Seventy years of Japanese chemistry, stocked in depth in Melbourne

Alpha Details is an authorised Australian stockist of Soft99 Corporation, and we carry the largest Soft99 range in the country — virtually every product available in Australia. Not the four or five lines most stores pick off the top of the catalogue: the full Glaco family, both Fusso Coat variants, the PROSPEC professional coatings, King of Gloss, Authentic Premium, Digloss, Roompia, Fukupika and the Kamitoré tools. The deepest Soft99 holding in the country, held here in Melbourne.

Alpha Details is run by a chemist, which is why this page explains the chemistry rather than repeating the tin. Where a number belongs to the manufacturer rather than to independent testing, we say so.

Where Soft99 fits in Australia

Soft99 is the iceberg of car care. Above the surface, a few devoted enthusiasts on detailing forums will not stop talking about Fusso Coat. Below it sits a seventy-year chemistry house listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, with the most durable consumer paint wax on the market, the Glaco family of glass water repellents, and a professional ceramic line that sits on Japanese pro detailers' shelves. This is not boutique — it is mainstream Japanese chemistry at a scale Australia has not really had access to.

It also fills a real gap. The professional coating end of our shelves is covered by Feynlab, Koch Chemie and Gtechniq, and the chemistry-forward prosumer end by Labocosmetica and P&S. Soft99 owns the middle: the owner who has outgrown supermarket waxes, wants genuine fluoropolymer chemistry, and is not yet booking in for a professional coating.

And in Australia specifically, Soft99 is a glass brand first. Four of the eight best-selling Soft99 products in this market are Glaco. Australian drivers cover longer commutes and more open road than most markets Soft99 sells into, and at highway speed a beaded windscreen stops being a novelty and starts being a visibility feature — water that would sheet across untreated glass at 80 km/h rolls off in clean beads, headlight refraction drops, and wipers last longer.

Why owners and detailers reach for Soft99

"Fusso" is the Japanese word for fluorine — the chemistry is in the name

Every Fusso Coat tin is a fluoropolymer paste built on the same PTFE family that makes non-stick cookware slippery. When it cures on clear coat, the surface energy drops so far that water physically cannot wet out across the paint. It beads, it sheets, it rolls off at speed. Oil-based road film and insect residue cannot get a grip, and bird droppings rinse off with water pressure instead of scrubbing.

The reason it lasts is bond strength. The C–F bond runs around 485 kJ/mol, among the strongest in organic chemistry, which is why the coat resists UV, oxidation and the acidic contamination that breaks a carnauba wax down in weeks. Fluorine's surface energy is under 20 mN/m against water's roughly 72 mN/m — that gap is the beading. Soft99 quote twelve months of durability against the six to eight weeks a carnauba wax peaks at. The first Fusso Coat, launched in Japan in 1990, managed about ninety days; the current formulation is a different animal wearing the same word on the tin.

Glaco is a glass water repellent, not a wiper additive

The Glaco family is applied to the glass itself, and the chemistry is not the same across it — so follow the instructions for the exact product in your hand. Ultra Glaco is fluorine-based and carries the longest durability figure Soft99 quotes in the range, up to twelve months. Glaco DX lists alcohols, siloxanes and acids and is rated at four months. Glaco Blave lists silicones and alcohols and is made for glass and plastic. Glaco Roll On is the roll-on applicator version, Glaco Glass Compound Roll On is the prep-side product (it contains abrasive materials) used to clean the glass before coating, and Glaco Mirror Coat Zero is a silica-crystal spray made for side mirrors. Rain Drop Tornado Vortex is the spray-on route that does body and glass in one pass — strictly its own Soft99 chemistry (G-RAS), not a Glaco. Every one of them is compared side by side on our Glaco Australia page.

A consumer tier and a professional tier, on the same shelf

The quickest way to tell which side of the line you are on is how long the job takes. Consumer tier is a tin, a sponge, twenty minutes, buff off after two or three minutes, twenty-four hours before it gets wet. PROSPEC is a bottle, an applicator pad, a cool shaded space and a one-panel-at-a-time ritual — full correction and an IPA wipe-down first, twenty-four hours minimum and seven days to full chemical cure.

PROSPEC H-9 Super Hard Coat is the dual-layer SiO₂ flagship, quoted at three to seven years. PROSPEC H-7 is the siloxane one-year coating — and it was originally formulated to protect Japanese vending machines from the weather. It turned out to work just as well on cars, trains, aircraft and marine surfaces, so Soft99 rolled it into the automotive line. That is the brand in one story: serious chemistry, no self-importance.

An authorised stockist running the range in the studio

Alpha Details is a working detailing and PPF studio in Heidelberg West, Melbourne, run by Paolo Recinella, who holds a degree in chemistry. Soft99 products go on customers' cars here, and the PROSPEC line is stocked for the trade as well as the shelf.

