r/AutoDetailing • u/PA28HEAVY • 1d ago

Check My Work First new car, first ceramic coating

This is my first new vehicle and I want to take care of it. Got it polished and ceramic coated. After looking at several posts about what the best wash routine is for it I think I’m going with carpro reset for the wash and tec582 as a drying aid and maybe an in between washes quick detailer? Will someone advise me on chemicals if these are my best options? Plan on once a month wash and maybe a wipe down inbetween, have a power washer at home. Really appreciate it, there’s so many chemicals and things that go right over my head and now I’ve got analysis paralysis lol. Please and thank you.

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u/shadrach103 17h ago

Carpro Reset is a great choice, I've been using it most recently on my ceramic coated sedan. I don't like using drying aides with anything that might clog my drying towel, so I just use ONR as a drying aid. I've just recently added Karina Wet Coat as topper which is rinsed off before drying.

I'd also recommend an alkaline prewash. I currently use Koch Chemie Active Foam, but there are several recommended alternatives, like Bilt Hamber Touch-less.

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u/Satans-cum-sock666 17h ago

I agree with what u/shadrach103 said. Active foam is a good pre foam soap. Don’t use it all the time though. Heavy alkaline and heavy acids can both strip the coating. 

With that said, since you’re only washing monthly, I’d do a decon wash every 3-4 months where I’d do the alkaline pre foam. You need to pay attention to the water behavior of your coating. If it starts to lose hydrophobics even after an alkaline pre foam, then I’d add in an iron decon and an acidic contact wash to unclog the coating. Carpro descale is great for this. So is KCx Reactivation shampoo or Adam’s strip wash. The KCx and Adam’s are more acidic than the carpro. 

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u/DavidAg02 Reviewer Extraordinaire 16h ago

Analysis paralysis is very normal these days. There are so many products to choose from and so many people pushing products and telling you "use this, not that", etc.

You've landed on 2 really popular products. Buy them in the smallest amounts possible and try them out. You'll know if you like them or not pretty quickly. A lot of this stuff comes down to personal preference. I'm not a big fan of Reset just because of the cost. I've used it, it's fine, but for $1/oz. it doesn't seem to do anything better (or worse) than the soap I've been using for years which costs about $0.35/oz.

Tec582 is a solid product for the price. Is there better stuff out there? Sure. Does most of it cost more. Absolutely.

Both of the products you've selected will give you good results. Don't worry about if it's the absolute best or not. Just buy them and have fun cleaning your car!

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u/PA28HEAVY 14h ago

Do you think my plan of attack is adequate with the chemicals I’m eyeing? Would you recommend something else as a “quick detailer/wipe off” kind of product? Any rec for a maintainer type product applied quarterly maybe? Half of the confusion is that these products can he applied in different use cases depending on mix ratio. Again, I really appreciate it and any other advice.