ONR, Opti Seal and Opti-Bond Tire Gel Thoughts


BFEHB

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Hello,

I am a relatively new user of ONR and Opti Seal, but have used Opti-Bond Tire Gel for a couple of years now. I wanted to provide some feedback and thoughts on these products and ask a few questions.

  • ONR and Opti Seal - I have been using ONR with the Big Red Sponge for about 3 months now. Initially, I used it only AFTER I rinsed the car with the pressure washer and then foamed the car. Then, after seeing that the foam bathe was just a waste of time because ONR worked just fine without it I would just spray the car with the pressure washer, blow the car dry and then wash with ONR. Well, I did that a couple of times and I thought, "hmmmm, I don't think I really need to pressure rinse the car and blow it dry. I think I can just use the ONR." So, I purchased a bottle of the Opti Seal and tried my very first truly rinseless wash. Lo and behold, the car turned out great and there were no scratches and no marring. I did prep the car with a spritz of ONR (I dipped a spray bottle into the ONR, which I use with distilled water). Now, I use the iK P&S Beadmaker Sprayer to apply the the ONR pre-soak. It works great! I use the ONR with Opti Seal as a drying agent EVERY single wash. I don't know the longevity of the combo because I tend to wash my car every week, or at least every other week. Well, with this combo I save a ton of time. It is just SO easy. You will even save time in regards to the time it takes to get ready to wash your car. No more pulling out the pressure washer, finding ALL of your product, filling multiple buckets with product, getting your Foam cannon ready. Just get your ONR bucket with a rinse guard ready, get a 2nd rinse bucket (if you want, I am not sure it is even necessary as the ONR magically pulls any dirt to the bottom of the bucket already. So, don't stir up the water and you are good to go). I actually wash my tires and wheels last now. I just grab my wheel woolies, dip them in the ONR bucket and get to work. I cannot say enough good things about ONR, Opti Seal and the BRS. If you have not tried this combo yet, do yourself a favor and do it. This makes washing your car nearly effortless. I can get my car done in less than an hour, I use 3 gallons of water total and oh, I do it all inside my garage, Quick, easy, painless and the results are excellent!
  • Opti-Bond Tire Gel - well, for me this has been a different story than the ONR and Opti Seal. I really like the product in terms of how it looks after applying it. I apply 2 coats to get my desired look, which is semi glossy, new looking tire perfection. Opti-Bond does not sling as long as you don't leave it dripping wet on the tire. Where it falls shorts, in my opinion, is in longevity. I washed my car on Thursday (today is Sunday) and drove in the rain yesterday and the Opti-Bond is not only gone, the tires are filthy. There is absolutely no Opti-Bond left on them. The paint and windows on the other hand (protected by ONR and Opti Seal) look like it never even rained. The water just streamed off of the paint and windows (I use Opti Seal on the entire car - paint, windows, trim, wheels). So, I use Opti-Bond diluted 1:1, would I get better results and longevity using it undiluted? What is the shelf life of Opti-Bond. I have had mine 2 years, but it does not face rough elements.

If you made it this far, I know it is a long post, thank you in advance for your feedback. Cheers all and have a great Sunday!

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First, I've never had Opti-Bond go bad, so shelf life is good.  Second, I apply by hand, undiluted, and get 4 weeks + durability.  I've heard a range of durability claims, from a week to several months, and suspect variables like brand of tire (various rubber compositions), cleaning procedures/thoroughness, driving conditions, etc have serious impact.  Optimum has already seen the importance of deep rubber cleaning on durability of Tire Protection and Coating, FYI.

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Undiluted opti bond does offer more durability. The tire has to be dry...not moist or wet and I do suggest you do 2 layers. Ive had it now on for 3 weeks and it still looks like just aplied.

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Water-based dressings like Opti-Bond are going to have challenges driving in the rain, but it sounds like, as Ron suggested, you need to clean the tire.  I have also had the experience you have, where you put a dressing on over blooming on the tire, and it doesn't "stick" and washes right off.

I would suggest Optimum Power Clean diluted with 3 parts water and a scrub brush, rinse, wait for a dry surface and then apply the Opti-Bond.  If you wash your car once a week and reapply, you probably will only need to do this scrubbing every month or two.  Or for better durability try the Optimum Tire Coating.

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I have been using Sonax Wheel Cleaner on the wheels/tires. I still have 1 1/2 bottles so I will hold off on trying the Power Clean straight away. I appreciate the feedback though, I think maybe I have not been getting the tires clean enough and maybe dry enough before applying the Opti-Bond. Or, it could just be that we are having way too much rain...

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Most of those iron-eating wheel cleaners (Ferrex included, although I haven't used my Ferrex yet) don't really do a great job on tires.  If you have some APC or even some pH-neutral wheel cleaner like P21S or some of the similar ones (which are similar to APC's) they are generally better at cleaning tires for dressing.  OPC happens to be a really good APC.

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2 hours ago, Setec Astronomy said:

Most of those iron-eating wheel cleaners (Ferrex included, although I haven't used my Ferrex yet) don't really do a great job on tires.  If you have some APC or even some pH-neutral wheel cleaner like P21S or some of the similar ones (which are similar to APC's) they are generally better at cleaning tires for dressing.  OPC happens to be a really good APC.

Hi Setec ~ I have been doing some further research and I think you are right in that the Sonax Wheel Cleaner is not really intended for tires, at all. Most of the feedback I found said it is not bad for the tires in that it does not do any harm but it really does not do anything to clean and prep a tire for a product like Opti-Bond. That being said I ordered a bottle of OPC. I suspect I will have better results with the Opti-Bond once the tires are properly ready for the application. I will report back the results. Thanks again all for the feedback.

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On 3/7/2019 at 2:50 PM, Lowejackson said:

The Sonax is a good wheel cleaner but you may find Power Clean to be a much more versatile product

** UPDATE ** Well, it turns out that I have been cleaning (or not cleaning my tires) incorrectly for years. I received my order of Power Clean and washed the car the very next day. Once I hit the tires with the OPC there was a river of brown gunk flowing down the tires, I have never seen that with, what turns out to be, my dedicated wheel cleaner. So, in my head I am thinking "Wow, what a huge difference." Sure enough, when it came time to apply the Opti-Bond onto the tire I looked down at the applicator after the first tire and I noticed that the applicator was still virtually spotless. That was a new experience for me, typically the applicator gets very gunky almost immediately. I just thought that was how tires worked. It turns out I have never properly cleaned the tires. To make a long story short the tires turned out fantastic and still look great 4 days after application. I think I gave the Opti-Bond a bad review based on using it improperly on dirty tires (which I thought were clean). So, now I suppose the question is do any of you use the OPC to clean the wheels? I only used it on the tires as I still have Sonax to use up. 

Thanks again to Lowejackson, Ron@optimum and Setec for your feeback - you guys taught an old dog a new trick and it is much appreciated.

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