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Author Topic: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?  (Read 2900 times)

Offline Gladiator

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Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« on: May 24, 2012, 07:36:39 pm »
Hi guys

Just had my front end Resprayed, is it ok to apply polish and wax straight away to give some protection or is it best to leave for a while?


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Offline stealthwolf

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Re: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2012, 07:39:54 pm »
Polishing is okay but you want to wait around 4 weeks before applying any LSP.

The GTI isn't just a machine. It's very much a living, breathing thing.

Offline Gladiator

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Re: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2012, 07:50:28 pm »
Polishing is okay but you want to wait around 4 weeks before applying any LSP.

Thanks Stealthwolf  :happy2:


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Offline Alzak

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Re: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2012, 08:07:56 pm »
If it was oven baked You can use LSP now

Saintsteve

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Re: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2012, 09:19:44 pm »
If it was oven baked You can use LSP now
Correct 

Offline heavyd

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Re: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2012, 09:39:35 pm »
new cars in the factory get coated with a wax about 4hours after being painted :popcornsoda:

Offline stealthwolf

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Re: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2012, 09:50:03 pm »
From what I gleaned on DW, factory paint is different - the paint is cured at a higher temp (300*C) and means the car is pretty much ready to be waxed straight away after assembly. Respraying means the paint is cured at a lower temp so it doesn't melt various bits and bobs. The paintwork can be quite soft, even after an oven bake. The paintwork needs to "gas" out. This doesn't matter as much with modern water based paints but you still want the paint to fully cure which can take 30+ days. Sealants are worse as they tend to prevent the "breathing" whereas waxes aren't as problematic.

For peace of mind, I'd just wait.

The GTI isn't just a machine. It's very much a living, breathing thing.

Offline Gladiator

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Re: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2012, 10:04:11 pm »
Cheers guys, will wait to be safe and treat the old girl to a days detail in a month or so  :happy2:


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Offline Alzak

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Re: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« Reply #8 on: May 25, 2012, 06:25:47 am »
From what I gleaned on DW, factory paint is different - the paint is cured at a higher temp (300*C) and means the car is pretty much ready to be waxed straight away after assembly. Respraying means the paint is cured at a lower temp so it doesn't melt various bits and bobs. The paintwork can be quite soft, even after an oven bake. The paintwork needs to "gas" out. This doesn't matter as much with modern water based paints but you still want the paint to fully cure which can take 30+ days. Sealants are worse as they tend to prevent the "breathing" whereas waxes aren't as problematic.

For peace of mind, I'd just wait.

How You can say paintwork can be soft after respray as first what bodyshop do after painting is to polish paintwork to remove imperfections which is few hours after respray...

Offline stealthwolf

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Re: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« Reply #9 on: May 25, 2012, 07:01:15 am »
I'm not talking about polishing and I did say that it's okay to polish after a respray.

The GTI isn't just a machine. It's very much a living, breathing thing.

Offline Alzak

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Re: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« Reply #10 on: May 25, 2012, 07:07:55 am »
Some polishes contain some sort of LSP as well

Offline JPC

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Re: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« Reply #11 on: May 25, 2012, 01:01:47 pm »
And stealth wolf well knows that, he didn't say you can polish with polished with LSP did he??

Polishing is ok, just go easy. And Im a detailer and know quite a lot about paint, take that how you will, but i would leave it a few weeks before putting any LSP on the car

Offline al-tdi170

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Re: Just painted....ok to polish/wax?
« Reply #12 on: June 03, 2012, 12:17:47 am »
Lap/wax after a week.