Fresh Paint- when to protect it?

[Herminator]

Having just had a hardtop resprayed, I'd like to give it a nice coat of wax. Should I wait a while for the paint to cure properly? Should I use a light polish first?
If I need to wait, is it ok to give it a regular cleaning in the meantime?

The rest of my car could do with a proper clean too so I've just ordered this lot, to add to the Megs Gold Class, lambs wool mitt and waffle weave towels I already use.

1 x Meguiars Quik Clay Detailing System
1 x Dodo Juice - Lime Prime pre-wax cleanser 250ml
1 x Dodo Juice Purple Haze
3 x Microfibre Cloths - Multi Purpose
2 x Sonus Foam Applicator Pad

 

[Cmick]

Herminator

I had a fender replaced/painted several months ago and was told to wait at least 30 days for paint to cure prior to polishing, etc. I waited 45 days (to be sure) then ony used a very light polish prior to protecting with Zaino. No problems.

 

[cj10jeeper]

I've always held the same timeframe of a month, sop would tend to stick with that, although I'm told the modern water based paints that are baked are ready to go out of the spray booth. After all mine recently had some spray work and it was sprayed, lacquered, machine polished and waxed all in 2 days.

Hope you've got a PC to do the polishing properly

Looking forward to seeing the hardtop fitted in some shots

 

[GAZA62]

Would wait a few weeks before polish and wax but washing and some QD would not hurt.

The Calibra in my avatar had a front bumper respray a week before a show and i hand polished and sealed that at the show with no probs.

 

[Herminator]

Ok, I'll leave it around a month then. It's just a shame it doesn't bead as well as the rest of the car, gave the car a quick spray with the hose to wash some salt off the other day and the hardtop ended up spotted with dust whilst the rest of the car was ok since the water ran off it nicely.

I'll just give it a wash tomorrow. Probably give the rest of the car the full treatment next weekend.

Not got a PC.... going to see how the Lime Prime stuff handles the light marks I have on a couple of small areas. Maybe I'll get a PC in the summer.

I may get the camera out tomorrow after the wash, it's about time I got some nice shots of it in it's current spec
The hardtop looks great, it seems I've found a good paint guy in Darlington, the finish is probably better than the job BMW does on their cars :roll:

 

[GAZA62]

the finish is probably better than the job BMW does on their cars :roll:

No suprise BMW finish is poor as are most modern cars and your sprayer will be a lot better nothing better than a car sprayed by a person not a machine

 

[mmm-five]

I was told to wait a week after I had my bumper done - before putting the Paintshield film on.

I was going to get the scratch done using a SMART repair, but was told by Paintshield that they'd prefer a proper base to stick their film to, otherwise their warranty would specificly exclude the area that had the (their words not mine) "botch job" done!

 

[gannet]

Interesting as Ive just had my front wing resprayed and from todays rain it looks like they already waxed it :? Shows the rest of the car up

 

[cj10jeeper]

Interesting as Ive just had my front wing resprayed and from todays rain it looks like they already waxed it :? Shows the rest of the car up

As posted above gannet - they did the same with mine. Everything from prep through spray, machine polish and final wax in one go.

 

[gannet]

Interesting as Ive just had my front wing resprayed and from todays rain it looks like they already waxed it :? Shows the rest of the car up

As posted above gannet - they did the same with mine. Everything from prep through spray, machine polish and final wax in one go.

thing was I wasn't happy with the bumper so they re-did it within 24 hours not that I'm complaining as I now have my car back all smooth again