Post-Body Work - When to Wax?

[Yardik]

My family just has bad luck with cars I guess. First my Mazda3 get written off 7 days after I buy it, and now this.



My moms Mazda6 got hit on the rear left quarter panel in a parking lot. The damage to the panel was bad enough to warrant replacing it. Now, the car was in the body shop for about a week, the panel was replaced, sanded and blended with the rest of the car. Since the paint on the Mazda was almost brand new (couple months old) it matches perfectly.



Now I know enough about paint to know about cure times and what not, but asked my body shop technician (who I thought knew his stuff) just in case. I asked him how soon I could wax it, and what the cure time on the paint would be. He told me I could basically wax it after waiting a couple of days because the paint was baked and already cured. That just rang wrong with me, how did they bake the paint on the car? I thought baking took temperatures in excess of 300 degrees.



Can anyone shed some light on this? Could this aftermarket paint work be baked, and already cured, or is my body shop guy just an idiot? (He *does* do darn good work though, he repaired a gouge in my `03 Mustang GT about a year back I swear it still looks just like new)



Your thoughts?

[Dennis H.]

Most likely yes it is cured. Some paints if sprayed at the correct thickness are cured after 6 hours out of the booth. At least that`s what I learned at the BASF tech center when I got certified. The problem arises when paint is spray on to thick or the catalyst is mixed incorrectly. Sometimes it is difficult to tell if the paint is completely cured though most times you can smell it if you have a good nose.

[Yardik]

Possible I guess. I`m just leary as everyone here seems to say 30-60 days as a rule. Just wondering where the disconnect is between my body shop and the community here. To tell you the truth, I`ve come to trust the people here a fair bit more than many of the self-appointed technicians that work in the shops.

[ALAN81]

30-45 day rule .......get a few coats of wax on it after that and go easy nothing abrasive IMHO for a few weeks after that

[Yardik]

Yea, I`m not worried about abrasives at this point. The car was super-well maintained up until the accident(clayed, waxed, sealed), so the paint is still smooth as glass. The new paint is entirely clean too, so its doubtful i`ll need to use an abrasive any time soon.



So I guess I`ll need to wait awhile before putting on a coat of AIO + P21S. Doh!

[shaf]

You could just keep glazing it for now if you want...



This subject has come up a few times before, and if the paint guy says it`s okay after a few days, then it should be fine. If you feel better about waiting a bit though, that`s okay too. The 30+ days thing isn`t a "rule" it`s a generic cop-out guideline that gets recommended a lot of times (right or wrong) and is kind of the default if you aren`t sure.

[pgp]

I just got my car out of the paint shop, he stated you can wax in about 4 to 5 weeks in the summer ,more when it`s cold. this was the managers reply ,not the painters. So I will wait to be safe.