Washing After Fresh Paint Job?

[Accumulator]

Just to clarify- the water-base3d paints that they`ve used on my vehicles *did* continue to harden up for a few months, though they weren`t unlivable when fresh. I wouldn`t want to interfere with that continued hardening as I like my cc *HARD*.

Is roadsalt harmful to autopaint? Not arguing, I genuinely don`t know...I wouldn`t *think* so but I`ve sure been wrong before

[Poorboy]

Just to clarify- the water-base3d paints that they`ve used on my vehicles *did* continue to harden up for a few months, though they weren`t unlivable when fresh. I wouldn`t want to interfere with that continued hardening as I like my cc *HARD*.

Is roadsalt harmful to autopaint? Not arguing, I genuinely don`t know...I wouldn`t *think* so but I`ve sure been wrong before

Best option would be to wait, but if it was mine and I had the choice of protection or not .. I`d protect ...

Here`s an excerpt from an article on road salts :
The Negative Effects of Using Road Salt

Road Salt can damage your vehicle

Thanks to the cumulative effects of chemical reactions and time, the more road salt that comes in contact with your vehicle, the rustier it’s likely to get. Here’s how it happens:

• Water from precipitation puts oxygen and carbon dioxide in contact with metal car parts.
• Free-floating ions in road salt come in contact with the water. These ions speed up the formation of iron oxide.
• Rust starts forming, since rust is simply a layer of iron oxide that appears after extensive exposure to oxygen. The addition of salt and water just makes the rusting process occur faster than normal conditions allow.

There’s no running from science, but how can you keep rust to a minimum when you have no choice but to drive on salted roads?
The best thing you can do is to wash and wax your car frequently – especially before and during winter. The more often you wash and wax, the more salt you will remove. Sealing your undercarriage helps, too. It’s often the parts of your car you don’t see that snow salt can damage the most. In the fall, before roads start getting icy, talk to a car professional about sealants and other preemptive precautions for road salt.

[08Sunburst]

Well, what I`ve done so far is hand wash with a mild car wash soap, and used the final inspection spray in place of a QD. I glazed it with m7 as well.

Do do you guys think going through an automated car wash will be ok after two weeks? Four weeks? It`s already been a week since it was painted...

I didn`t get a chance to call over today, as I was swamped at work..

My my main concern is keeping it clean so that the road salt doesn`t eat into it as has been mentioned. If I have to hand wash it every day for the next week or three, then that`s what I have to do.. Once I can run it through the "automated" touch less car wash, it will make my life a lot easier with keeping it decently clean though.. I just don`t want to do any damage to the paint work between. Ow and then.


Typically in in the winter, I will hand wash the truck on a weekend day, and it will get run through the touch less car wash throuought the week if it gets excessively dirty, or, if it rains/snows gets run though the following day/night. There have been a few weeks it`s been run through the automated car wash 5 days a week in the winter to keep as much salt off as possible.


There is a picture of a before(top) and after (bottom) as well.

[08Sunburst]

I did all of the assembly myself, as well as the plasti-dipping of the grille..

[Accumulator]

Poorboy- Liveing in Ohio, I`m no stranger to the ravages of roadsalt.. I just don`t see how it can cause issues with the paint itself (or even with the underlying metal as long as the paint isn`t compromised). Eh, we could go around in circles forever or we could just agree that it`s best to keep `em clean and well-protected

It`s funny about rust though...I have some to-the-metal paintchips on the Tahoe that I`ve never fixed. Every winter they get exposed to more salt. BUT...they never get discernably worse. Not a bit and I`m talking a many-years timeframe. ...[shrug]... Sure not advocating that type of neglect, but I do find it interesting. Reminds me of the similar chips I let go on the Jag, nearly thirty years went by (before my painter fixed them without asking me) yet they never turned into any kind of real problem. that really surprised me given the porous nature of that car`s ss lacquer. Yet OTOH, my oh-so-pampered Mazda MPV rusted (from the inside-out) even in places that never got exposed to salt!

[Poorboy]

Poorboy- Liveing in Ohio, I`m no stranger to the ravages of roadsalt.. I just don`t see how it can cause issues with the paint itself (or even with the underlying metal as long as the paint isn`t compromised). Eh, we could go around in circles forever or we could just agree that it`s best to keep `em clean and well-protected

It`s funny about rust though...I have some to-the-metal paintchips on the Tahoe that I`ve never fixed. Every winter they get exposed to more salt. BUT...they never get discernably worse. Not a bit and I`m talking a many-years timeframe. ...[shrug]... Sure not advocating that type of neglect, but I do find it interesting. Reminds me of the similar chips I let go on the Jag, nearly thirty years went by (before my painter fixed them without asking me) yet they never turned into any kind of real problem. that really surprised me given the porous nature of that car`s ss lacquer. Yet OTOH, my oh-so-pampered Mazda MPV rusted (from the inside-out) even in places that never got exposed to salt!

Absolutely true .. keeping it clean as he has described is the best method to prevent rust ... as for the chips, if it doesn`t penetrate the base or primer it shouldn`t rust as long as it is kept clean and the paint doesn`t start to lift ..
I have always (from my body shop days) taken the advise of the painter as he would be the one to repaint if something didn`t work out ..

[Accumulator]

Absolutely true .. keeping it clean as he has described is the best method to prevent rust ... as for the chips, if it doesn`t penetrate the base or primer it shouldn`t rust as long as it is kept clean and the paint doesn`t start to lift .. ..

Right, but my chips are to-the-metal and the metal has rusted! I kept expecting the edges to start to lift and the rusty chip to spread, but nope...never happened! But then if I were to simply neglect the vehicle (well, even more than this entails ) it`d probably be a different story.

Now of course since I posted this my luck might suddenly change just to prove I shouldn`t be so smug about my good fortune One of these days I really oughta fix `em properly... probably another of those "don`t try this at home, kids!"-type of things.