Don't wax your car for at least 30 days!
- Have you ever been told not to wax your car for at least 30 days by a painter after having the car painted?
- Perhaps someone has said not to wax or seal the paint because the paint needs to breathe?
- Or have you read a thread about this topic on a discussion forum?
Let me see if I can explain what this means and why people are told this...
The reason painters tell you not to wax fresh paint is for two reasons which are connected...
First, there's not a single paint manufacture that I know of that recommends sealing, (that means applying a substance that coats over and protects), fresh paint. This is where you'll find people that will argue with you but unless they work for the paint manufacture, then what they post is their opinion, not an official recommendation of a "Paint Manufacture".
Second, painters will tend to follow paint manufacturer's recommendations because they respect the paint manufacture but also to insure you don't mess up their work. The idea behind
NOT sealing fresh paint is to let it outgas completely. This is where some will argue that modern paints harden through
chemically curing or catalyzing, and not via
solvent evaporation. But again, if the person making the recommendation does not work for the paint manufacture, then what they post is their opinion, not an official recommendation.
The clear layer of paint is still mixed with solvents, also called reducers; these are used to custom thin the paint to the painter's preference, to the sprayer and to the climate and/or paint booth. After spraying, some of these solvents will evaporate off.
After the solvents evaporate off and the paint dries to
dust-free or
tack-free, that is the surface of the paint is now cured and/or hard enough that if air-borne dust lands on the paint it won't stick to the paint.
After another
day or two, maybe longer depending upon the shops normal practices, the paint can be sanded and buffed if that's part of the package.
Whether it's sanded and buffed or turned back over to the painter, at this point the painter will say something like,
"Wait 30 days before applying a car wax"
He might even say,
"You need to wait 30 days before applying a coat of wax to allow the paint to breathe"
This is a generic way of saying,
"Wait 30 days before using any product that can seal the paint to prevent or hinder any and all solvents to outgas or evaporate out of an off of the paint"
Now this is where some people on discussion forums will want to start to argue and say you can apply brand X because
it's not a wax, or you can use anything because the paint is
chemically cured, or you can wax the paint because you can't seal a clear coat, or fill in the blank...
What the painter really means...
The bigger idea the painter is trying to get across is to not apply
any substance that creates a
barrier coating over the surface that could "potentially" lock or seal in the solvents and prevent them from out-gassing or evaporating.
This gets into a discussion about what's
"Body Shop Safe" and what's not "Body Shop Safe", and to some level, you an use the term "Body Shop Safe" to also describe
"Fresh Paint Safe".
Products that are "Fresh Paint Safe" are also "Body Shop Safe" and that's because these product won't contain any ingredients that will cause
"Surface Tension" which will usually show up as
"Fish Eyes" in the paint.
Most, if not all waxes and paint sealants, and also most spray or quick detailers are
NOT body shop safe and thus would not be safe for fresh paint according to the paint manufacturer's recommendation or their painter's recommendation.
Basically, if a product is known for, or famous for making water bead on car paint, (that thing we all love to see), then if the ingredients in the product that are responsible for making water bead would also try to make fresh paint sprayed onto a car try to bead only this would show up as fish eyes.
From a "purist" point of view, that is a person that is in a position to
not have to seal the paint for approximately 30 days, then waiting simply
insures that
if there are any ingredients at all that could evaporate or outgas then this person can play it safe and allow the paint to fully dry and cure for the 30 days or longer.
Some people don't have this option and will be putting their car back into service they day they get it back and will want to apply something to the paint to protect it.
Outgassing is the process by which solvents and other substances used to mix the paint try to leave the paint is the reason behind why painters will often say,
"Don't wax your car for 30 days"
Sometimes this is just an insurance policy on the part of the painter because he knows his paint is durable and will last a long time with nothing applied to the paint and since they don't know you, your background, your skill level etc., let along what you have out in the garage that you might spread over their brand new work of art, they will error on the side of caution and again, tell you...
"Don't wax your car for 30 days"
Make sense?
After posting this some people will chime in and argue one of the above points and/or say they used this product or some other product on their "fresh paint" and nothing bad ever happened.
