Fresh Paint

WRX_Adam

WRX_Adam

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So my car is currently in the shop getting hail damage repaired. When it's finished it will have some new/fresh paint on it. I was wondering how long I should wait before using any kind of machine polish? Waxing doesn't require much pressure, so is it ok to machine apply wax relatively soon after the fresh paint or should I wait for that as well? Lastly I'm guessing a spray wax would be the best thing to apply for a protective layer on a fresh coat of paint? What other things would you suggest doing on a fresh coat of paint?
 
WRX_Adam said:
So my car is currently in the shop getting hail damage repaired. When it's finished it will have some new/fresh paint on it. I was wondering how long I should wait before using any kind of machine polish? Waxing doesn't require much pressure, so is it ok to machine apply wax relatively soon after the fresh paint or should I wait for that as well? Lastly I'm guessing a spray wax would be the best thing to apply for a protective layer on a fresh coat of paint? What other things would you suggest doing on a fresh coat of paint?
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You can sand, compound and polish in about 2-3 days after the car comes out of the paint booth for most paint systems.

Sealing with a wax, paint sealant or coating is another topic all together.

Most Pro Grade compounds and polishes are body shop safe and don't include any ingredients that could seal the paint thus the reason you can use them.

Here's the skinny,
There are no paint manufacturers that I know of the officially recommend "sealing" their paint systems until at least 30 days have passed from the time the paint has been sprayed.

You'll find people on discussion forums like this that will tell you it's safe to seal the paint because the pant is catalyzed and thus fully cured. But people on a forum are not the manufacturers. See the difference?

That said, I've never seen a paint job fail because it was sealed too soon.

My point is always, what's the hurry?


:)
 
From what I've heard you can polish it a couple days after but as for waxing I've heard wait at least 30-90 days after its been painted.
 
SkateForGirl said:
From what I've heard you can polish it a couple days after but as for waxing I've heard wait at least 30-90 days after its been painted.
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That's been the historic and accepted manner in which to treat new paint.



The 30 day waiting period is from the time of what are called solvent-borne evaporation paints, in simple terms, single stage lacquer and enamel.

Modern clear coat paint technology is very different BUT, if you were to paint a car using a catalyzed basecoat/clearcoat paint system and then move the car out of the paint booth and park it in you home garage and close the garage door, and then go out to the garage after a few hours and "smell" or take a whiff of the air in the garage,

What do you think you would smell?


The answer is fresh paint


Question: What is in the air that is making the air smell like fresh paint?


Point being, even modern paint systems outgas or in other words, even modern paint systems still have volatile ingredients evaporating out of and off of the surface and it is the solvents that you don't want to trap inside or on the paint by applying a coat of something that will seal the surface.

Waxes, paint sealants and coatings all "seal" the surface.


:)
 
The reason I am anxious to do this is because I am new to detailing and I just got the Porter Cable 7424XP and XMT Light Swirl Remover package and want to try it out. Also I live in an apartment so my car is parked outside all the time and I want to protect it from the elements.

Thanks for the help. :xyxthumbs:
 
Coming from a body shop, i can tell you paint gets sanded/polished the day it comes out of the booth, or maybe the day after if thats when it fits in the line.

Thats for water based paints as well.
 
Two_6s said:
Coming from a body shop, i can tell you paint gets sanded/polished the day it comes out of the booth, or maybe the day after if thats when it fits in the line.

Thats for water based paints as well.
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Usually the sooner the better because there's a window of time in which the sanding marks will still buff out easy. Some paints after they completely harden become so hard that buffing the sanding marks becomes very difficult.

It's easy to sand paint, that's putting scratches in... the tricky part is getting them out...


:D
 
WRX_Adam said:
The reason I am anxious to do this is because I am new to detailing and I just got the Porter Cable 7424XP and XMT Light Swirl Remover package and want to try it out. Also I live in an apartment so my car is parked outside all the time and I want to protect it from the elements.

