Yes...as in kitchen soap for dishes For some reason it is often used when you want to remove all the old wax and clean the surface right down to the paint.

i did that before myself. youtube is your best coach.

make sure you are satisfied with the paint surface, ipa wipe down and apply opti coat, as easy as that~~

well, im going to opticoat my car this weekend. socal's in for some showers, but i'm hoping it'll miss san diego just enough for me to wash, clay and opticoat.. i know there's a curing process where sunshine helps, but i don't want to wait another week..

heres the process im going to take:
1.two bucket wash
2.rinse
3.clay with lube
4.rinse
5.ipa wipe down
6.opticoat

im doing steps 3-6 in sections of the car.. hows that sound?

Also..I've read its best to do it indoors.

Have you ever seen a paint shop paint outside? :bonk::bonk::bonk:

Of course it should be done inside. BTW, and I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but did you not read that paint needs to be decontaminated? I find it interesting that you chose a "permanent" coating yet you neglected to do proper prep work which will no doubt will cut into the durability of Opti Coat.

Please remember, that I realize that YOU paid for the car and Opti Coat and I shouldn't say anything, but my reasoning was to prevent other newbies (to detailing) like yourself make the same mistake. It is all good. :party0030:

the issue is i dont have access to a garage..sucks i know, but that's one reason why i was going to do the claying, ipa wipedown and opticoat one section at a time.. hopefully that prevents any contaminants before opti coating.

I had a feeling when you mentioned about the chance of showers that you were going to do it outdoors. Thats why I made my subtle suggestion. My advice is to rent an indoor space for a few hours if possible. Last thing you want is something to blow on the paint or bird poop, or a rain shower, in the middle of the application!

No feelings hurt! I did read it all and made the choice to do the prep the way I did it. But...I would give the advice to all newbies to follow all the steps or have a professional do it for best results. (I will post back in a few years and report how my durability is!!)

BTW..I saw all the videos of how water flows off the finish after opti-coat, and washed my car for the first time today. It really does flow off like a river!! Never seen that before with anything else I have every applied to my cars.

I opti-coated my '05 LGT a few months ago. As others have said, prep is everything since this product is truly sealing the paint and whatever condition the paint is in is how it will look.

That being said, I've been very pleased with how well this product "repels" dirt. I haven't done my STI yet so I've been comparing the two this winter. Washing the cars at the same time and monitoring how dirty they get over the same period of time, the Legacy is far less dirty than the STI. I also Opti-Coated the wheels, and brake dust wipes right off.

Here are a few pics of my prep and post opti-coated car.

http://pics.theoriginalurl.com/galle...serialNumber=1

http://pics.theoriginalurl.com/galle...serialNumber=1

http://pics.theoriginalurl.com/galle...serialNumber=1

http://pics.theoriginalurl.com/galle...serialNumber=1

http://pics.theoriginalurl.com/galle...serialNumber=1

oohh.. sparkles
http://pics.theoriginalurl.com/galle...serialNumber=1

http://pics.theoriginalurl.com/galle...serialNumber=1

i can get a tent or canopy up, but its nothing compared to an indoor area. i'll have to make the best of it in the mean time.

For those of you who have gotten the opti-coating (and prep work) done professionally, how much did it run you?

i was quoted anywhere from 300-500 from different people. also depends on condition of car. obviously includes complete detailing of exterior and making it blemish free

I did it after I got my brz. I made sure the dealer didn't touch the paint so it was in pretty good shape. I still took a ton of time to make sure the paint was absolutely perfect and took as much time as I needed.
Here are the results:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn0TNqpCruM"]BRZ opticoat daytime and dusk reflection, water sheeting, misting and rainfall - YouTube[/ame]