I recently had two panels repainted on my 997s .. I was wondering how long I should wait before I begin washing or waxing the car.

Thanks,

 

Depending on how much sun time you get. If a daily driver and it's in the sun daily, 30 days is sufficient. If weekend driver and garaged, keep it out in the sun for 30 days. You need to let the solvents in the paint "gas" out and then you can polish and wax.

 

Thanks! Its a daily driver .. and judging by the amount of sun we get in this part of the world, that shouldn't be a problem.

 

Was it properly baked and preppeed after paint? If so, you shoudl have no real worries waxing within a couple weeks honestly. But always safe to let wait a month or so as said above if your not sure.

 

I'd say about a month should be fine, maybe wait a little longer to be safe

 

depends on what paint they used... but i've talked to the PPG rep and he says a few days should be fine if the car was "baked" after being painted. a week should be fine. most of the chemicals release very quickly in modern auto paints and is further accelerated by the baking process.

 

I agree with this point a view , waxes ( body shop safe of course ) with no silicones let the paint breathe because they won't interfere with the outgassing ( process of freeing paint solvents ).

Regarding waxes , they are much porous ( and because of that they have less durability in the protection factor ) and let paint breathe more easily , paint sealant won´t because their polimers chain forms some kind of net with very thin "holes" , and gives a great barrier against road grime, air , sun, etc and a greater resistance and durability.

Carnauba wax can be layered in a repaint as long it has dried , that´s the main problem.
You can polish a fresh repainted paint ( not OEM factory one ) but you have to be gentle in the polish , because if it´s not dried you will cause marring.

I leave here 2 pratical examples , a Mercedes SL 300 from 1993 that i detailed and one week later had a minor front shunt.
The owner repaired the hood and one week later i did this :



Polished with a LC polish pad , with Menzerna PO85U ( ideal for repaired coats ) and then waxed with OCW ( Optimum Car Wax - 100% safe for fresh repaints ) .

ANd the after




One more after



Another example on a also detailed car , a 2001 996 Porsche Turbo .
The front and back bumpers were repainted and 2 weeks later was polished with Menzerna PO106FF/polishing pad and waxed with Souveran.

And that´s the outcome





Regards

 

Thanks for all the help .. I am probably going to wait a couple weeks to be on the safe side; want to make sure everything is straight.

The wax on the SL looks great .. the paint on the turbos front looks a bit off from the picture tho.

 

Its the angle of the camera , take a look at this one taken a few minutes later





Regards

 

Just had two panels on my Audi repainted and the shop told me I had to wait only a couple days before waxing; however, I'll still give it a month.

 

I agree w/ moe. Wait a min. of 30 days. I've always used that # and never had a problem.

 

if you were painting your car in 1980, the 30 day rule is fine. total overkill for modern paint and techniques. do you whatever makes you feel comfortable. hopefully you don't sustain too much damge in the 30 days after you get the paintwork done

 

I have passed the 30 days .. going to dust off the wax/polishing tools this weekend and bring her back to her shining glory.