Washing After Fresh Paint Job?

[08Sunburst]

I just did a front end conversion on my 2014 Ram, which included a new bumper that is freshly painted. I work in an auto parts store, so I Provided the base coat (diamont by BASF), however, not sure which clearcoat was used, as the place that painted it stocks their own clearcoat.

I understand that i cant really use any product on the newly painted surface that isnt body shop friendly, but my question is, what IS body shop friendly? I have a bottle of megs 34 final inspection, and i also have number 7 glaze coming in tomorrow that I ordered.

As far as washing, I understand that hand washing, two bucket method is the best, however, its winter, and even though i have a garage capable of hand washing(love my garage), sometimes i just dont have the time with a busy work schedule.


How soon can I take it though a car wash that is touchless? I typically will hand wash the truck on the weekend, and then if it rains during the week, or snows, will run it though the touchless wash the following day if the roads are cleared.


I washed the bumper by itself this evening, and two bucket, cool water, and a solid rinse, drying with an Absorber, followed by a spray of final inspection, and clean MF and i notice marring already happening.

I feel like a "touchless" wash with the air drier would eliminate some of the "touching of the paint" but i want to make sure its OK to run though the car wash. Ive heard two weeks, one week, immediately, etc etc.

Also, are there any other body shop safe products I should be using?

[Priyaka]

During the winter, you may want to consider doing a rinseless wash using a product like Megs D114 which is body-shop safe. It can be diluted 1:256 or 1:128 depending on how dirty your car is.

Meguiars Rinse Free Express Wash 128 oz.

[Ccrew]

"Body Shop Friendly" seems to have been coined by the industry and encompasses silicones, waxes and sealants, and coatings. Idea is that the paint still has to outgas it`s carrier fully since it`s not baked, and anything that seals the surface falls in that category.

I am fixing a meh body shop paint job now, I stuck with all Menzerna in three steps as 400/2500/4500 and it looks great. Certainly nothing glides across it either unfortunately.

[Stokdgs]

What did the Body Shop tell you ???
Did they say anything about when you can wash it ?

If you can smell it by putting your face real close to it, then it`s still not CURED which is different from DRY...

Did you call the shop and ask them if they dried the work under IR lights or heat lamps, etc., ?
Dan F

[Accumulator]

Even if it`s been baked I`d be astounded if it`s fully cured. So it`s still hardening up and thus will mar a bit easier than when it`s fully cured; sometimes the diff is minor, other times it`s very significant, depends on the paint/painter.

After *decades* of using Meguiar`s Pure Polishes on fresh repaints (and 3M IHG), I`ve switched to OCW after reading the TSB from Ford about it`s being OK for "post-production paintwork". I`m a fanatic about my paints achieving maximum potential hardness and I`m confident that if there were a problem with using OCW on repaints I would`ve noticed it.

If I`m gonna use a LSP that`s *not* known to be fresh-paint-friendly, I wait at least 90 days. That was a long time to get by with just glazes/Pure Polishes, so I`m happy that OCW is a viable alternative.

IME OCW is perfectly OK for use on repaints that are still curing.

[Accumulator]

And the "bodyshop friendly" criteria get used too loosely IMO. Once the car leaves the bodyshop,"bodyshop friendly" is no longer relevent as it`s about messing up stuff that`s *no longer involved* once the car has been painted and has left the building (literally).

I`m leery of asking the painter/shop manager about this stuff because I`ve had them say all sorts of BS (note that the guys I use these days are golden in this regard). Some bodyshops even say not to *wash* a fresh repaint! That`s even though they`ve already washed it...any maybe denibbed, wetsanded, compounded, polished and glazed it. I`ve heard all sorts of [nonsense] from bodyshops and painters in response to simple, direct questions. Once I pulled out some BASF literature to show a painter that what he was saying disagreed with the official info regarding the paint he had used.

[08Sunburst]

The "body shop" I took it to is not me of my customers at work. It`s a salvage yard primarily, but they do full on repair work and body repair.

