New Car - Car Wash?

New vehicles these days have baked on finishes so there's really no such thing as 'new car paint'. As mentioned, any good quality wash soap will work just fine. In a pinch, or in winter, you can even go through any touchless wash. I'm not a huge fan of these, but they're the lessor of evils when the ride has crud on it!
 
New paint as in "new-car paint" or as in "fresh repaint".

Only reason I ask is that a brand new car should probably be decontaminated as opposed to merely washed. Not that the dealerships seem to be doing it the way they're supposed to...
 
Sorry... Sorry... I wasn't very clear. My Jeep got a boo-boo and part of it had to be re-painted. The paint-shop said not to wash it with soap for 2-months... 2-months... Oh my!
 
clapperc said:
Sorry... Sorry... I wasn't very clear. My Jeep got a boo-boo and part of it had to be re-painted. The paint-shop said not to wash it with soap for 2-months... 2-months... Oh my!
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As you're aware, that simply doesn't sound right. Maybe waxing, sealing etc. but washing should not be a problem even a week out. This said, if a warranty is contingent on following your paint shop's instructions you should probably do just what they say.
 
I've never heard of any body shop saying not to wash your new paint. I have heard many say wait 30 days so the paint has time to out gas before coating, sealing, or waxing. I would talk to the body shop for clarification.
 
I misinterpreted the post. I'd think washing would be okay as long as it's light and not harsh srubbing....but it doesn't hurt to listen to the folks that did the work.
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
I've never heard of any body shop saying not to wash your new paint. I have heard many say wait 30 days so the paint has time to out gas before coating, sealing, or waxing. I would talk to the body shop for clarification.
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GearHead_1 said:
As you're aware, that simply doesn't sound right. Maybe waxing, sealing etc. but washing should not be a problem even a week out. This said, if a warranty is contingent on following your paint shop's instructions you should probably do just what they say.
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I have always heard 30 days as well to let the paint cure. Maybe they are thinking the wash will have some type of wax in it? I would definitely call and clarify. I would also ask how long before the paint cures. I am interested in if they say something different.
 
Pick up a wash that has no wax in it. The aftermarket hood on my car was painted and I used Meguiar's Hyperwash a few days after I got the car back. No issues here. I actually waited 90 days instead of the 30 before I polished and sealed it.

Check out Meguiar's M305 which can be used on a newly painted surface.
 
Bodyshops of a, uhm...certain type...have been saying "don't wash it for [whatever]" for ages, usually so the customer doesn't wash away the glaze they applied and see how bad things are. After enough time has passed they think they'll get away with it or argue that the customer must've done something.

It's almost certainly already been washed by the shop. Quite possibly abraded too, polished, perhaps compounded, maybe even wetsanded.

You can wash it. You can polish it (though the paint might be a little soft until it finishes curing). You can use some fresh-paint-friendly LSPs on it. So:

Wash it. Inspect it and go from there based on what it looks like. I've gone from using fresh-paint-safe glazes (the usuals are 3M Imperial Hand Glaze and the Meguiar's "Pure Polishes") to using Optimum Car Wax. Despite its name, OCW was tested/approved by Ford for use on "post-production paintwork" and IME (based on a few repaints I've tried it on) it does *NOT* interfere with the curing/etc. at all (and note that I'm a fanatic about my paint curing *hard*).
 
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