I love you guys.

it's washes the same way as other cars w/o opti-coat.

Opti-coat isn't a force shield, you can still scratch up the paint if you wash with improper technique, but the coating makes it much harder to be scratched.

that being said, I use the Gary Dean technique

Gary Dean is indeed the most awesome method I've seen. A bucketload of Sasquatch and ONR is what I use.

Trust me. BMW's Jet Black is much worse. Just breathing on it wrong scratched it. LOL

As others have posted just use your regular wash product in a correct manner and you will be fine. if you find your coating loosing some of it beading or shine then a heavy maintenance wash will help. A good APC usually gets things back to normal.

I've thought very hard about Opti coat, i've finally decided to get it on my fathers RS7 when it comes in the next coming months, something tells me it'll only last 2/3 years.

I also gave it some hard thought, and ended up paying to get it done professionally. I think if I had to do it again I'd pay a professional for paint correction and then apply it myself, cutting the cost in half. Waxing a car is quite laborious so the time saved from waxing is worth it, plus you can do things like dry it with a leaf blower.

That's true, but theres one more thing to factor.

When the car gets swirl marks, which it will in no doubt. I'd have to eventually buff the car, once i start buffing the clear coat, bye bye goes the Opti coat.

It's perfect for the average car guy who wants their car looking good, but i'm really nip picky, even though right now my FRS is covered in swirls.

Any one tried CQuartz Finest Nanotech Ceramic Coating?
http://cqfinest.com/about.html