They didn`t specify anything as far as washing, etc etc. I also only paid for the base coat, and they did the paint work, and supplied the clear coat and labor for free.


I did wash it tonight in the garage by hand, and went over the bumper with the m7 glaze.

Im certain that after the 3 or so months, I will have to correct the paint and seal it, but for the time being my definition of "body shop safe" would be anything that doesn`t deal in the paint and prevent the out gassing..


I can call the shop tomorrow and see what he recommends on going through a touch less wash...

[512detail]

Had my q panel and fender redone last may. Disagreement with guardrail.

M7 should be good. I used imperial hand glaze. .then black hole when i was adv it was ok too.
Just no wash w/wax or qd with wax of course (yet that is up for debate as i found out)

others have provided great answers as well & id go with their advice

I waited 60 days after delivery to polish/and coat just to be extra extra extra safe.

[JBM]

Sal Zaino used to say his sealants can be used over new paint.

[Ronkh]

IMHO
I wouldn`t do *anything* for at least 30 days. Paint dries (hardens) from outside in. So anything touching it including pressure from no touch washes can "push or manipulate" the sub surface. Just my .02

[Accumulator]

Ronkh- Yeah, in a perfect world I`d just park the car away for a few months too, and I`ve done that before with vehicles I could have out-of-service (let the S8 sit for four months after the Deer Incident). My only reason for switching to OCW from tried-and-true glazes was due to some of our vehicles having to go back into hard service where they simply needed something more protective than the glaze approach.

I`ve only had *one* paintjob that was initially so soft that I couldn`t really do much with it touching-wise. After a few months it hardened to "regular-medium" but until then it was stupid-soft like BMW Jet Black...would`ve bugged me something awful if I`d had to drive it, but that one went into mothballs until the paint hardened up too.

The water-based stuff my (regular) painter is using these days is acceptably hard right away, even just a few days after spraying it`s OK to the point where I don`t have to do anything special to keep it marring-free.

[Ronkh]

<------- Dinosaur

Ronkh- Yeah, in a perfect world I`d just park the car away for a few months too, and I`ve done that before with vehicles I could have out-of-service (let the S8 sit for four months after the Deer Incident). My only reason for switching to OCW from tried-and-true glazes was due to some of our vehicles having to go back into hard service where they simply needed something more protective than the glaze approach.

I`ve only had *one* paintjob that was initially so soft that I couldn`t really do much with it touching-wise. After a few months it hardened to "regular-medium" but until then it was stupid-soft like BMW Jet Black...would`ve bugged me something awful if I`d had to drive it, but that one went into mothballs until the paint hardened up too.

The water-based stuff my (regular) painter is using these days is acceptably hard right away, even just a few days after spraying it`s OK to the point where I don`t have to do anything special to keep it marring-free.

[Accumulator]

Sal Zaino used to say his sealants can be used over new paint.

I remember that! Always wondered....Sal had been an auto painter, so you`d think he would know. But I, uhm.... had a few reservations about how credible he might be and in the absence of controlled testing (e.g., what Ford did with the OCW) I decided I wasn`t gonna risk it.

But then for all I know the water-based paints are a whole different ballgame...wish somebody who *KNOWS* from such stuff could chime in with something objectively verifiable.

[Accumulator]

<------- Dinosaur

Well, "me too!"...at least kinda

David Fermani and I had some good....discussions....about this very topic and I always stuck to my since-`76 position and reached for M05 New Car Glaze (easiest product *ever*).

But consider what Ohio winters can be like...or >2K mile roadtrips through the South during the summer with no chance to even wash the car. I got tired of having to correct away so much of that new clearcoat after conditions like those. OCW sure isn`t FK1000P or a coating, but it does offer a bit of real protection.

[Poorboy]

I would use a waterless wash like Spray and Wipe for cleaning, but ..being that is a daily driver in the North during the winter, unless the painter says absolutely not, I would actually either use a non-abrasive AIO or wax as the road salt will probably do more damage with no protection at all .. As mentioned above .. today`s water-based paints, if used here, should be ready for normal maintenance soon after painting .. just my 2cents