Waxing A Newly Painted Car

[Bill Walsh]

Hello,

My 1994 Mercedes E500 was just repainted and I will be waxing it for the first time within the next few weeks. The color is pearl black. I need some advice on which products to use. Do I need to use a cleaner since the paint is new? What about carnuba vs a sealant. Are some waxes better on clearcoat? Someone also recommended Perma Plate coating but I read some horror stories about this process online. Any advice would be appreciated.

Bill

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Waxing A Newly Painted Car

Hi Bill,

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!


Most paint manufactures recommend you wait about 30 days before you apply a wax or paint protectant to fresh paint, this is because waxes and paint protectants, (like Perma-Plate), seal the surface and these types of things act to seal in any residual solvents or other ingredients used in the paint and thus prevent them from out-gassing, or evaporating out of the paint. The goal is to have these ingredients completely out-gas which allows the paint to fully cure and harden for optimum durability of the paint coating.

Once this 30 day time period has passed then it's great idea to add a layer of protection to your fresh paint.

Here's an article we wrote that goes into this in depth...

Paint Needs to Breathe

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Waxing A Newly Painted Car

Have you inspected your new paint job in bright sunlight yet for swirls?


If you're lucky, you have a swirl-free paint job in perfect condition, if you're unlucky, the paint shop swirled out the paint, filled in the swirls with a glaze of some type and you won't know about it until you wash it a few times and wash the glaze out of the swirls, (scratches).

Here's a perfect example of what were talking about... this is a brand new paint job after it was washed a few times by the owner about 3 weeks after picking the car up from the body shop.




If you received a quality paint job and the painter's helper didn't swirl it out you can should be able to simply wash the car and then wax it with a quality wax.

In order to know this, you'll want to wash the car, then dry it and then inspect the finish in bright sunlight for swirls and while your at it, feel the paint with the palm of your clean hand to make sure there's no paint overspray on the new paint which can be common because after your car was painted, if it remains at the body shop for any length of time, the potential for overspray to land and stick to the paint is a risk since the body shop is in the business of spraying fresh paint and this paint can float around in the air and land on your car's brand new paint.

So before we can recommend the correct products you'll want to inspect your brand new paint job for the things listed above.

Let's cross our fingers and hope everything is perfect and all you have to do is wash and wax.

[Bill Walsh]

Re: Waxing A Newly Painted Car

Mike,

Thanks for the two replies. I picked my car up at the paint shop on November 10 so the paint is probably cured by now. There are no swirls that I can detect. The paint seems to be as new.

Can I just use a wax or sealer or do i need some type of cleaner first. Which wax or sealer do you recommend? What is your opinion of perma plate?

Thanks,

Bill

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Waxing A Newly Painted Car

Mike,

Thanks for the two replies. I picked my car up at the paint shop on November 10 so the paint is probably cured by now. There are no swirls that I can detect. The paint seems to be as new.

Can I just use a wax or sealer or do i need some type of cleaner first.

Yes, as long as the paint feels smooth and silky to the touch when you inspect with the palm of your clean hand on the horizontal surfaces.

Which wax or sealer do you recommend? What is your opinion of perma plate?

Thanks,

Bill

Meguiar's recommends using a premium quality wax, currently Meguiar's best wax for protection and appearance is NXT Tech Wax.

Perma-Plate is a marketing gimmick to rob you of your money. When you purchase this product at a dealership, in the shop they'll have some employee hand apply a liquid product no better or no worse than the average liquid paint protectant.

There are some posts about these types of gimmicks here,

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10939&highlight=paint+sealants

[Bill Walsh]

Re: Waxing A Newly Painted Car

Thanks Mike

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Waxing A Newly Painted Car

Thanks Mike

Let us know how things turn out!