Questions on new paint, need answers ASAP

S

sftempest66

New member
Hey everyone, well I've got one or two questions that I'm not sure about, and need to know the answer to ASAP...



First off, my brother wrecked his 2003 True Blue Mustang GT about 4 weeks ago, and it has since been fully repainted. The repaint was completed about 10 days ago (give or take a few days) and he is going to be picking the car up on Friday of this week...



So first off, I wanted to know when I help him clean up the car, if its ok (aka will not harm the clear coat) to wash and wax the car this weekend...



I'd assume that you wouldn't use anything with any cleaners or even a light abrasive such as Prime Strong or something of that matter, because the clear might not be totally cured yet??? But what about just throwing on a coat of Opti Seal, or 476s?? Would that hurt it?



Any help would be greatly appreciated, I've been busy with school lately and thats mainly why I didnt find the time to do a search...
 
What did the body/paint shop has to say about this. If it was me i would wait 30-60 days (cured time) to put anything on it, but i think after 30 days it would be fine. Ask them when you guys pick it up.........
 
The powers that be here *REALLY, REALLY* need to make a sticky on this, it gets asked all the time.



sftempest66-There's a thread where MirrorFinishMan queried all the major paint manufacturers and got their official answer: they *all* said to wait at least 90 days before waxing and that longer is better. That's assuming the paint was baked too. I wait at least four months and usually longer.



Washing is fine, polishing is too but the paint will still be sorta soft.



FWIW, I hear that Ford recently approved Optimum Car Wax (despite the word "wax" in its name) for use on fresh repaints that're done as part of their post-production repair process. If you can't bring yourself to apply a glaze after every wash for the next three-six months, you might try that.



But *I* am gonna stick with the Meguiar's #5 glaze (or their #3/#7/#81/Deep Crystal Step #2 Polish or 3M Imperial Hand Glaze), which has worked great for the 30-odd years I've been using it for this application ;)



If you use something that interferes with the outgassing process, the paint will never achieve its maximum potential hardness, and IMO most repaints are plenty soft as it is.
 
David Fermani said:
What body shop repaired it?
Click to expand...

Thanks Accumulator, do you think Clearkote's Vanilla Moose Glaze would be ok? And as for the shop that repaired it, I have a good friend that is the head mechanic at our local Ford dealership, and he pretty much does any work on both of our vehicles.



I had my rear bumper painted at the shop there and he made sure it was done right, and he had been looking after my Brother's car also, and made sure they blocked out the car more to get rid of Ford's reputation for horrible orange peel. I called him and he said the paint looks great, and I trust his word because he knows about my details and my "anal" paint care :p



In fact, his car is pretty flawless as well :woot:

IMG_4023.jpg
 
sftempest66 said:
.., do you think Clearkote's Vanilla Moose Glaze would be ok?
Click to expand...



No, I consider it a wax. I do like the stuff OK (though I seldom reach for it) but I wouldn't use it on fresh paint. Either get the OCW or use a glaze.



FK sells a LSP that's *supposed* to be fresh-paint safe, but after hearing about how it behaved from people here (nothing awful, but still vaguely worrisome IMO) I wouldn't go that route myself. But then I'll readily admit that I'm pretty cautious about messing up new paint and I actually *like* using Meg's #5 (about the easiest product ever) so I don't mind applying it after every wash, only takes a moment.
 
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