Paint smell...

furnace

New member
I got into an accident a few months ago.



My car was finished at the shop mid December. I got a new hood which was painted to match my car, and my front quarter panels were also painted (blended in). I think the bumper cover was painted as well.



Anyways, when I got the car back, the cabin smelled strongly of paint. Has time has gone by, the smell has lessened but is still there.



Is this a sign that the paint is still oxidizing? The body shop said the Spies Heckle paint would be fine to wash, polish. seal, etc after 2 weeks. It has been about 6 weeks.



Should I wait longer cuz there's still a paint smell? Or do you think the paint has cured?
 
Yeah, the smell is the outgassing (not oxidizing ;) ). The info your shop gave you is totally contrary to my (extensive) experience with repaints in S-H (usually baked, which speeds up the curing) and is also contrary to the official info from S-H. It takes quite a while for S-H to finish curing and reach maximum hardness. You can even notice the difference when you polish- it's sorta soft for a month or so. You're close at six weeks, but still smelling the solvents escaping is a clue it's not finished curing yet.



I *always* let S-H cure for at least 6 weeks/2 months, and usually longer than that. Some of the repainted areas of my S8 (post deer incident) kept smelling for over three months so I waited until the smell went away before I sealed it. BTW, if the shop didn't bake it, it'll take a *long* time to cure.



Better safe than sorry IMO, and one of the good things about S-H paint is how hard it gets (I wouldn't want to interfere with that). Just use something fresh-paint-safe (I use Meg's #5) for a while longer. If you have any nasty marring you might want to polish it out before the paint has fully hardened, but I generally wait until it's cured and then just do it once before I wax/seal it.
 
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