Meguiar's Wash & Wax followed by DAPC

[pcfxer]

Hello guys,

Good to be back on MOL . I should probably update my sig, but I do have my own 2011 Sentra SE-R Spec-V. Long story, short, for the longest time I've been waiting for body work to be completed to my level (poor body shop having to deal with me; 6 months back and forth by the way) and it looks like they will succeed as of the afternoon tomorrow. I am planning to work on my car and remove their swirl marks and left over sanding marks with my DA Polisher, W8006 and UC. Is it acceptable to use Meguiar's Wash and Wax, followed by #34 and clay, and follow that with the paint correction?

Let me know!

[davey g-force]

Re: Meguiar's Wash & Wax followed by DAPC

Sure.

UW&W may be considered a waste if you're only going to clay/compound the car anyway, and LT is a more economical clay lube than #34. But if that's all you have, both will work just fine.

*EDIT* just realised you're just getting it back from the body shop. That may change things a little. Better wait for others to chime in...

[pcfxer]

Re: Meguiar's Wash & Wax followed by DAPC

I should also clarify, this is Ultimate Wash & Wax ANYWHERE. I'd love to detail my car in my parking garage with the tunes humming along and shop-like lighting . The work that they've done so far is wet sanding and cutting/polishing this time around. The paint is about three weeks old and was "fully baked" and therefore didn't require any gassing out.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Meguiar's Wash & Wax followed by DAPC

We recommend that you not use UWWA right out of the body shop. It contains some surprisingly durable polymers and it's not a good idea to apply such products to a repaint that should be allowed to out gas and cure for 60 to 90 days. Further, since you plan on claying and doing some finish polishing to the surface, these polymers could impede that process, at least initially. If the car needs to be washed and you're limited with regards to water access, you're better off using D114 Rinse Free Express Wash to handle that task. It's a body shop safe product and contains nothing that could "seal" the paint. You could put a couple gallons of water in the bucket at the kitchen sink, add an ounce of D114 to it, and carry that down to the car to wash it. All you'd need to add is a wash mitt and a couple of waffle weave drying towels to fully wash the car prior to the rest of your work.

Edit to add: You mentioned that the car was fully baked and doesn't require any out gassing. Is the body shop telling you that it's actually OK to wax immediately? If so, that's a pretty rare situation - "baking" at a body shop and "baking" on an assembly line are two very different things. At the assembly point the paint is applied long before final assembly begins - there is no plastic, leather, carpet.... nothing else there except the body panels, and the temperatures at which baking occurs in a factory is quite a bit higher than anything a body shop has. A body shop couldn't bake at such high temps since all those other materials couldn't withstand it. Now, admittedly, the actual paint used in a body shop is vastly different from a chemical standpoint than that used in a manufacturing plant, but we'd be a bit surprised if the body shop said you're actually fine waxing the car right away.

[pcfxer]

Re: Meguiar's Wash & Wax followed by DAPC

We recommend that you not use UWWA right out of the body shop. It contains some surprisingly durable polymers and it's not a good idea to apply such products to a repaint that should be allowed to out gas and cure for 60 to 90 days. Further, since you plan on claying and doing some finish polishing to the surface, these polymers could impede that process, at least initially. If the car needs to be washed and you're limited with regards to water access, you're better off using D114 Rinse Free Express Wash to handle that task. It's a body shop safe product and contains nothing that could "seal" the paint. You could put a couple gallons of water in the bucket at the kitchen sink, add an ounce of D114 to it, and carry that down to the car to wash it. All you'd need to add is a wash mitt and a couple of waffle weave drying towels to fully wash the car prior to the rest of your work.

Edit to add: You mentioned that the car was fully baked and doesn't require any out gassing. Is the body shop telling you that it's actually OK to wax immediately? If so, that's a pretty rare situation - "baking" at a body shop and "baking" on an assembly line are two very different things. At the assembly point the paint is applied long before final assembly begins - there is no plastic, leather, carpet.... nothing else there except the body panels, and the temperatures at which baking occurs in a factory is quite a bit higher than anything a body shop has. A body shop couldn't bake at such high temps since all those other materials couldn't withstand it. Now, admittedly, the actual paint used in a body shop is vastly different from a chemical standpoint than that used in a manufacturing plant, but we'd be a bit surprised if the body shop said you're actually fine waxing the car right away.

RE: Body Shop. A dupont representative painted my car (apparently he likes sags) but there was a rep there when I went to pick up my car. I asked how long I should wait before waxing it and he said that their water borne paints were "baked' on. If you're surprised, you should've seen my reaction.

I DO like the D114 recommendation and had actually added to the list of products to check out. I think I'll add that product to my repertoire now, I just need to find it for Canucks like myself.