Fresh car paint "breathing"

[spikepaga]

Hello all;

I am posting because I have had many,many problems with my cars paint. My car was stripped to bare metal, fenders doors, trunk and hood removed and stripped as well.

I have had to take the car back 5 times because the paint bubbled and had flaws come up in various places and in some cases the same panels have been done 3 times. There was no rust in the panels or anything underneath.

Only in the past few days I have learned that paint needs to breathe/ outgas ........I have been waxing my car immediately after picking it up from the body shop. I have asked them several times if it was fine to do this and they said "yes". Knowing what I know now, I am pretty sure my problems are caused by the sealant wax I have been using without waiting 30-90 days

Now the car has been entirely repainted again (not stripped again though) I won't wax it for at least 45 days, probably more.

What can use to maintain it in the meantime? Can I use a car cover? Can I use wing covers to protect my fenders if I work on the engine ?

Just want to make sure I don't mess anything up this time.

Thanks for your help

[Evan.J]

Re: Fresh car paint "breathing"

Yes what you were seeing was most likely solvent pop and yes you should not wax or seal a car that has been freshly paints for at least 60 days.

You can use anything that is body shop safe like M07!

[Detail Werks]

You can maintain it with Final Inspection or Last Touch they are both great mist and wipe products to maintain your car until its time fir waxing

[thepanchmx]

Just clean with water and thats all later you can make your car shine, but with all that bad experience, you should IPA your car and then just water, maybe the products they use on the shop are not shop safe

[spikepaga]

Re: Fresh car paint "breathing"

Thanks everyone for your replies and suggestions.

I am hoping to take the car to get serviced after the body shop is done next week. Will it be safe to use wing/fender covers while my mechanic works on it? What about a car cover? I know these may seem like really lame questions, but I don't want to risk another problem

thanks!!

[rst08tierney]

Re: Fresh car paint "breathing"

Your talking your car to the wrong body shop.

If they are telling you to wax after each repaint and then continue to repaint your car again and again theses guys are idiots and know nothing about the trade. I guarantee problems with your paint with in 6 months from now.

[spikepaga]

Re: Fresh car paint "breathing"

Thanks for your reply. It's a different body shop altogether now.

will it be ok to use wing covers to protect the fenders? I want to have some maintenance done under the hood after I pick the car up from the body shop.

[ffboy]

Re: Fresh car paint "breathing"

It should be ok, as long as the cover is very soft and won't scratch the fender and the mechanic is careful.

[scapegoat]

Re: Fresh car paint "breathing"

Paint needs 30 days of 70 degree temperature to cure and release solvents . Take in consideration the night s get cooler than 70 , then you need more time . If the finish is baked the time is less . I always tell my customers not to wax for 3/4 months . That may be over kill , but it CYA . I once had a customer with a new 5.0 mustang . Nearly totaling the car . We did the repairs and a complete paint . This guy was the cleanest neat freak I ever saw . 2 months later the car came back with paint problems . I called the paint reps to look at this with us . They milled the paint with a gauge and we where in specs with the paint mills ( thickness ) . This car had so much wax on it they even could mill the wax . One mill is equal to the plastic wrap on a pack of cigs . The paint manufactor had every right to back out of warranty . They helped me out with product but not labor for the repaint . The owner then traded it for a new mustang again . He wanted a car he could wax all the time instead of waiting for paint to cure . BTW his new car got keyed on every panel . I refused to do the repairs in a nice manner .

[spikepaga]

Re: Fresh car paint "breathing"

Paint needs 30 days of 70 degree temperature to cure and release solvents . Take in consideration the night s get cooler than 70 , then you need more time . If the finish is baked the time is less . I always tell my customers not to wax for 3/4 months . That may be over kill , but it CYA . I once had a customer with a new 5.0 mustang . Nearly totaling the car . We did the repairs and a complete paint . This guy was the cleanest neat freak I ever saw . 2 months later the car came back with paint problems . I called the paint reps to look at this with us . They milled the paint with a gauge and we where in specs with the paint mills ( thickness ) . This car had so much wax on it they even could mill the wax . One mill is equal to the plastic wrap on a pack of cigs . The paint manufactor had every right to back out of warranty . They helped me out with product but not labor for the repaint . The owner then traded it for a new mustang again . He wanted a car he could wax all the time instead of waiting for paint to cure . BTW his new car got keyed on every panel . I refused to do the repairs in a nice manner .

I do wish I had been told from the beginning about 4 years ago. This car is my old Jaguar XJS convertible that belonged to my grandfather from new, so they knew I was looking for something better than an avarage paint job. Paid close to 10k. I have been going back every few months to a year because the paint kept on showing these "allergy" type marks (literally looked like little allergy dots) . To be fair they kept on honoring their work and in some cases re-stripped some panels back to bare metal, treated them, prepped them etc. About 3 months ago I went back because of the same problem on 2 panels: a fender on the left side and door on the right.....well, they fixed those panels but decided to repaint the entire sides of the car because the paint would not match. I was appalled to see how much "waviness" I could see in my car when looking at it from an angle. That was the last straw for me all the problems and the waviness now, ......I did what I should have done in the first place and took the car to a custom shop, they only do cars like mine and much higher end than mine. Lots of Lamborghini's and the like. The car has been in the custom shop for over a month now and they are spending so much time blocking that car with a long block, it's insane. They said it looks like the other shop did a very good job of stripping to bare metal and first stages, but they think they really messed up on the last few stages which is why the paint came out wavy. Anyway, they where going to go bare metal again, but decided it was unnecessary. (which is helping me on the total price).

In retrospect I think that if the service advisor at the first shop had taken the time to actually listen to what I was saying instead of just rushing me in and out, he would have heard that I was saying "hey is it ok to wax this car?". The waviness problem on the last time they worked on it was probably because the guy responsible for blocking was not very good at his work.

[spikepaga]

Re: Fresh car paint "breathing"

It should be ok, as long as the cover is very soft and won't scratch the fender and the mechanic is careful.

Thanks.

Its just a regular vinyl fender wing cover, will probably be there for a couple of days while my mechanic services the car. Just want to make surfeit doesn't cause me any problems.

[scapegoat]

Re: Fresh car paint "breathing"

Are you talking about bad body work ( wave ) or urethane paint wave ? Can you feel the wave with your hand ? If it is a urethane wave , not hard to fix . Google urethane wave . Lot's of good reading then me typing it all out for .