Fresh paint, how long before I can apply wax?

G

Ghost410

New member
I'm not sure if this is the correct section to post this in, I hope it is. But anyway, I just had my front bumper resprayed and am wondering how long before I can glaze/seal/wax?



Thank you in advance.
 
This has been addressed a bunch of times, a lot of us wish there was a sticky about it at the top of the forum. Conventional wisdom says 1-3 months. Lean toward the shorter time if the body shop had an oven to help kick-start the curing process, lean toward the longer time if you want to play it safe. Somewhere on here there's a post from a user, I think the id is mirrorfinishman, where he contacted paint manufacturers who usually had a recommendation averaging about 3 months. That's to allow the paint time to outgas as it fully cures and hardens. There are products that are safe to use, such as body-shop safe glazes and QDs, such as Meguiar's #5 glaze and #34 QD. Finish Kare claims their 2180 sealant is safe and allows outgassing, but a lot of folks here are skeptical of that.
 
You can top with Megs #80 Speed Glaze for now.



However, wait some time to use a sealant or wax so that the paint can fully cure.



Cure times vary considerably with type of paint, temperature/humidity, etc. Personally, I would wait at least 2 months to be safe, and #80 or something similar will provde protection during that time. Many here say to wait longer, and I don't dispute that either.
 
What velobard linked to.



NO sooner than 120 days for me, better safe than sorry. And that's on baked paint.



Watch it with the #80 if the paint is really fresh, sometimes it has to harden a bit before it can take the initial bite of the #80's abrasives (had some RM b/c that was just awful in this regard for the first few months). I generally go with something like #3/#5/#7/#81/Deep Crystal #2 and just wait to use abrasives.
 
Accumulator said:
Watch it with the #80 if the paint is really fresh, sometimes it has to harden a bit before it can take the initial bite of the #80's abrasives (had some RM b/c that was just awful in this regard for the first few months). I generally go with something like #3/#5/#7/#81/Deep Crystal #2 and just wait to use abrasives.
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Thanks Accumulator for clarifying. You are correct if the paint is really fresh that the abbrasives in #80 can have too much bite. I usually wait a week or more and proceed with caution. Non-aggresive pad and light pressure also.
 
Alright well hopefully I can make this work. The bumper was pained 2 weeks ago (Just the front bumper) and the car is being shot for a magazine in about a month (I'll post up some pictures of that day when it rolls around) I just wanted it to be detailed perfect when the time comes.



So I guess I'll just wait it out and keep the bumper super clean.
 
I have talked with 2 people, one an actual paint chemist....the guy who makes the paint used on repaints and also a person who manufacturers products and both state that you can apply a wax 24 hours after repaint.



David of Optimum Technologies is (and many people don't know this) actually "DR." David Ghoudoussi. The guy is an organic chemist who used to make the paints for PPG and he staes that you can wax a fresh repaint hours after it is done. It will gas off through the wax.



Ron Ketcham of Valugard also told me the very same thing. ValuGard has a wax that can be used on fresh repaints. No one....NO ONE has sued ValuGard because their paint failed to cure as a result of using their wax.



Has anyone asked a paint rep or body shop how long they warranty their paint??



Antony
 
Sad said:
What about applying badges to fresh paint? Wouldn't that be as bad or worse than wax?
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I doubt anybody would care as the paint in question is covered by the badge.



Note that the *only* issue here is the hardening of the paint. If you prevent the outgassing it won't fail, bubble, cloud up, or otherwise have issues, it just won't get as hard as it potentially *can* get. Not the biggest issue in the world.



Anthony- Please don't take this as an :argue or anything, but I'm gonna go with what the paint manufacturers say. When I experimented with fresh repaints (intentionally on the S8 and unintentionally on the Volvo :rolleyes: ) they got a *lot* harder over the course of a few months, and I wouldn't want to risk compromising that hardening process by blocking the outgassing. I'm afraid that the proof will be soft paint that I'll end up having redone and it's a risk I just don't want to take.



AutoInt (heh heh, no, I'm not gonna argue with Ron about it ;) ) and FK both claim their sealants are fresh-prepaint-safe, but they don't explain the details of why/how a wax/sealant can allow the outgassing to occur, the details of it's permeability (at least they haven't explained it to me in a way I found satisfactory; I oughta ask Ron about it sometime). I'm not saying it can't work that way, just that I don't know so I'm erring on the side of caution and advising that others do the same.



Easy for me to say to wait, my vehicles are pretty pampered so using a glaze for 3-4 months isn't a big deal for me. Might be a big deal to others, perhaps a bigger deal than how hard the paint gets.



I'll allow that perhaps *the paint manufacturers* are erring on the side of caution also when they say to wait, doing a CYA thing so people don't blame the paint for a problem caused by something else :nixweiss But they sure are adamant about not waxing too soon.
 
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