BMWNA advises not to use polymer sealants on new cars

Intermezzo said:




BTW, what is "crazing"?
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Surface cracks in the paint, aka checking. GM had a real problem with it in the 80's. You know the ones with the dull hoods and tops and shiny sides. If you looked real close at the paint on the hood, you could see thousands of tiny cracks.



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It doesn't suprise me that BMW would recommend Meguiars, after all, the waxes and polishes that Mercedes sells as their own brand is made by Meguiars. Just trying to keep up with the Jone's I guess.
 
This excerpt is from Sal Zaino, a custom Painter with 30 yrs experience.......

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".,...Late model paint technology doesn't breathe, that's an

old myth.. once it cures that's it..... The older lacquers and enamels

needed time for the solvents to evaporate and release, that is where the

term "paint breathes" comes from. Wax would seal the paint and prevent

the solvents from

releasing. This led to a whole bunch of paint related problems. That's

why paint manufacturers still tell you not to apply WAX for thirty days.

Because WAX does not let the paint breathe.. and actually suffocates

it. All urethane paints and late technology paints use a catalyst for

hardening and

curing. The paint is fully cured in about 36 to 72 hours. You may polish a

new car as soon as you get it.

That factory paint is already cured and needs protection against

airborne contaminants and UV rays. Think about it....how does your paint breath through it's clear coat?!?.........."
 
What really upsets me is that there are reputable places on the net selling detailing supplies that are still feeding people that "paint needs to breathe, you need to feed it" BS and I'm not talking about Zymol guys here.



Many car enthusiast are buying that and repeating on car boards confusing others. You add some Z guys to the mix and you have a recipe for a flame war.
 
It does not surprise me that BMWNA has once again given out information that contradicts what their dealers dole out! This is the same company that for 6 years has told all of us with the BMW Z3 that the reason that our gas gauges go haywire is that we all are overfilling the tanks. :nono ...Michael P.
 
Actually, there is no benefit to applying a sealant to today’s OEM high solids basecoat and clear coat finishes. They do not enhance the clear coat shine, and, in some manufacturer’s UV

tests, have proven to diminish the factory achieved gloss level.
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Well, from the pictures I've seen posted here, I would have to say that some polymers do enhance the clear coat shine.



How does a UV test prove that the factory gloss level is diminished? A gloss or reflectivity test might prove that.



Obvious BS.
 
ShowroomLincoln said:
There whole "what if" scenario is pretty far fetched. 99.9% of all auto makers bake their finishes, so no curing time is required. The baking process removes any solvents and cures the film build within minutes. The probability of you purchasing a car where there is some type of finish curing problem is slim to none.

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I would agree. Even if you go to a showroom and buy a brand new car, chances are it has been sitting on the lot, etc. - and the paint is at least several months old...it's not like it just rolled out of the plant door and into your driveway, especially if it is imported!
 
The BMW argument must also apply to the sealants that they try to sell to customers. Unless one of BMW marketing gurus have 'discovered' that their sealants can breathe, along with the paint.



Steven
 
Isn't # 26 a sophisticated blend of premium yellow Carnauba wax, polymers and other waxes?



Is the other wax ear wax? Nice Stew Huh !



Let's laugh a little.......
 
ShowroomLincoln said:
This is a non-issue, "cover your a$$" type statement by BMW. They are saying IF the paint is not fully cured problems can occur if a sealant is applied. That is correct. They fail to tell you the same problems can occur if you use a caranuba also. Caranubas can actually cause problems faster because you have the issue of oils penetrating the uncured film build. So their theory of "Sealants are bad" is a bunch of BS.



There whole "what if" scenario is pretty far fetched. 99.9% of all auto makers bake their finishes, so no curing time is required. The baking process removes any solvents and cures the film build within minutes. The probability of you purchasing a car where there is some type of finish curing problem is slim to none. If by some slim margin you do somehow get a vehicle with curing problems the finish with fail with or without use of any sealant.



See, it's just a bunch of BS. This is probably nothing more than a legal loophole that gets BMW out of paying finish warranty claims.



:down
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Well stated. It amazes me that the automakers still don't understand how they manufacture their own damn cars! Factory paint finishes are baked at around 300 degrees to cure the paint AT THE FACTORY. There is slim to no chance of getting a car on a dealers lot that has incomplete paint curing. A refinish paint job from a body shop is a different story however as they need time to AIR CURE the paint - not bake it so it takes a while.

Another myth debunked.
 
This is why you should never take your car to a mechanic shop to have it detailed and you should never take your car to a detail shop to drop the tranny. :D Automakers should stick to making autos and leave the detailing advice to the professionals.
 
I was just at the BMW dealership yesterday returning something and all their cleaning/care care products were Megiuars.



It just comes down to the fact that there are too many choices for waxes/sealents/etc.



I liked the days when I could go to trak auto (when they were still in business), buy some mothers cleaner wax and be happy. That was a loooooong time ago. ;) :D
 
ShineShop said:
A refinish paint job from a body shop is a different story however as they need time to AIR CURE the paint - not bake it so it takes a while.
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Body-shops often use both heat (albeit, not nearly as long or hot as assembly plant booths) as well as air from down-draft booths & turbo fans to cure the paint. But I agree, a refinish paint job is a completely different animal than OEM paints. The heat is just to aid or speed up in the curing process. OEM paints, on the other hand, will never harden without the heat.
 
Intermezzo said:
Body-shops often use both heat (albeit, not nearly as long or hot as assembly plant booths) as well as air from down-draft booths & turbo fans to cure the paint. But I agree, a refinish paint job is a completely different animal than OEM paints. The heat is just to aid or speed up in the curing process. OEM paints, on the other hand, will never harden without the heat.
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The information I have from the OEMs and paint manufacturers states that heat is used to evaporate solvents quickly in refinish paint jobs and that AIR is the main factor in the curing process, not the heat.
 
Thanks for the clarification. :up



I guess the heat plays more of an indirect role in the actual curing/hardening process as the solvents have to be released before the curing process (via air) starts to take place.
 
And then we have the words from Ron K



The "breathing" thing goes back to old high solvent/low solid materials which haven't been used by the manufacturers since the late 70's.



Has been being legislated out of use since the mid 80's.



The material today is closer to "plastic". It is a polymer based material.



All the "breathing" was about was to allow the large amount of solvent to evaporate. The old paints faded, cracked, checked, died back, and were a real pain. The car care products back then were nothing but cheap waxes and lots of oils to create a "makeup"effect and clean the continually oxidizing paint film from the surface.



There are a lot of tech articles on www.autoint.com under the Magazines Articles section, not your "enthusists" type of stuff, but for trade journals.



Then under the Tech Tips Section, are tons of photos and text regarding the new materials, how it is applied by the vehicle manufacturers etc.



There were several variations on this, but all said roughly the same thing.



Steven
 
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