lic265

I needed to have the front end of my car painted, how long until i can wax ?
Body shop said 6 months, but this seems like a long time
Thoughts?

AllanJ

Wait 6 months like the body shop says. I know it sucks, but it's best to wait.

Cheers,

Allan

wross996tt

This seems unusually long to me. I had a new bumper installed, it was painted with several coats and clear coat. My paint guy applied a polymer to the paint before I drove it home. He did have the car about a week or so to make sure it was cured.

jb26jb

Different clears cure at different rates if you want to know for sure ask your paint guy what manufacturers clear he used and then either look them up on the web for info on curing time or give them a call.

1999Porsche911

Wait until spring.

Steven C.

Check with the paint supplier for sure but a general rule is if it sits in a garage all the time wait for 4 to 6 months. If it is driven daily out in the sun in the Summer about a month, in the Winter around 2 depending on how cold it is.

Eric - Plug Guy

6 months is absurd. Are they baking it at 180 like the factory specs?

30 days will do just fine. 60 max.

signal

Does the factory even wait that long between the time they paint and you drive the car off the lot?

I know the place painting my front bumper and hood (and fixing some damage/repaint), they bake the car, and said the whole paint process time from start to finish (dry) is 7 hours. They were going to detail my car, so I wonder how if your supposed to wait.

Chart505

Found this:

A new car with a factory paint job can be waxed the moment it is rolled out of the manufacturing plant. Cars that have factory paint jobs are cured at much higher temperatures, sometimes as high as 300 degrees in special baking ovens. At a factory level, the car goes through the painting and baking process without any of the rubber, plastic, and cloth components installed. This is why they can expose the car and it's fresh paint to such high temperatures. These high temperatures and special paints used at the factory level insures the paint is fully cured by the time the car is completely assembled.

After-market paint finishes however, are cured at a much lower temperature to ensure the method of baking or heating the paint doesn't melt non-metal components such as wiring and vinyl. For this reason, it's best to follow the specific paint manufactures recommendations for care and maintenance of fresh paint. Most paint manufactures that supply paint to the refinish industry recommend that you allow anywhere from 30 to 90 days curing time after the paint is applied before you apply the first application of wax.

To maintain your cars fresh paint during the recommended curing time you can safely use any of the below Meguiar's pure polishes, which are not only safe for fresh paint but help to enhance the curing process while making your paint look it's absolute best.

M-03 Machine Glaze

M-05 New Car Glaze

M-07 Show Car Glaze

M-81 Hand Polish

A-21 Deep Crystal Polish

Another product you can use to maintain fresh paint throughout the curing process and even afterwards is Meguiar's M-80 Speed Glaze. Speed Glaze is a cleaner/polish that also contains a unique paintable polymer that will extend the durability of the product while offering protection to the finish closer to that of a real wax or paint protectant. Speed Glaze contains a high level of pure polishing oils and only a small amount of very fine diminishing abrasives for cleaning/removing surface imperfections, blemishes, and surface stain. The amount of diminishing abrasives contained in this product are not enough to scratch the surface when applied by hand or machine. They will instead ensure that the surface is completely clean, enabling the rich polishing oils to penetrate into the surface creating deep, dark, wet-looking gloss while the paintable polymers provide a small but important level of protection to preserve your finish from attack and deterioration while it cures.

signal

The body shop I am having to paint work on my car has an oven that will goto 350 degrees.

Eric - Plug Guy

Most high end shops have this capability, but only for metal parts off the vehicle with no trim, plastics, etc.

1999Porsche911

I sure hope the oven is used for only metal parts and not the plastic ones.

Chart505

My shop did my bumper cover in the 350 oven, no probs. I think it's fiberglass, not the flexible type.

LedZec

Well, ignorance abounds with me, apparently. I had NO idea, nor was I informed by my body shop, that I should wait for a while to wax after body work. I had three left panels pained due to being keyed (and my bumper redone while it was in there). I think (I am wracking my brain trying to remember) I may have had it waxed within a few weeks after it was done.

Question is: what did I do in terms of "damage" and is there anything I can do? What is the downside here?

Thanks in advance...signed, Stupid.

BlackCab996

LedZec - bad news - you cut your car's value in half - I'll be happy to buy it for $1,000 over its new market value


On a serious note, you would probably already see problems if they happened. If my understanding is correct, when the paint it new, you're more likely to burn through the clear coat and damage the actual paint. It's still not common, but it's easier to do than after the paint fully dries/cures, so guys like you and me are told to be patient.