preparing freshly paint door before sealant/wax?

Hi all,

I am just wondering if it is necessary to clay or polish when it comes to a fresh paint job. I got into an accident couple weeks ago that requires repainting one of the door. I know that it is necessary to clay the paint of new car because of rail dust during transportation of new car but i only live a couple of miles away from the place i have it done. will it still accumulate dirty particles enough to justify claying or other paint correction before waxing?

 

i would say you should actually give it a couple of weeks before you actually do any claying or polishing to it because the paint needs to fully cure/etc.

 

Depending on the paint used, cure times can be as much as 3 months, before you can wax it. But you can also get it cured and be done with it.

Talk to the paint guys, they should know :thumb:

 

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two lines of thought re new paint

some say with modern paints/oven it cures as soon as its left the paint booth

some say it takes weeks

think of this way, modern cars arent left in the factory for two weeks before they are polished and sent out. In some factories, it's only several hours between the car being painted and corrected

i personally wouldnt heavy cut or heat up the panel too much when correcting, nor would i use a sealant for a few weeks

a fine polish, low heat and a carnauba is what id do in the short term

 

depends. if it was baked then its pretty much cured as soon as it leave the booth but body shop said still better to wait couple weeks.
if it wasnt baked then you should wait 3 month or so

 

Thanks for all the help guys. so long story short, i need to talk to the person who paint my car about the curing time before claying and polishing right? I like to know why polishing is required if it is a new paint job.

 

It's not so much the claying and polishing, it's trapping uncured paint under an LSP that may cause issues. And depending on how good your painter is with a buffer will dictate how much polishing is needed on those areas. I've seen lots of sanding marks and pig tails leave the booth...

 

I've been only into the higher end of detailing for a short time ,but I've been painting for..........well since the mid eighties. No matter how good the gun and painter are-no paint job is ever flawless. To achieve that mirrored show look a color sand is required. as soon as the paint is no longer green,it can be sanded and polished. Air dry would be 24-48hrs and uv cured (depending on the clear being a high solid-4.2 or low solid-2.1) can be after 2 hours. A glaze can top the paint,but I recommend to stay away from wax's and sealants for several months till it has fully out-gassed. It's a hit or miss thing. You can trap solvents that are still gassing out and get what is know as "solvent pop" little pin holes. Best to wait.

 

thanks for all the great advise guys. i just got the car back today and i think i will leave it in the sun so it will cure faster. I will also wait couple months before attempting any polishing and waxing. i am still new at this and a little scare to pick up a buffer at this point. I will study your posts and continue to learn more about detailing during the mean time. thanks again.