How long do I have to wait to wash my car after a new paint job?

[rx7_FD]

A few people have told me I have to wait at least 3 weeks to wash the car after its new paint job. What are your opinions? :)

[Glossmaster]

I`d wait atleast 6 weeks! Just my opinion.

[Tasty]

Yep, the longer you hold off the better. My neighbor just got his truck bed painted and was told to wait one month to wash, 6 weeks - 2 months to apply anything to the paint.

[Maknmony]

How long ago was it painted? I`ve had alot of cars painted and never was told to wait to wash, Now if your talking about waxing, thats a different story. Waxing a new paint job, wait a month or better, washing, knock yourself out.



Sellncars

[rx7_FD]

The paint will be finished on friday. So about a month or more it seems I have to wait

[Accumulator]

How long ago was it painted? I`ve had alot of cars painted and never was told to wait to wash, Now if your talking about waxing, thats a different story. Waxing a new paint job, wait a month or better, washing, knock yourself out.



Sellncars





Yeah. I`ve had dozens of car painted over the years and I know plenty of people in the autobody/paint field. You can wash right away. The *shop* will almost certainly wash it after they`re finished working on it. They`ll possibly even compound/polish/wetsand it.



The whole thing is that the not-yet-cured paint will be a bit softer than normal, so you have to be careful not to mar it.



If you could`t wash a freshly painted car you`d also have to worry about it getting rained on, etc. so you`d basically have to put it in sealed storage. Wash them when they get dirty and apply a fresh-paint-friendly glaze after every wash. Just don`t use a wax or sealant until the paint has finished curing/outgassing. I wait at least two months before I wax/seal even though the shop I use does a low-temp bake (many shops don`t).

[rx7_FD]

Yeah. I`ve had dozens of car painted over the years and I know plenty of people in the autobody/paint field. You can wash right away. The *shop* will almost certainly wash it after they`re finished working on it. They`ll possibly even compound/polish/wetsand it.



The whole thing is that the not-yet-cured paint will be a bit softer than normal, so you have to be careful not to mar it.



If you could`t wash a freshly painted car you`d also have to worry about it getting rained on, etc. so you`d basically have to put it in sealed storage. Wash them when they get dirty and apply a fresh-paint-friendly glaze after every wash. Just don`t use a wax or sealant until the paint has finished curing/outgassing. I wait at least two months before I wax/seal even though the shop I use does a low-temp bake (many shops don`t).





I thought rain wont affect the paint? :nixweiss

[imported_DennisH]

Yeah. I`ve had dozens of car painted over the years and I know plenty of people in the autobody/paint field. You can wash right away. The *shop* will almost certainly wash it after they`re finished working on it. They`ll possibly even compound/polish/wetsand it.



The whole thing is that the not-yet-cured paint will be a bit softer than normal, so you have to be careful not to mar it.



If you could`t wash a freshly painted car you`d also have to worry about it getting rained on, etc. so you`d basically have to put it in sealed storage. Wash them when they get dirty and apply a fresh-paint-friendly glaze after every wash. Just don`t use a wax or sealant until the paint has finished curing/outgassing. I wait at least two months before I wax/seal even though the shop I use does a low-temp bake (many shops don`t).



I agree 100%!!



I was told by my last painter that when you can go out into the garage in the morning and not smell fresh paint smell wait a couple more days and wax away ( about 6 weeks). When I got my last black streetrod painted the painter wanted the car back after 6 weeks to finish the polishing - said the paint would be fully cured and harder and the finial polish would come out better.

[Accumulator]

DennisH- Yeah, the "sniff test" is a good rule of thumb (though the S8 still smells like paint now and then after more than a year!).



Also true about the hardening/polishing. I`ve even had some paint (RM b/c) that was too soft for Meg`s #80 after three/four weeks, had to use something milder (couldn`t wait to eliminate the marring that the paint shop guys caused by careless washing ).




I thought rain wont affect the paint? :nixweiss



Actually, acid rain can *ruin* an unprotected paint job, even a glaze will offer some protection. And there`s all sorts of other nasty contamination in rainwater these days. IMO rain is one of the worst dangers facing fresh paint. Not nearly as bad as bird droppings, but still pretty bad. I you can`t store it inside while the paint cures, then you gotta really *maintain* fresh paint, washing and glazing whenever it needs it.

[imported_Jinba ittai]

With my car`s new paint job the shop washed and polished it. I wish they hadn`t and even requested that it not be washed/polished but was told that they needed to do it. Needless to say they introduced marring/swirls and I wasn`t happy about this and I`m still wondering why they "needed" to wash my car. I took the car back to have the swirls polished out and told them to absolutely NOT wash it and this time they didn`t.



After the car was painted I took it home and put it in my garage for the winter so it wasn`t until over 4 months later that I washed and applied Zaino to it. I think washing it is fine but waxing should wait at least 6 weeks, if not more.



My other car`s rear hatch was repainted in April. I told them NOT to wash the car and this time they agreed to my request. I have washed it several times since. I have applied 3M glaze to it a few times and it looks good. Next month I`ll NXT it like the rest of the car.



I would wait at least 6 weeks, more if you can. IMO 3 months is perfect as you can be sure that the paint has completely cured.

[imported_rachelanne16]

I know you can wash and glaze new paint, but not wax or seal it. Would it be OK to use a "more watery" QD like E1 W&S or E1 WAUD on fresh paint? I probably wouldn`t use Sonus Spritz or Mother`s Showtime, but it seems like the E1 QDs might be OK ...