Aftermarket Paint job - how abrasive is too much?

Hey guys,

Thanks to the little accident I had with my car, I had most of the body painted. I know that I should let the paint cure for about 90 days.

I will ONR wash the car, however I'm a little hesitant to let the UDM or Flex touch it until 30 days have past.

That being said, what can I use to protect while curing but not impede the curing process?

(there is orange peel, so I want to polish but I can't!)

I have everything from Poorboy's and Klasse available and any Menzerna or Optimum polish that may be needed. I was leaning towards the Klasse... but is there something better that I should be on the look out for?

Lastly, is ONR washing recommended?

 

Meguiars #7 Show Car Glaze was recommended to me as a "protectant" of sorts. I just regularly applied it from time to time thats all

All I used was a QD when my panels were repainted. Final Inspection works well as it doesn't leave behind residue like Last Touch or ONR may leave...

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks for that, I was going to use ONR detailer, but I have some Show Car #7 left over, I'll definitely try it out.

 

as for the myth that you cant polish or protect a fresh paint surface there are alot of variables to it....

-what kind of paint was used to refinish the vehicle?
-was the finish open air cured or baked in a booth?
-was the finish sanded and polished by the shop or was it just given back to you without any sanding and polishing?
-how many coats of clear were put on if its a basecoat/clearcoat job? if its single stage then how many coats of single stage were put on?
-how long ago was the paint applied?

Most of todays shops are using high quality Base/Clear combos when refinishing and most are spraying them in a booth and baking..... if the finish was sprayed and baked and more then a week has gone by you are basically at Full Cure.... when it comes to polishing you can polish a finish the next day after a booth bake without doing it any harm.... wax is a slightly different story.... after polish you can feel free to apply a sealer (just one coat... no layering) as sealers still allow the paint to breathe (although there really isnt much curng going on any more)...you should wait about a month to apply any waxes again one coat at a time and no layering...

now if the finish was open air dryed then the rules change slightly....open air drying doesnt allow the solvents in the paint to escape as quickly and it does take a bit longer to gain full cure....once about 2 weeks has passed from the day of application the paint if applied correctly shpuld be at or near full cure and the same rules above apply....

the old thought process of allowing 90 days to wax a fresh paintjob is from when the paints were more of a solvent base and applied in open air situations where the solvents took time to leave the paint film and fully cure the finish...

i do some work for a local body shop that does stellar work....usually i get the call to come polish the day the car is in the booth being sprayed and i get there the next day or so and i lightly wet sand (to match factory peel) and polish out the finish along with applying a sealer....i have yet to have a paintjob come back due to polishing or sealing issues....the shop does 10-12 cars a week and they polish and seal 99% of the cars that leave there and there are no ill effects since the paint is applied and cured properly...

now if the finish is some laquer or enamel based finish the rules above are out the window and the 90 day rule applies since they are solvent based and even when baked need flash time after they are out of the booth....so then let it cure at least 2 months before playing with it....

as far as washing goes ONR is OK as long as your fresh paint isnt Filthy....if its real dirty the old 2 bucket method is best.....you can wash fresh paint as normal without doing any harm.....

sorry for the lengthy post but i just wanted to clear this up a bit for you....

 

To mimic Ghost, you can wet sand and polish right now if you want. Before the paint is fully cured, it is easier to polish out the wet sand marks. As for a sealant, all my custom paint jobs leave here with Wizards breathable paint sealant. That is how it is billed. All sealants might let paint breath, but I will stick with Wizards. The slickness it leaves behind is better than anything else that I have.

 

+1 for greyghost. The only thing I will add is that on DW, they posted a thread with the manufacturers recommended time frames before waxing and all feel between 30 - 45 days. A good rule of thumb regardless of booth or baking scenario. It just easier to remember and at my age, that counts for ALOT! As Scottie said, its a lot easier to sand and polish out orange peel when the paint is fresh, just be sure to have your PTG around.

 

thanks for the heads up.

I have a feeling it may have not been oven baked as it may have affected other parts of the car, but I'll confirm. I'm guessing the orange peel arises from the car not being polished enough. What I'll attempt to do is hit the car with 106ff and see if that works.

 

106ff is not going to knock down the peel at all....in order to knock down peel you need to wet sand....start with 2000 grit and see what you get from there....the object is to match the factory peel so it doesnt lok like a repaint.....

i tried to capture that on this photo...the fender was repainted and after it came out of the booth the peel was a bit heavier than the factory peel so i sanded it lightly with 2000 grit and polished it out to a perfect match....





this one shows the factory peel and the peel on the fender better....



and this car was sanded and polished the day after it came out of the booth and had been baked.....i put a coat of sealer on it and then a week later it got a second coat of sealer....still looks perfect....

 

There is peel on it, I'll wetsand it, then clean it up with some polish. What polish should I be using to clean it up? 106ff? I don['t think I want to use SIP, I have some OP original that may work.

 

if the paint is still fresh and you sand lightly with 2000 or finer you may be able to get it polished with SIP and a heavy cut pad followed by SIP on a polish pad and then 106ff on a finish pad.....again that depemds on the hardness of the clear used....

i would say that is as light as i would go with it....i usually use 3m microfinish compound or a Gliptone product that the body shop supplies for my fist polish and then i use a combo of Menz polishes or 3M ultrafina for the final stages....99% of the time when i sand fresh paint i use a Cutting compound first then a polish though...it just makes for a better job removing sanding marks in my opinion....

 

I ahve some optimum Hyper compound I could use, I'll follow up with the body shop.