Time for paint to cure / dry...?

[AUDILUX]

I'm sure this has been discussed time and time again, but I searched and couldn't find any consensus estimates...

So my car will be coming out of the body shop in a few weeks with a nice fresh coat of paint and I was wondering how long it will take for the paint to dry / cure. I read that the car shouldn't be waxed for 1-2 months, but what about washing? Does the car need to be garaged? Will every pebble, twig, insect that hits my car damage the paint? Just wondering how careful/paranoid I should be.
Thanks!

[noob5]

Mine just came out of the shop last week. The manager told me not to wax or seal for one month.

[superman_006]

It takes about 2-3 hours before painters start sanding dirt out of the paint and buffing.... they wash it next. Your paint will be soft for about week.... sun is goo. Wax is a big no no.. it will accually penitrate the clear coat and it will be all jacked up and it will look cloudy and white. so you can wash it with "CAR WASH" as soon as you want

[Mott Power]

About a week to cure almost fully and a little longer for it to cure completely. I've heard that you can polish the clear coat once it's dry to the touch (some paint companies recommend it) but it may depend on the type of paint.

Either way, you can drive it after 24 hours and as long as you're not driving in 100 degree weather or through gravel then it should be fine.

[raptor4568]

It really depends on the paint system. Ask the shop doing the work for you.
Hand washing is usually just fine, but again, just ask.

[julex]

Better safe than sorry so just take the car and baby it for a week or so. Don't touch the paint, don't wash etc. After a week it should be hard enough ,especially for this time of year, to go all out on it except for waxing.

[Bimmerchop]

^^this

At the very minimum, I'd at least a month before waxing

[nkbks4]

I'm a painter at a body shop. U need to ask if Ur paint was baked in a booth. If so most clear coat r concidered cured. But if it wasn't force dried def wait 2-3 months before waxing. Washing and spray detailer is perfectly fine.. just don't use something that is gonna seal the paint. Any ?'s feel free to pm me.

[P0234]

It really depends on the paint system. Ask the shop doing the work for you.
Hand washing is usually just fine, but again, just ask.

^This. And avoid wash products that contain "wax" or other polymers as they might interfere with the curing process. Last but not least, since its new paint, make sure you have your washing technique down so you don't get swirls in pretty new paint.

[julex]

I have to yet see anybody actually using an oven to bake cars/parts after painting unless it is some super premium service the client is paying for. 99.99999% of time everyone wants the cheapest possible and you don't bake it since it takes time and costs money. They just give it to client the second the paint is no longer tacky (exaggerating here but you get the point).,

[LDetter]

^ Most paint booths have two settings, one for spraying, one for baking. The baking process is what cures the paint faster. If wherever you are getting your car painted does not have a paint booth you should be taking the car somewhere else.

[YBLEGL]

It takes about 2-3 hours before painters start sanding dirt out of the paint and buffing.... they wash it next. Your paint will be soft for about week.... sun is goo. Wax is a big no no.. it will accually penitrate the clear coat and it will be all jacked up and it will look cloudy and white. so you can wash it with "CAR WASH" as soon as you want

That is completely false, wax does not penetrate the clear coat and mess up the paint. The reason you wait to wax the car is because when you paint a car you have to use a reducer in the base coat and in the clear coat, the reason of this reducer is to thin the paint and clear down enough to get it to shoot properly thru your gun and lay down nice but after its painted you need this reducer to evaporate out of the paint and clear and if you are too wax the car it will seal in the reducer and not let it evaporate out. You can wash the car all you want, I wash a car usually 4-5 hours after its out of the spraybooth unless it needs to be put back together by the technician then I do it after.

[YBLEGL]

I have to yet see anybody actually using an oven to bake cars/parts after painting unless it is some super premium service the client is paying for. 99.99999% of time everyone wants the cheapest possible and you don't bake it since it takes time and costs money. They just give it to client the second the paint is no longer tacky (exaggerating here but you get the point).,

I have worked in 3 different bodyshops and everyone of them had heated spray booths that would have a bake cycle, I dont know what part of hillbilly CT you live in but heated booths are very common and we dont charge a premium the bake the car after the paint job.

[nkbks4]

sorry dude, ur not waiting for the thinner or reducer doesnt evaporate. ur waiting for solvents to release out from the clear and hardener. not all clearcoats even take reducers... for instance, waterborne paint contains no reducers, not even in the clear... when it comes to paint being cured, its all about the solvents being released. and most crappy waxes on the market dont even seal, they just shine...

[S4Rs]

The idea is to not seal the paint. Sealing the paint prior to curing traps in the solvents that are trying to evaporate. If you have ever seen too much material put on or too heavy a coat (or coats) you will have probably seen little craters develop. This is "solvent pop". The paint was too think to allow easy solvent evap from earlier coats and it had to "pop" through the paint to get out.
I'm not much for baked paint jobs but they quicken curing. Play it safe and wait a couple months. Use a hand glaze to help give it a little extra shine until then. 3M makes a good one. My experience has been to let a car sit for 24+ hours before wetsanding and buffing so that should give a good idea of how long the paint can stay pretty soft. Don't cover it either for at least a couple weeks or you risk imprints from the cover. FWIW my experience is mostly with higher end urethanes - ppg concept and house of kolor.