The Soft99 range we carry in Australia

Fusso Coat — the PTFE fluoropolymer paint sealant Soft99 is famous for. 200 g tins with a sponge applicator, roughly forty applications per tin, in Light and Black & Dark variants tuned to paint colour, plus the Japanese and European formulations and the Speed & Barrier hand spray. Around twelve months.

Glaco — Soft99's family of glass water repellents: Ultra Glaco, Glaco DX, Roll On in three sizes, Blave and Mirror Coat Zero, with the Glass Compound prep alongside. The chemistry differs by product (Ultra Glaco is fluorine-based), and Soft99 quotes up to twelve months for Ultra Glaco and four months for Glaco DX. See the full Glaco comparison.

PROSPEC — the professional tier. H-9 dual-layer SiO₂ (three to seven years), H-7 siloxane (one year), plus pro shampoos and the leather and fabric coatings.

King of Gloss — carnauba blended with fluoropolymer additives, in Light and Dark colour-specific pastes, for wet-look depth at around three months.

Authentic Premium — naturally-cooled T1 carnauba with synthetic resin, the dense hero paste for mirror gloss. Two to three months.

Digloss — silicone high-gloss trim dressing, including GIRA EDGE, for plastic and rubber that has gone grey with UV exposure. The Kamitoré tools — tyre brush, sponge and wheel & tyre cleaner — sit in the same family.

Roompia and Fukupika — pH-neutral interior care and the quick-wipe glass gels, including the anti-fog version, which is a genuinely underrated product in a Melbourne winter.

What we will not claim about Soft99

Paolo will not publish a claim he cannot source, so three things are worth saying plainly.

"9H" is not what most people think it is. It refers to the pencil hardness scale, where 9H is simply the hardest pencil in the set — it is not a Mohs figure, and it does not mean a coating approaches the hardness of sapphire. It is a real and useful measure of scratch resistance against a defined stylus, and it is the convention the whole coating industry uses. It is not armour. We wrote the long version in the 9H myth article.

The durability figures are Soft99's own. Twelve months on Fusso Coat and Ultra Glaco, three to seven years on H-9 — these are manufacturer figures measured in Japan, not independent Australian testing. Australian UV is not Japanese UV. Treat them as the honest upper end of well-maintained use.

The Glaco Wiper range is not available in Australia. All nine of those SKUs are unavailable here and we do not expect them back, so we do not list them. We would rather show you an empty space than take an order we cannot fill.

Trade pricing and chemistry advice

Detailers and bodyshops buy Soft99 here on a trade account, PROSPEC included, with pricing set against volume and an ABN verified in one to two business days. If you want a view on whether H-7 or H-9 suits the work you are doing, ask — that conversation is free.

Frequently asked questions — Soft99 in Australia

Where can I buy the full Soft99 range in Australia?

Here. Alpha Details carries the largest Soft99 range in Australia — virtually every product available in this market — and ships Australia-wide from Melbourne, free over A$95.

How long does Fusso Coat actually last?

Soft99 quote twelve months, and the chemistry supports a genuinely long life — the C–F bonds that make PTFE non-stick also make it resistant to UV, oxidation and acidic fallout. That figure is the manufacturer's, on a maintained car. A carnauba wax peaks at six to eight weeks, so even a conservative reading of Fusso puts it in a different category.

Which Glaco should I buy?

Ultra Glaco if you want the longest durability Soft99 quotes — up to twelve months, fluorine-based — and follow its application and wipe-off steps exactly. Glaco DX is rated at four months, Glaco Roll On is the roll-on applicator, Glaco Blave is made for glass and plastic, Mirror Coat Zero is for side mirrors, and, if you want a wet-application spray for paint and glass, there is Rain Drop Tornado Vortex.

What is the difference between PROSPEC H-7 and H-9?

H-7 is a siloxane coating quoted at one year; H-9 is a dual-layer SiO₂ system quoted at three to seven years with a 9H pencil-hardness rating. H-9 needs full paint correction and an IPA wipe-down before it goes on, and seven days to reach full chemical cure. H-7 is the more forgiving of the two.

Is Fusso Coat a ceramic coating?

No — and this matters. Fusso is a fluoropolymer sealant, PTFE chemistry, not a silica-based ceramic. It behaves differently, it is applied differently, and it is far easier to live with. If you want a true ceramic from Soft99, that is the PROSPEC line.

Do you stock the Soft99 Glaco Wiper range?

No. Those products are not available in the Australian market and are not expected to return.

Do you offer trade pricing on Soft99 and PROSPEC?

Yes, on a verified trade account. Apply here — ABN verification takes one to two business days.

Buy Soft99 in Australia

The range is stocked and shipping from Heidelberg West, Melbourne, with free delivery over A$95 and same or next business day dispatch on in-stock lines.

Shop the Soft99 range

If you want the longer story — the furniture wax in 1954, the vending machines, and how a company named after a wax ended up on the Tokyo Stock Exchange — it is in our Soft99 brand piece. Questions about which product suits your paint or your glass? Ask us.