# Freshly painted bonnet question



## smicher1 (Sep 16, 2008)

Hi,

Ive done some reading up but Is there a ********** answer as to how long to leave a resprayed bonnet before laying down some form of protection? Does anyone have any actual experience on how long is really best?

Thanks


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## steveo3002 (Jan 30, 2006)

oven baked paint ...do what you like 

air drying...4-6 weeks


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## S4Steve (May 9, 2013)

I'd like a ********** answer to this, a lot of people have different opinions on the matter. My sprayer (with 30 years experience) said to leave it only a couple of weeks before applying a coat of wax, some people say 3-6 months!! Might depend on the bodyshop, what pain they use, how long they leave it in the oven etc. Glasurit 22 (which was used on my car recently) is suppose to have fast drying properties so maybe that's why he said 2 weeks? Hopefully someone will give a ********** answer lol


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## rhyst (Feb 17, 2013)

Ive just had my binnet resprayed waxed and polished after a week with a da no probs


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## OllieNeedham (Jan 18, 2012)

I've been in this situation a number of times, and this is what I have been told;

If the paint has been sprayed by a 'manufacturer' i.e. Vauxhall/Ford/Honda etc it is usually baked, and can usually be protected after a couple of days.

If the paint has been sprayed by a bodyshop/refinishing shop, in most cases it is left to air dry and is not baked (sad but true) - and in this case, needs to be left longer before it can be protected.

The reason for leaving time after spraying, is so the solvents in the paint can 'gas out'. Rumour has it, that if you protect paint with a 'heavy' sealant/wax straight away, the solvents can not escape and can cause permanent milking and clouding of the paint.

My car has been completely resprayed twice, by a bodyshop. The first time around, I waited 90 days before I waxed it. I only did this, as no one had a clear answer, and although it's a rare occurrence for sealants/wax to cause an issue, as far as I'm aware, I wanted to avoid any potential problems.

The second time around (exactly a year after the first respray), I waited for a week, and then used Optimum Car Wax, after emailing them, and finding out that their spray wax can be used after 7 days, safely, whilst still allowing the paint to gas out.

I then asked a couple of professional detailers on DW, and even took my car to one, to ask for their opinion. 

So in summary... it depends on who sprayed your bonnet and how many people's opinions you listen to. From my experience, I would leave it 7 days, then protect with Optimum Car Wax for 30/40 days - then use an LSP of your choice.

Sorry for the long winded post, but from the amount of time I spent trying to find an answer, it seems like a very grey area!


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## robdcfc (Sep 17, 2012)

OllieNeedham said:


> If the paint has been sprayed by a 'manufacturer' i.e. Vauxhall/Ford/Honda etc it is usually baked, and can usually be protected after a couple of days.
> 
> If the paint has been sprayed by a bodyshop/refinishing shop, in most cases it is left to air dry and is not baked (sad but true) - and in this case, needs to be left longer before it can be protected.
> 
> ...


Not many places dont use an Oven these days apart from dodgy back street spray monkeys!

The only time we dont full bake a car is friday afternoon when we wont be finishing it until monday as its pointless.

I always tell customers to leave it a week before applying any products, there is a difference in what you did though in that you applied a WAX this does not seal the paint so it can still gas off.

If you had used a SEALER on the other hand it MAY have caused problems further down the line.


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## OllieNeedham (Jan 18, 2012)

robdcfc said:


> Not many places dont use an Oven these days apart from dodgy back street spray monkeys!
> 
> The only time we dont full bake a car is friday afternoon when we wont be finishing it until monday as its pointless.
> 
> ...


Just relaying what I have been told, and actually - I think it's only pure waxes that are less likely to cause problems.


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## smicher1 (Sep 16, 2008)

It was sprayed by a bodyshop, but I'm not sure if an oven was used tbh.
Went in 2 weeks last Tuesday, for a new bonnet and respray and was back out Thursday afternoon. 

Starting to sway towards sooner rather than later now...

Thanks for all the info guys!


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## Aaran (Sep 18, 2007)

as you know its a grey area. take the advice of the people that painted your car.

any warranty on the work will lay with them at the end of the day. 

they say dont wax for 30-90 days then you dont wax.
if they say you can wax it a week after its been done then go ahead.


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## Andyb0127 (Jan 16, 2011)

The out gassing process is around 10-12 weeks, plus you also have to take into account the bonnet will have heat transfer from the engine aswell, so the bonnet will get hot when using and cool down when its not, so it won't make the paint curing process any quicker. 
Paint actually cures on panel temperature, not the temperature in the spraybooth, which why our ovens are regularly checked to make sure we're getting the panels to the correct temp. 
Polish wise the only thing you can do is use wax on it, if you apply any type of sealent this will stop the out gassing process taking place.


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

The d e f I n I t I v e answer is leave for at least 8 weeks without lsp. That way, the worst that an happen is you apply an lsp a bit later than you wan to. The punishment for rushing it is far worse IMO. 

Polish away, no wax or sealant. For what it's worth on restored cars I would perform a 2 stage polish to get it looking great, then get it back a couple of months later or refinishing and protection


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## Robaidh (Apr 25, 2013)

im in the middle of painting my car chief, and i have posted up on this and other forums about how long to leave it. and the answere i wlways got was "ask the boy who painted it" not much help when im the sprayer haha. it kinda depends if it was at a garage or not as they use water based paint well in the uk anyway because of the uk laws, but i tend to use either 2k or clear over base paint and i leave it at least 4 weeks before applying anything apart from cleaning products however u do get a product called OCW (optimum car wax)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Optimum-C...ssories_Car_Care_Cleaning&hash=item20ce650214

this can be applied almost instantly the car drives out the garage/shed. i would leave it a week though.

on occasions i have applied protection such as wax a week or 2 after a fresh paint job on a bumper an its been fine


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## lowejackson (Feb 23, 2006)

In addition to OCW I have a vague notion 3M sell a wax/glaze for fresh paint but cannot remember what it is called. Whilst I really like OCW and think it is a very nice product to use, if I did not own a bottle I would probably just ask the painter how long I should wait or just leave the paint alone for a while. After all, not a lot is going to happen to the paint if it does not have a wax on it for a month or two


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