after a couple years of dings, dents, scratches, and even a bruise i decided that it was time to do some touch up work. once at the shop i realized it was about the same to just repaint the damn thing. im getting metallic black paint, with a couple extra clear coats and wet sanding.

anyway, i install stereos for a living and know my share about 4bangers but have never done more than spraypaint a lawnmower when it comes to exterior cosmetics. after some reading i chose wet sanding over color sanding, but wanted other opinions on the matter. i also was looking for some general advice about what to look for when i get it back, how long to wait until i buff out the "orange peel" effect it may have, and whatever else you care to share.

whatever happens, the job comes with a two year warrenty, so im not too worried, just in search of some knowledge. thanks

adam

 

I would avoid waxing it for a little while. That's what my body shop guy always told me. I've had 3 custom paint jobs done, and learned a little from each one. Make sure you check the details, whether they oversprayed, debris in the paint, make sure the shade matches, etc. I'm not quite sure why you'd have to buff the orange peel out though, each time I had paintwork done, the car came back with no orange peel.

And be careful with the warranties, friends have had shops refuse to honor the warranty. They'll find some random reason that the problem isn't their fault, or deny there even is a problem.

 

how long would you suggest I wait until putting a good wax job on the car? its going to be snowing soon and with the salt on the roads i wanted to do that pretty soon.

 

They always told me 3-4 weeks, but if you've got snow coming soon, I'd probably push that time frame up if I had to.

 

yeah the basic idea is wait 30 days because the paint won't be fully hardened otherwise and the wax will make a hard buildup on the paint
peace
dante

 

If the paint is applied properly there should be no orange peel. That is caused by too much paint being applied in one coat.

Also, I know it seems like a long time to wait but I wouldn't wax your car for at the very least 2 1/2 months. I used to work at a detail shop (mostly foriegns and exotics) and we used to outsource our painting to a company. They always told us to tell the customer to wait 3 months before applying any wax. We would also ask customers if they had any painting done on their car in the last 3 months, and wouldn't polish or wax those panels if they did.

Just to be on the safe side I would stay away from stong/hot pressure washing for awhile too. I just got my car back from the body shop and I hate not having wax, but they also said I had to wait 90 days.

 

I apply the 3M paint protection film (clear bras) and I get a lot of customers with re-paints that call me. I tell them the paint has to cure at least 90 days before we can apply the film because of "out-gassing".

I'm no chemist, but we did a few for a body shop 24 hours after they had been painted and oven baked. After a few days bubbles started forming in the film from this outgassing effect, so I assume waxing too soon after a repaint would also inhibit this process.