Will Paint Outlast the Car?

[Route246]

I live in NorCal so the weather is mild, year-round. Cars are parked outside, not under trees or places where sap might drop, low-to-moderate shade during the day. Because of year-round weather conditions I'm able to wash and wax at least 45 weekends per year and almost never longer than a 2-week gap.

The following is my regimen:


Annual spring clay, decon, polish/AIO
Annual spring paste wax - i.e. 476s, Fuzion, Pete's 53, GG Best of Show, etc.

Occasional 2nd fall clay and paste wax application prior to winter


Weekly hand wash - OCW, Gyeon Bathe, etc.
Weekly wax drying agent - OCW, McKee's Fast Wax, Fuzion Spray Wax, etc.


Is this sufficient to assume the paint will outlast the car? The near-weekly wax drying agent is the key here. Is there anything else to consider?

[ducksfan]

Probably, but...

What's the life of the car? 15 years, 20, 30?

How good is the clearcoat and how well was it applied by the manufacturer? Toyota (on some of their less expensive cars)a few years ago, used a clearcoat that you would be lucky to get 10 years out of if you took care of it.

So, probably. But it depends.

[pickles]

I live in NorCal so the weather is mild, year-round. Cars are parked outside, not under trees or places where sap might drop, low-to-moderate shade during the day. Because of year-round weather conditions I'm able to wash and wax at least 45 weekends per year and almost never longer than a 2-week gap.

The following is my regimen:


Annual spring clay, decon, polish/AIO
Annual spring paste wax - i.e. 476s, Fuzion, Pete's 53, GG Best of Show, etc.

Occasional 2nd fall clay and paste wax application prior to winter


Weekly hand wash - OCW, Gyeon Bathe, etc.
Weekly wax drying agent - OCW, McKee's Fast Wax, Fuzion Spray Wax, etc.


Is this sufficient to assume the paint will outlast the car? The near-weekly wax drying agent is the key here. Is there anything else to consider?


Unless you have a schedule for maintenance and oil changes then yeah the paint will outlast the car.

[pickles]

Probably, but...

What's the life of the car? 15 years, 20, 30?

How good is the clearcoat and how well was it applied by the manufacturer? Toyota (on some of their less expensive cars)a few years ago, used a clearcoat that you would be lucky to get 10 years out of if you took care of it.

So, probably. But it depends.


In my experience anything Chrysler from the 90s or early 2000s have clear coat failure. But then again Chrysler products from that era don't last much longer than 100K miles anyway.

[Route246]

Probably, but...

What's the life of the car? 15 years, 20, 30?

How good is the clearcoat and how well was it applied by the manufacturer? Toyota (on some of their less expensive cars)a few years ago, used a clearcoat that you would be lucky to get 10 years out of if you took care of it.

So, probably. But it depends.

I figure 10-15 years these days is a decent life for a vehicle.

[Calendyr]

The half life of the clear coat is about 5 years. So every 5 years it looses half of it's ability to protect the car.

This can be extended quite a bit by applying protecting products on the paint (waxes, sealants and coatings). I am not sure how long the paint can last when protected correctly, but you should not experience clear coat failure as fast is if you left it bare.

[FUNX650]

•As to your thread-starter’s question:
-IMO: You’re going to have to be way
more specific.

•Cars/vehicles are manufactured from
many, many varied components—made
from a wide variety of materials—of which
the paint/(paint-system) is just one example.



Bob

[Route246]

•As to your thread-starter’s question:
-IMO: You’re going to have to be way
more specific.

•Cars/vehicles are manufactured from
many, many varied components—made
from a wide variety of materials—of which
the paint/(paint-system) is just one example.



Bob

Assuming modern clear coat over steel. If it’s true that the half life is five years can persistent waxing, annual decon extend that half life to ten or more years? UV absorption in products will extend but how much? My assumption is 15+ years without clear coat failure. Our SUV is over 10 and the paint still looks showroom and it has never been garaged.


Sent from my iPhone X using Tapatalk

[FUNX650]

If it’s true that the half life
is five years

can persistent waxing, annual decon
extend that half life to ten or more years?

UV absorption in products will extend
but how much? My assumption is 15+
years without clear coat failure.

I look at in this manner:
Is the (in)action of never applying
any type of an LSP upon the Clear
Coat going to help in prolonging
its expected service-life/life-cycle?

In other words:



Something is better than nothing....

A smooth protected surface is less prone
to deterioration than a rough textured
surface with no type of sacrificial protection.

:)


If interested:
Here's a couple of threads/posts that contain
discussion-points about the Sun, ClearCoat,
Dr.G, LSPs, Half-life, "The Law of Decay", etc.

Leave a waxed car in the sun for 20 years. Will paint fail? (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/68436-leave-waxed-car-sun-20-years-will-paint-fail.html)

New Word of the Day - Page 86 (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/44985-new-word-day-86.html#post710286)



Bob

[Route246]

I look at in this manner:
Is the (in)action of never applying
any type of an LSP upon the Clear
Coat going to help in prolonging
its expected service-life/life-cycle?

In other words:




If interested:
Here's a couple of threads/posts that contain
discussion-points about the Sun, ClearCoat,
Dr.G, LSPs, Half-life, "The Law of Decay", etc.

Leave a waxed car in the sun for 20 years. Will paint fail? (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/68436-leave-waxed-car-sun-20-years-will-paint-fail.html)

New Word of the Day - Page 86 (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/44985-new-word-day-86.html#post710286)



Bob

I use Dr. G's patent US 6685765 B1 as a reference when someone asks me about general UV protection for clear coat. It is the best documentation I've found that backs up any marketing collateral out there and the principal reason I use Optimum Polymer Technologies car wax. The patent disclosure has a very nice description of a smoke test environment which yielded 43.2% reduction in UVA+B.

Note that most, if not all paint and clear coat formulations contain their own UVA+B protection, too. This is characterization of UVA+B reduction and not elimination. Given that these chemicals are spread very thin at the molecular level it is very impressive that they achieve this much reduction, IMO.

Back to my original query is that whether or not products like OCW are sufficient to extend clear coat life beyond the effective mechanical life of the rest of the vehicle, assuming normal driving and use patterns.

From the patent disclosure:


B) UV Protection
Five glass panels were spray painted with PPG™ automotive clear coat paint using the following two component paint system:

Concept ® 2021 Urethane Clear DCU2021 4 parts
Medium Temperature DT Reducer DT 870 1 part
General Purpose Hardener DCX61 1 part
The glass panels were coated twice with the above paint system with a 15 minute wait time in between the two coats. The panels were then left to cure for five days.

On Oct. 15, 2001, each panel was divided into two half sections by using a masking tape. One side was treated with the protectant of Example D while the other side was left untreated. The UV transmission was measured across each panel with a UVTEX A+B idm made by Optix Tech, Inc. to measure the total UVA+B transmission in mW/m2 at 300 nm through the film. The following results were obtained:


Panel UVA + B Untreated UVA + B Treated
1 2.4 1.4
2 2.3 1.4
3 2.4 1.3
4 2.5 1.4
5 2.2 1.2
Average 2.36 1.34
The results indicate 43.2% less UVA+B passes through the clear coat finish that was treated with this protectant versus the untreated clear coat finish. This shows that application of the inventive protectant formulation to the clear-coat finish can cut the UVA+B reaching the pigments in the basecoat to almost half of what it would be without it.

[FUNX650]

“Cliffs”?


Bob