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

Mike Phillips · 09-10-2010, 06:23 PM

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

A common procedure for fresh paint is to hand or machine glaze the paint after any wetsanding, cutting and buffing has been performed.

Fresh Paint = Less than 30 days since it was sprayed

In most cases, fresh paint is sanded, buffed and glazed within a few days after being sprayed, before the owner picks up the car. For the glazing process you need to use a product that is "Body Shop Safe", that means there are no ingredients that will contaminate a fresh paint environment and cause surface adhesion problems for the new paint.

One type of surface adhesion problem is called "Fish Eyes" and that's where some type of contaminant remains on the prepped surface at the time the paint is sprayed and the surface tension created by the contaminant prevents paint from sticking to that area, so the paint pile up around the contaminated area and creates a circle without paint and because of the appearance after the paint dries, this type of defect has been given the name... "Fish Eye".

Two of the most well known Body Shop Safe glazes in the refinishing industry are

Meguiar's M07 Show Car Glaze
3M Imperial Hand Glaze

While they do the same job and while 3M has purchased Meguiar's, the formulas are very different and the formula for #7 Show Car Glaze goes back to the 1920's easily.

We had two hood painted just this week, in fact they were sprayed late Wednesday night. I picked them up in my truck on Thursday.

Today is Friday, this means the paint on this hood is less than 48 hours old.

Some people think that you cannot put any type of chemical or product on fresh paint until it's at least 30 days old and they're close... the rule of thumb is to not seal the paint with any type of wax or paint sealant for 30 days.

That doesn't mean you cannot use "Body Shop Safe" products on fresh paint and all across the land in body shops every day there are people pouring all kinds of chemicals on fresh paint and then compounding, polishing and glazing the paint.

As long as the paint is set-up and hardened enough to work on you can start working on it and thus pour body shop safe products on it that enable you perform whatever procedure it is you're doing.

To drive this point home, here are a few pictures of fresh paint, less than 48 hours old being hand glazed.

Fresh paint less than 48 hours old...

3M Imperial Hand Glaze and Meguiar's #7 Show Car Glaze

Pouring out #7 Show Car Glaze onto brand new fresh paint

Carefully spreading out #7 Show Car Glaze with a clean foam applicator pad

The hood is completely glazed...

Close-up... #7 has an oily sheen...

No need to let the glaze dry, in fact you want to wipe it off right after you apply it and work it in...

Wiped-off and a reflection shot of a bottle of #7 in the glazed paint...

Glazed Fresh Paint...

Reflection shot...

I hope this has shed a little light on fresh paint, glazing and body shop safe products...

Mike Phillips · 09-10-2010, 06:41 PM

Just to note, M07 is a "Pure Polish" which means it's non-abrasive. M80 Speed Glaze, is like M07 in that it is rich in the same polishing oils but it also contains diminishing abrasives and a body shop safe protective polymer.

M80 is basically a medium strength swirl mark remover that is safe for fresh paint, it does contain a Fresh Paint Safe and Body Shop Safe synthetic polymer that provides a "little" protection.

I sometimes will refer to it as... #7 on steroids because it is very rich in the same polishing oils found in #7.

For this reason M80 works exceptionally well for restoring old, oxidized single stage paints and Gel-coats finishes. As the diminishing abrasives chew off old dead paint and/or gel-coat, the polishing oils gorge into the surface below and start revitalizing the color.

While at Meguiar's I suggested taking making a product like M80 with the protective synthetic polymer but without the abrasives but it was deemed the market would not support a product like this.

**D_Nyholm** · 11-02-2010, 07:49 PM

Is there any reason to use Glaze on anything other than fresh paint? Is it useful for filling in swirl marks on older paint in between polishings?? If not, what would you use for that?

**C. Charles Hahn** · 11-02-2010, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by D_Nyholm

Is there any reason to use Glaze on anything other than fresh paint? Is it useful for filling in swirl marks on older paint in between polishings?? If not, what would you use for that?

It's counterproductive to "fill in swirl marks" IMO.... just make sure you wash properly to minimize swirls and when needed, use a mild polish like Meguiar's #80 to remove the swirls instead of filling them in.

There is definitely a positive purpose for Glaze with the restoration and maintenance of single stage paints, though.

**D_Nyholm** · 11-02-2010, 08:48 PM

With 4 cars, there are plenty of reasons to want to hide swirl marks until the next polish. NO ONE can keep daily driven weekly washed cars perfect in between polishing. Now, instead of polishing every 6 months, it might be nice to do it once every year and fill in with something else. Heck, even souveran paste has slight filling properties as it can hide some hairline swirl on my two black cars.

**rjgervacio** · 05-10-2011, 10:44 PM

I have the #7 and I was wondering if I can use a DA Polisher to apply it?

**BillyJack** · 05-11-2011, 06:43 AM

Originally Posted by rjgervacio

I have the #7 and I was wondering if I can use a DA Polisher to apply it?

You can apply #7 by machine, but I prefer hand application myself. Maybe others have have had more success, but machine application for me saved neither time nor effort. If you apply it too heavy by machine, it tends to cake and be a real bear to remove the caked spots. My SOP is to use a MF cloth, fold it into quarters, then fold one more time for a 4"X8" pad that you can grip easily. Pour a ribbon of #7 down the center and work it into the paint well. Add product sparingly as needed.

Bill

**waxman1** · 05-14-2011, 04:57 PM

i have used #7 to blend paint. you clean the panel to blend into,as you do, wipe it down with 7,then mask it off,instead of buffing it. paint the panel,then unmask and blend ito the other panel. works well for this. used to get 7 for a friends shop.this is all he would wipe a car down with after painting. its great stuff.

Mike Phillips · 12-12-2012, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by rjgervacio

I have the #7 and I was wondering if I can use a DA Polisher to apply it?

If you do apply it using a DA polisher, speed 4-5 works pretty good, you don't need the speed of 6 just to spread products out but you want a speed faster than 3 to make the pad move over the paint easier otherwise it will feel like the pad is dragging behind as you try to move the polisher forward.