Paint cure time vs detailing services question

[Sonic Pilot]

Generally speaking, is 30 days adequate time before applying any kind of wax or sealant to a freshly painted surface? While it is always a good idea to hear it directly from the person who painted the car, that isn't always practical.

Also, how about polishing? Obviously an abrasive process, should there be additional curing time before any polishing procedure is attempted? Assume the polish is a "pure polish", no wax or sealant.

With regard to polishing, I suppose doing a test-spot with a mild polish would be appropriate, but I assume even that may carry some risk with "fresh" paint!

Just trying to get a consensus and play it safe.

[Mike Phillips]

Here's an in-depth article I wrote on this topic in 2010 - nothing's changed.


Don't wax your car for at least 30 days!



I've never seen fresh paint go bad because you "sealed" the surface before 30 days but I always ask,

What's the hurry?


I also notice there's always a LOT of people on the forums and facebook that will tell you (the person that has fresh paint), that it's completely okay and safe to use brand X because bla bla bla....


One thing I observe about these people, it sure is easy for them to tell YOU what to do to your car's fresh paint. Me? I'd play it safe and stick with the 30 day rule.... what's the hurry?


BEFORE 30 days has passed since the paint was sprayed it's completely safe, normal and okay to sand, compound and polish the paint, heck we do it often in my 3-day classes and my other wetsanding projects. We just don't seal until after 30 days.



What are you working on?

[Mike Phillips]

Here's a similar article I wrote in 2004 - 14 years ago....


Paint Needs to Breathe

[Mike Phillips]

Here's something else I wrote about the topic of what's the hurry?


I'd just keep her clean and be careful where you park her for the first 30 days or so...

The topic of waxing or more technically, sealing fresh paint, is a topic that comes up all the time and I've read just about every opinion on this topic ever formulated by anyone and their brother.

Here's the dealio...


The reason not to seal fresh paint is to ensure a window of time passes for anything that in the fresh paint, that is any solvent or other VOC to outgas, that is to evaporate off of our out of the paint.

Because modern clearcoat paints are both chemically hardened as well as air dried and even forced dried from heat lamps, chances are very good that by the time you pick up your truck anything that could outgas has outgassed and if you were to seal the paint in the first week of bringing your truck home there would be no negative effect.

There are always a group of people that will even recommend you to seal the paint for the above reasons, (chemically cured), but they... are not the paint manufactures and they don't own the truck. So it's your call.

What I always say is,

What's the hurry?

About the worst thing that could happen to new paint is a bird dropping or water with something corrosive in it, like city water. But the thing about this is both bird droppings and city water from for example a water sprinkler, can both be corrosive enough to eat through any type of wax, sealant or coating you apply and then etch your truck's brand new paint job.

So sealing too soon still isn't a guarantee no damage will happen.

So what I say is, what's the hurry? Just be careful where you park it and keep it clean for the next 30 days. If you want to put something on the paint that will not seal the paint and prevent any outgassing processes, then use either the #7 Show Car Glaze or the 3M Imperial Hand Glaze. Both are meant for this exact same reason.


And for anyone interested in more information on this topic here's a handful of articles....


2 more articles...

Fresh Paint - But you can touch it...

Body Shop Safe Glaze on Fresh Paint - #7 Show Car Glaze

[Mike Phillips]

Generally speaking, is 30 days adequate time before applying any kind of wax or sealant to a freshly painted surface? While it is always a good idea to hear it directly from the person who painted the car, that isn't always practical.

If a customer is asking you to detail a car with a brand new paint job, start by asking them

How many days has it been since the car or a body panel has been painted. It's kind of unlikely you will ever have someone ask you to buff on a car painted yesterday, thus some amount of time will have already gone by and if it's been 2-3 weeks schedule the car and work as normal.

Also, how about polishing? Obviously an abrasive process, should there be additional curing time before any polishing procedure is attempted? Assume the polish is a "pure polish", no wax or sealant.

Fresh paint at body shops is often times sanded and buffed with a day of being painted to a few days. Just use GREAT sandpapers or sanding discs and great abrasive technology.

With regard to polishing, I suppose doing a test-spot with a mild polish would be appropriate, but I assume even that may carry some risk with "fresh" paint!

Just trying to get a consensus and play it safe.

Yep - do a test spot.


Over the years I've become a big fan of sanding after a few weeks for most custom paint jobs. The idea is to let the paint fully cure, dry and set-up before sanding. My friend Marius from F40.com uses the term,

Shift


As in, let the paint finish shifting before sanding. I like it.

Sometimes if you sand too soon for how some paints have been mixed, sprayed and then dried you can buff and the paint looks great then a few days to a few weeks later the paint can become dull and splotchy looking, as though you didn't buff out the sanding marks completely or just s buffing haze appears.

[Sonic Pilot]

Good morning Mike.

Thank you kindly for taking the time to respond to my question. At the moment, I do not have a pressing need to be tampering with any freshly painted cars. I was just looking to broaden the scope of my knowledge.

On a personal level, I did have some body work done to one of my cars a while back and I do remember the shop advising me not to mess with it for at least 30 days.

I will be purchasing your book soon as it seems to be so highly regarded! And thank you for your contribution to the detailing community as you constantly share your knowledge and experience. You ROCK!