So I will point out, I never posted my opinion or recommendation in the above, I just explained in detail what's going on and why historically you're told not to wax your car's fresh paint and how that relates to other products that are not called car waxes specifically, but would have the potential to do the same thing a car wax would do if they were applied to fresh paint.
Make sense?
Polishing Fresh Paint Just for Fun
If you want to
"do something" to your car's paint because you're excited to finally have your car painted and it's killing you to not go out into your garage and play with your toy, then you can apply a
body shop safe, or fresh paint safe
polish or glaze. These would typically be products created for and marketed towards body shops in the refinishing industry. You want to be careful because the words polish and glaze are used on a lot of products and in the context of what I'm talking about here, I mean non-abrasive polishes made for the sole purpose of creating gloss and clarity when used correctly and masking swirls if the shop in question makes it a practice to inflict swirls and then mask them in order to make the paint look good to get the customer to accept their work.
Two very popular non-abrasive polishes for fresh paint that are for the primary purpose of just making fresh paint look clear and glossy are
3M's Imperial Hand Glaze and
Meguiar's M81 Hand Polish.
Polishing Fresh Paint to Remove Swirls
I you find your fresh paint is filled with swirls, specifically
rotary buffer swirls or what are also called
holograms from a shoddy buff job by the body shop, then if you want you can remove the swirls yourself. If they hand sand the paint you might find
Tracers, if they machine sand the paint you might find
Pigtails.
Tracers Tracers - RIDS - Pigtails - Cobweb Swirls - Rotary Buffer Swirls - Holograms - Water Spots - Bird Drooping Etchings - Micro-Marring
Here's the good news!
Swirls can be removed with any of the polishers we sell here at autogeek and anyone here on our forum can help you get the right polisher and the right pads and swirl mark removers to do the job safely and do the job right the second time.
Here are some articles and videos on these topics...
An overview with demonstrations of the Porter Cable 7424XP, Meguiar's G110v2, Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher, Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher, Flex 3401, Flex 603, Flex 3403, Cyclo Polisher, Makita 9227C, DeWalt 849,
Part 1 - How To Pick the Right Car Polisher for your Detail Project
[video=youtube_share;LtrdTvnZX3I] - Part 1 - How To Pick the Right Car Polisher for your Detail Project[/video]
Part 2 - How To Pick the Right Car Polisher for your Detail Project
[video=youtube_share;2k92m5cJxCk] - Part 2 - How To Pick the Right Car Polisher for your Detail Project[/video]
The Flex 3401 in action...
[video=youtube_share;3CtUaI_8HhE] - Performing a "Test Spot" to the paint on a 1957 Chevrolet Belair[/video]
How to choose the right polisher for your detailing project
How To Remove Swirls, Scratches and Water Spots using a PC 7424XP, Meguiar's G110v2 or Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher
Using a DA Polisher - Part 1
[video=youtube_share;zUHRnHsSXZU]- How to remove swirls, scratches and water spots using a Porter Cable DA Polisher[/video]
Using a DA Polisher - Part 2
[video=youtube_share;fxwlWijdIxM]- How to remove swirls, scratches and water spots using a Porter Cable DA Polisher[/video]
Using a DA Polisher - Part 3
[video=youtube_share;9objUFdpsG4]- How to remove swirls, scratches and water spots using a Porter Cable DA Polisher[/video]
Most Important...
Here's how to do a "Section Pass" when trying to remove swirls, scratches and other below surface paint defects.
How to do a Section Pass
[video=youtube_share;Q70g83mnTn4] - How to do a "Section Pass" with a Porter Cable 7424XP[/video]
The Definitive How-To Article for Removing Swirls, Scratches and Water Spots Using a Porter Cable 7424XP, G110v2 or Griot's Garage Polisher
After the 30 day waiting period...
After 30 days have passed, or 2 weeks or 90 days, or whatever the painter told you and you adhered too... then by all means, seal the paint with a quality finishing wax or paint sealant.
You can find a list of premium quality finishing waxes and paint sealants in this thread,
How To Choose The Right Wax or Paint Sealant for your Detailing Project
And here's a few more related articles...
Frosting on the cake
The Final Wipe – Tips for creating a streak-free, show car finish
Tips & Techniques for using a Spray Detailer to Remove Light Dust, Fingerprints and Smudges
How to safely remove a dried bird dropping
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