Black Car Paint Temperature in Full Sun

man thats hot.

I guess thats a harborfreight gun? mine varries being off in temps.Has anybody else seen this?


Rob:D
 
Strip Poker 388 said:
man thats hot.

I guess thats a harborfreight gun? mine varries being off in temps.Has anybody else seen this?


Rob:D
Click to expand...

No actually I got this digital thermometer from Amazon. I use them regularly. They are great with their free shipping!
 
I know this is an old thread but I was doing research about Carnauba wax durability and found this by doing a Google search.

So Wikipedia lists the boiling point of Carnauba wax to be between 180F and 187F. The highest reading Mike took was 172F.

So here is the question I have. Will Carnauba wax evaporate at these temperatures (130F-170F)? I was under the impression over the years that Caunauba wax has a much lower boiling point, and was at risk of failing anytime the sun would be shining down on a car. Now I am not so sure.

Of course 170 is really close to 180, so on a black car, I would expect the wax to evaporate rather quickly at those temperatures.

As for white or silver cars, I really don't know.

Any chemist here know how this would work?
 
Wow, I'll check the temp on my hood later to add to the thread. I gave up doing anything in sunlight. I started my weekly wash yesterday morning at 5am. I do it around that time every week as best I can. Nothing worse then washing the car in direct sunlight and seeing the dried soap spots you didn't get in time.

Either that or I'll do a waterless wash late like after 6pm this time of year
 
Calendyr said:
I know this is an old thread but I was doing research about Carnauba wax durability and found this by doing a Google search.

So Wikipedia lists the boiling point of Carnauba wax to be between 180F and 187F. The highest reading Mike took was 172F.

So here is the question I have. Will Carnauba wax evaporate at these temperatures (130F-170F)? I was under the impression over the years that Caunauba wax has a much lower boiling point, and was at risk of failing anytime the sun would be shining down on a car. Now I am not so sure.

Of course 170 is really close to 180, so on a black car, I would expect the wax to evaporate rather quickly at those temperatures.

As for white or silver cars, I really don't know.

Any chemist here know how this would work?
Click to expand...

I just checked the paint on my white Prius and my friend's black M3 today (13:00, cloudless sky, ambient temp about 85F) using my Fluke gun which is pretty accurate. I checked my white RS and it registered just under 110F and it was out in the sun for about four hours. The sun is pretty high overhead at this time of the year and time of day.

The black paint on the M3 registers at almost 209F after about an hour after washing.

View attachment 58855


White paint on the Prius registers at about 115F after about an hour after washing. I did not take a shot of the white RS but it is slightly cooler.

View attachment 58856

My question is about the black paint. Isn't 200F pretty extreme in terms of breaking down wax and sealant? This is slightly below the boiling point of water. There could be some detrimental effects to the paint and metal in terms of strain to the molecular structure of the paint bonding to me metal.
 
The melting point of wax is at around 180F depending on the formulation, so yes for waxes, it's way too hot and it will evaporate off the pannels.

As for sealants, no, they have a much much higher melting point. Depending on formulation it should be around 350F. So there should be no issues with them.

Coatings have an even higher melting point, so those have even better durability.
 
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