Thanks for the help. :xyxthumbs:
Click to expand...

I'm hoping and guessing the paint looks really good from the body shop?

Or is it all swirled out like this?

Horrendous001.jpg




IF it's all swirled out then you can proceed to undoing the damage caused by the guy that did the buffing at the body shop.

IF they did not sand or buff the paint then let it cure and harden for a few weeks and then machine seal the paint with your Porter Cable.

I have articles on machine waxing in my article list,

Articles by Mike Phillips


Do some reading first and get head knowledge, then do some buffing...


:)
 
Mike,

I polished my two week old paint last weekend, and used Mineral Spirits to wipe off the used polish. I didn't have any issues and everything went well. But I noticed on one of your posts today that you shouldn't use Mineral Spirits on less than 30 day old paint. Now I am worried I have damaged the new paint. If I was going to have a problem do you think it would be noticeable by now?
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
I'm hoping and guessing the paint looks really good from the body shop?
Click to expand...

Well I'll let you know when I get it. I was told earlier in the week that I would be getting it Fri (6/1), but today they told me it was going into paint and it wouldn't be ready till mid next week.
 
travis2375 said:
Mike,

I polished my two week old paint last weekend, and used Mineral Spirits to wipe off the used polish. I didn't have any issues and everything went well. But I noticed on one of your posts today that you shouldn't use Mineral Spirits on less than 30 day old paint.
Click to expand...

Correct. You should not introduce any solvents to fresh paint for at least 30 days just to make sure the solvents don't penetrate into the paint and interfere with crosslinking or any other part of the curring process. Even after full cure it's a good idea to avoid any hot solvents just to be safe.

For those reading this thread into the future, the article being reference can be found on my article list under Misc Topics here,

How to Mix IPA for Inspecting Correction Results


And here's the passage being cited, it is the very first paragraph for obvious reasons. The second paragraph is equally important.

Mike Phillips said:
WARNING
Do not chemically strip FRESH PAINT. Fresh paint has not fully cross-linked, dried and hardened. Introducing any type of solvent to the surface and allowing it to dwell could have a negative effect on the paint.
Click to expand...


travis2375 said:
Now I am worried I have damaged the new paint. If I was going to have a problem do you think it would be noticeable by now?
Click to expand...

What's done is done. Chances are good you won't see any problems it's just a good idea and practice to treat fresh paint carefully for the first 30 days.

Better safe than sorry...

If you want, you could wash the affected panel with a pH balanced car wash soap and water to simply flush any residue off the surface.


:)
 
WRX_Adam said:
Well I'll let you know when I get it. I was told earlier in the week that I would be getting it Fri (6/1), but today they told me it was going into paint and it wouldn't be ready till mid next week.
Click to expand...


Cool.

Keep us posted and if there's anything we can do to help we certainly will.

Do you know if they are going to sand and buff the paint? Did you pay for this?


:)
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
I'm hoping and guessing the paint looks really good from the body shop?
Or is it all swirled out like this?

Horrendous001.jpg



IF it's all swirled out then you can proceed to undoing the damage caused by the guy that did the buffing at the body shop.

IF they did not sand or buff the paint then let it cure and harden for a few weeks and then machine seal the paint with your Porter Cable.
:)
Click to expand...

They did do some sanding and it is a little swirled out. Whoever did the buffing/sanding did a horrible job. There is still some buffing compound left on the car, and they obviously didn't tape off the trim as there is white compound left on multiple places. I'm going back to get them to fix a few other issues that they left. At this point I probably won't be going back to this particular body shop.
 
OK with that said. What is the BEST system to use for waxing, misting, etc.
 
mred said:
OK with that said. What is the BEST system to use for waxing, misting, etc.
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The damage done to the Mustang in the pic was done with a rotary buffer, in the hands of an unskilled worker. I like waxing by hand, but it can also be done with a DA polisher, with a red pad, which helps to leave a super thin coat, which eases removal. What do you mean by "misting"?
 
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