The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop How long to wait until Waxing and Buffing?

Hi everyone..

How long do you have to wait until you can apply you first coat of wax after a truck has been painted?

I understand the paint has to cure for a period of time.

My paint gut told me 6 months to get the paint good and hard.

George

BASECOAT/CLEARCOAT? SINGLE STAGE? ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A SMOOTH SHOW CAR FINISH OR JUST WANT TO WAX IT? FOR A SHOW CAR FINISH (SMOOTH AS GLASS, NO ORANGE PEEL)I WET SAND AND BUFF WITHIN 2 DAYS OF PAINTING BC/CC. I START WITH 1200 GRIT THEN 1500 THEN 2000 GRIT PAPER.THE FINER THE GRIT THE LESS BUFFING YOU WILL NEED TO DO. YOU MAY ASK YOUR PAINTER IF YOU DID NOT SPRAY IT YOURSELF TO WET SAND AND BUFF IT. IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING WITH A BUFFER YOU CAN BURN THE PAINT. I PERSONALLY WILL NOT BUFF SOMETHING I DID NOT PAINT BECAUSE I DONT KNOW HOW MUCH CLEAR WAS APPLIED. IF YOU KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO WET SAND AND BUFF THEN YOU PUT A FEW EXTRA COATS OF CLEAR ON IT ,BECAUSE WHEN YOU WET SAND YOU ACTUALLY TAKE OFF A LAYER OR TWO. AT MINIMUM I RECOMMEND AT LEAST 30 DAYS BEFORE A GOOD ORDINARY WAX JOB. HOPE THAT HELPS

Sorry about the capital letters won't happen again

Thanks for the information! Caps were no problem!

Its a single stage paint. The weather prevented it from drying fast enough so there are a few specs here and there. I am not looking for a show room finish but the roof of the truck is at 'eye' level and makes it easy to see these specs.

I might put a second coat on the roof and try wet sanding.

I still want to wax it later on to protect it so I will wait a minimal of 30 days and maybe up to a few months.

I can remember a paint job on one of my cars taking almost a year to cure. It was funny how it looked great until the defects starting 'sinking' in 6 to 8 months later.

Thanks again!

My brother-in-law just painted his mustang, and he only waited about a week befor he snaded and buffed the finish. He used base/clear on it. I did some touch up work on my '55 and sanded and buffed after only 3 days with no problems. I used PPG single stage paint.

Pretty much every paint data sheet I have read tells you how long to wait before waxing. If you know what brand of paint it is, call your local paint store and ask them. You can usually cut it with polishing compound long before you can wax it. The cutting just has to wait for it to harden enough to actually cut without melting or burning the paint. Wax needs to wait until the solvent finishes outgassing and the polymers crosslink, which takes longer. The last Valspar clear coat I used said 30 days.