coat pro entire car + opti-coat windshield = $3,700
 
with Opti-Coat, can you take the car to a regular car wash or is it too risky?

They recommend against a commercial touch car wash, not due to the harsh chemicals which the Opti-Coat can withstand, but due to the risk of scratching.
 
A good PPF film will have healing properties. For example, SunTek PPF, which is used extensively here in the SW, will "heal" itself when heat is applied (for small things such as scratches and small dings).

I've heard some PPFs will self-heal from light scratching or wash swirls, but I've been told that deep scratches and dings are beyond the self-healing repair?
 
I
A good PPF film will have healing properties. For example, SunTek PPF, which is used extensively here in the SW, will "heal" itself when heat is applied (for small things such as scratches and small dings).
personally have Xpel on my 488, AMG GT ,GL63 and Lucid. I think it’s the best product out there.
 
They recommend against a commercial touch car wash, not due to the harsh chemicals which the Opti-Coat can withstand, but due to the risk of scratching.
Why would a coating, meant to protect the car beyond the car’s paint & clear coat, be more prone to scratching? It seems counterintuitive.
 
No, it's the commercial washes which use those giant cloth curtains that will scratch you car. A coating and wrap can only do so much against that stuff
 
Why would a coating, meant to protect the car beyond the car’s paint & clear coat, be more prone to scratching? It seems counterintuitive.

I didn't say the ceramic coating was more prone to scratching than clear coat. It's actually more resistant to scratching. But neither are impervious to the worst that a commercial car wash could throw at them.

I use a commercial car wash periodically on our Honda Odyssey, and it has not incurred any damage from it that I can see. However, the car already has a few scratches caused by large dogs jumping at the car, and I wouldn't slit my wrists if it did pick up a little swirling or a small scratch as a car wash. The Lucid and the Tesla are different matters, however, and we never take them through a commercial wash.
 
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