New Paint, steps?

T1Bird

Registered User
How long should you let new paint cure, I just had my whole car painted, im thinking 30 days before waxing it, Ive heard from some people to wash it 2 times a week prior with just water, will help the paint cure through the evaporation process, its a base clear with urathane finish
 
I think everything all said and done was around 3200, insurance paid for some, I paid to have more done, thats all
 
Insurance paid some??? Did you get in accident lately??? All I can remember somebody hit your front driver side fender last fall:eek:
BTW, Bruce, it's time to change your avatar signature!!! "All for 13's". Aren't you there already?)))
 
Yeah the last fall incident was all planned to take care of two tuesday's ago, had a appointment with the body shop, was paying out of my pocket, then saturday prior to that, i take it out of storage, decide to hit the car wash because i forgot to put my car cover on it when i put it away. Heading home from the car wash got in a multi car pile up, swirved out of it to avoid getting rear ended and just clipped the corner of a toyota camry, so both sides were fudged, so insurance paid to have the front fenders bumper and hood redone but i wasnt happy with the idea of blending, talked to my buddy and he took my rockers off, cleaned up that area, and redid the rest of the car at once. I mean it wont be no show car, but it wont have rust, thats all I care
 
While the clear coat seals the paint in a 2 stage paint job, the clear coat, being a soft product, needs to cure for at least 60 days on a new paint job. You can wash the car with a good quaility car wash, being careful, as we all should to rinse/rinse/rinse!!!!!! After I had my car painted, I didnt even dry the car. I took it to a hand wash booth and utilized the SPOT FREE cycle until after the first wax. If you happen to get bird droppings or such on the car, go to http://www.guidetodetailing.com/index.php and follow the direction they give. This is a good resource for any and all cleaning and detailing questions you may have.
 
It all depends on you paint type!!!

If it is an "Acrylic Enamel" Paint then you need at least 60 days of "Cure time" before you put wax on the car. You need to let the paint breath for at least that long to allow all sovents to evaporate from the paint.(even if it dries via polymerization)
If it is a newer "Acrylic Urethane" type then maybe the polymer driers will cure the paint faster, but still use the thumb rule of about 30 - 60 days.

In all factuality you do not really need to wax a fresh paint as it repells water and oxidation by virtue of the characteristics of the paint itself, especially all the new base/clear types. If you choose to do the wax routine, I would really wait till the fall to do this just before you put it away for its hibernation.

I rarely wax my vehicle as I just run a buffer over it twice a year and you can read a watch dial off the reflection! I know not everyone owns a good industrial buffing machine, nor have the expertise to use one, as you can easily burn through an edge on a painted surface in a matter of seconds if your not careful, but that is the best thing to remove oxidation from a paint job. Wax is just a barrier between that grime and dirt of oxidation and needs to be stripped and polished before a new coat of wax is applied. Therefore I avoid wax on most of my toys....just my two cents.
 
It all depends on the outside temperature and the sun for the next 2 weeks.If we get some sun and it stays around 15 to 16 degrees,I would say about 2 to 3 weeks and it should be fully cured as by then all the solvents in the paint should be gone.If the car was baked at the shop properly I have seen the paint shop water sand and polish minor inperfections the same day or the second day.But to fully cure,I would say just a couple of weeks,as it also depends what kind of paint they used.
 
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