OptiCoat and Coating question

I've decided to go with Opticoat Pro and I have some concerns about curing and washing in the winter. The forum seems to have a lot of people who have gone through this already and I figure its worth a try.

1. Curing - everything I read says avoid water/bird poop/direct sunlight/etc. during the 30 day curing process. I don't have a garage so I have to park outdoors and my parking spot is under a tree. Should I buy a car cover for a month until its fully cured? Might this make it worse? Any other suggestions?

2. Washing in the winter - Doing a hose/pressure washer/two bucket wash is pretty much not an option for me in the winter. How should I wash the car?, especially after they salt brine the road and it becomes a mess after a snow. Again, no garage so rinseless doesn't seem like it will work in freezing temps. Gas Station Pressure only wash?

Appreciate any input you might have.

The detailer that applied mine on my current car said mainly the first 7 days to avoid direct exposure then it should be fine. And they recommend touchless gas station wash for winter months.

You may want to look into an acrylic coating. They cure in hours instead of days, and so far the one I have gives any ceramic coating I've used a good run for its money.

after 12 hours you can expose the car to outside elements but cant wash it after a week. when i did mine i covered the car overnight and drove it the next day (no garage). its been 2 months now and still looks good. i just hope it will last at least a year. i used Cquarts UK not opticoat.

as per washing in winter, ive been using waterless wwash and will continue using it through winter. i guess your best option is go to those wash bays, bring your own materials and just use their power wash.

are you doing it yourself or detailer?

You are supposed to apply opti-seal on top of the opti-coat to protect it during the curing process. The opt-coat will naturally shed the opt-seal within a week or so but it is critical to keeping it protected during curing. The car is washable after the first week but the coating will continue to cure for 30 days. With each wash in the fist month, you'll want to reapply the opti-seal.

This isn't a situation specific to opti-coat. There is a reason why cquartz comes with reload. Same story there for initial curing protection.

Thanks for the responses guys. Helps alot.

Going to a detailer to get it done. Its too risky for me to attempt.

There aren't very many acrylic coating detailers near me (none as far as I can tell) and I can deal with the curing times, its just a matter of how.

I'll get an outdoor car cover to use for 30 days and start looking for gas station pressure washers for the winter months. The closest self wash bay is 25 miles away...

If I could go back in time I would trade my coating in for more PPF coverage. Car has looked great for 2 years straight with nothing more then thorough maintenance with the proper products, but not as great as the areas with PPF...

I have the Opticoat pro with 5yr warranty on my 15 Gti. Combine it with their opticoat no rinse for washing and hyper seal for drying and it's incredible how insane the finish gets.

^^^ car looks great!!

if you think hyper seal makes it look great you should try P&S beadmaker...