Honda-Tech - Honda Forum Discussion - How long do you have to wait to wash car after paintjob

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How long do you have to wait to wash car after paintjob

Just got my car repainted, how long do i have to wait till i can wash it?

Re: How long do you have to wait to wash car after paintjob (91b16acrx)

Depends on the quality of the work and the paint.

My friend and I painted my car on a Saturday last summer, and the next day we washed it, wetsanded, buffed, and waxed.

The whole "wait 1/2/3/x-number of months before washing" is a bunch of BS if you ask me.

Re: How long do you have to wait to wash car after paintjob (PatrickGSR94)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Depends on the quality of the work and the paint.

My friend and I painted my car on a Saturday last summer, and the next day we washed it, wetsanded, buffed, and waxed.

The whole "wait 1/2/3/x-number of months before washing" is a bunch of BS if you ask me.</TD></TR></TABLE>
oic i always thought it was acouple of weeks, the guy that painted my car wet sanded and buffed the car in the same day he painted it

do what i did..wait a month to wash, and 3 months to wax...You have to let the paint cure!!! Your going to want to wash it once it gets dirty but just wait it out man. I know how it is i got my car painted 4 months ago.

Re: (EKhatch219)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EKhatch219 »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do what i did..wait a month to wash, and 3 months to wax...You have to let the paint cure!!! Your going to want to wash it once it gets dirty but just wait it out man. I know how it is i got my car painted 4 months ago.</TD></TR></TABLE>
y do yo have to wait longer to wash it than wax it?

paint will dry overnight, it is fine to wetsand, buff, wash, and wax the next day

Re: (i rock the sohc)

try this forum http://autobody101.com/forums there are some very knowledgeable people there.

or, ask the shop that painted your car what they recommend, or any shop for that matter https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif

the body shop that did my car said 1 month, although they buffed it one week after the pain dried. I don't get what the difference would be, but the guy said it had something to do with ingredients in the soap that would mess with the clear coat. Waxing I heard shouldn't be done for a couple months to let the paint "breathe."

interesting, so if i wax. my car paint will get messed up right now, its only been a week

Quote:

Originally Posted by 91b16acrx (Post 16943069)

interesting, so if i wax. my car paint will get messed up right now, its only been a week

Yes if you wax your car right after painting it, it will mess up the clear coat. Clear coat doesn't actually " cure" for a long time...but the longer it's been since painting, the stronger the clear coat will be. There is a chemical in wax that is well known to destroy the clear coat and causes it to lose it's gloss plus durability. I forgot the actual name of the chemical in it, but that's the reason why a can of wax is never allowed in or around the paint booth in paint shops.
The least amount of time you should wait before waxing the new paint job is at least two months to be on the safe side....or at least that's how long i wait. It's possible to wait just one month but I always waited two months.

As for washing the car after a paint job, you do need to wait at least 20 days to be on the safe side considering the clear coat is not fully cured yet and that it is weak and prone to damage. Most detergents like " dawn soap" contains citrus to cut grease which is a form of acid from fruit, while car wash detergents are a little lighter. Using any kind of detergent to wash your newly painted car before the paint job has time to cure and become stronger is a great risk to your new paint job. A good example is back when i was auto body collision and repair class. We painted a classmate's father's car and it came out beautiful, not a single mistake. The classmate was told on the second day to drive it straight to their house and park it in the garage. A week later, the father called us up very mad about the paint job - he said it was horrible and stuff was sticking to it all over the place. Upon investigating what happened, we found out that the classmate stopped at the family's restaurant and used the dish washing detergent to wash the car before driving it to the garage. That detergent was able to cut through the layer of freshly painted clear coat and destroyed a chemical ingredient known as " hardener" therefore keeping the clear coat from fully curing. When we drove to see the car, as we were talking to the father, we watched a piece of pollen fall from a tree and stick straight to the paint job. We had to use a scraper to literally scrape the "jelled" feeling clear coat off the car. After all was said and done, we had to start from the beginning...again.

As for wet sanding and buffing, this can be done 24 or 48 hours after painting a car depending if the paint was baked with uv lights afterward, or if the paint job was allowed to sit in the sun for a while to bake. Wet sanding with plain water and buffing is great right after painting because the clear coat is soft and cuts easily...allowing rubbing compound and sand paper to easily level rough spots in paint jobs. DO NOT use " polishing" compound unless if you know what is in the polishing compound. Some polishing compounds contain wax which leads back to the chemical known in wax to destroy un-cured clear coat.