[YBLEGL]

sorry dude, ur not waiting for the thinner or reducer doesnt evaporate. ur waiting for solvents to release out from the clear and hardener. not all clearcoats even take reducers... for instance, waterborne paint contains no reducers, not even in the clear... when it comes to paint being cured, its all about the solvents being released. and most crappy waxes on the market dont even seal, they just shine...

The solvents are in the reducer, and most shops in new england havent gone waterborne yet its still urethane its mostly a Cali thing since they are big on VOC's out there

[blmlozz]

I have worked in 3 different bodyshops and everyone of them had heated spray booths that would have a bake cycle, I dont know what part of hillbilly CT you live in but heated booths are very common and we dont charge a premium the bake the car after the paint job.

Because 3 body shops represents the entire nation of body shops. Nice conclusion ass, btw, all 10 shops in my area use air dry booths, which do not bake the paint. Therefore my statistics are more reliable.

[nkbks4]

It's gettin big in Florida. We use envirobase from ppg. Low voc's is the way to go. Sometimes I wonder how cali paint jobs look using only hvlp's to spray with. Prob a lot of cuttn n buffn goin on. And def a fan of air drying paint. Baking the paint can cause slvnt pop and die back. Sometimes paint sux.

[SurferD]

Always follow the manufacturer's recommended cure time. It's very dependent on atmospheric conditions. Enamels can take as much as 30 days to fully cure while catalyzed epoxies (which don't rely on weather) can take as little as 2 days. Urethanes are somewhere in the middle. If you don't know what they used, ask. It's easy to find specs online.

[YBLEGL]

It's gettin big in Florida. We use envirobase from ppg. Low voc's is the way to go. Sometimes I wonder how cali paint jobs look using only hvlp's to spray with. Prob a lot of cuttn n buffn goin on. And def a fan of air drying paint. Baking the paint can cause slvnt pop and die back. Sometimes paint sux.

Well we are a production shop so no time to let shit air dry, as fast as I get a car painted there is another one in the 2nd booth waiting to get sprayed. I dont get to stop at all during the day lucky my prep team is good and very fast, as far as die back yea it happens if I was to do my own car I would let it air dry over night myself but no time people want there shit and my boss wants money.

[YBLEGL]

Because 3 body shops represents the entire nation of body shops. Nice conclusion ass, btw, all 10 shops in my area use air dry booths, which do not bake the paint. Therefore my statistics are more reliable.

Ok first of all no need to act like a child and name call but if it makes ya feel big then be my guest, 2nd I doubt you visited all 10 shops in your area just to prove me wrong and all 10 were air dry no one owns a heated booth in all of virginia comon. And I have only worked at 3 but I have been in many many shops, I was a insurance adjuster for progressive for 2 years and I saw alot of spray booths and they were heated so my statistics win. Oh and I dont trust anyone with a Rainbow as a signature when it comes to cars =)

[S4Rs]

With the cost of today's materials how could you not use HVLP? In addition to the environmental benefits, they are a money saver for their lower material usage. A nice HVLP gun with the right tip, pressure and technique will lay the paint down as well as, if not better, than any old school gun out there.

[YBLEGL]

With the cost of today's materials how could you not use HVLP? In addition to the environmental benefits, they are a money saver for their lower material usage. A nice HVLP gun with the right tip, pressure and technique will lay the paint down as well as, if not better, than any old school gun out there.

Didnt know you couldnt use any other type of gun guess FL isnt too strict, in MA its a huge fine if you are caught using anything else at a licensed shop, im talking 15k per gun in your toolbox that they find same thing with unlabled bottles and cans thats like 5k per bottle or can shit adds up quick.

[MacDaddy]

90 days, or when water stops beading off the newly painted panel(s)... the water beads off because solvents/chemicals are still being released from the paint, the reason you don't wax is to allow those chemicals to be released and not be sealed in.
its OK to sand, polish, wash etc (here anyway, the insurance company pays for "premium" brand cars to get a polish after paint from a repair job, we did it regularly at the shop i was working at without issue) just stay the hell away from wax/glaze wash&wax car wash, quick detailer, etc.

in a perfect world you would park your car in a garage with no windows and ventilation at room temperature until its cured. but since it isn't i would do the following:
1. wash with a microfiber mit
2. wash often before the car gets a big layer of dirt on it
2. use proper car wash (no dish soap, shampoo, etc and no wash and wax soap as mentioned)
3. avoid high speed driving and large trucks as the paint is more prone to paint chips


hope that explains why and answers your question.

[AUDILUX]

^^Thanks...very helpful.

Thanks guys for all of the tips!!!