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Tips For Washing and Waxing Your Car Finish

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Can I Wax My New Paint Job?

We use compounds, polishes and glazes in the body shop environment, but wax contains silicone, which is a problem for spraying paint. You should not wax on top of fresh paint. A paint finish may appear fully dry, but can take time for it to fully cure. Wax seals and protects your paint, which may not allow your paint to breath and cure properly. I have heard that you should not wax a new paint job for 1 month to 6 months. However, this is something that I can’t get a straight answer.  It’s different depending on who you are talking to.  I feel that paint should be fully cure in 30 days, so I vote for 1 month. However, not knowing for sure, I called PPGs Technical line. This is what they said. The paint is not fully cured for 90 days, so this is the amount of time to wait according to PPG.   Seams like a long time, but it’s always best to go with the recommendations, as they know more about their products than I do, so 3 months it is!

After 3 Months Should I Wax My Car?

Even though we will not be waxing in the body shop, there are still a lot of questions about it. And when it’s time, a good coat of wax is recommended and will help protect your paint finish. So, here is a video that does a good job of explaining the washing and waxing process.

[youtube width=”500″ height=”350″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6B7V1bBq98[/youtube]



Here is another video that I took at SEMA a few years ago. They are demonstrating a product that helps remove scratches and swirls left from drying the vehicle. If you have a black car, you know exactly what I am talking about and how hard it is to fight this problem.

 

BCC Students Spraying A Tri-Coat Paint Job

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Here is a video of Butler students spraying a tri coat paint job.

Butler students deonstrate how to paint a three stage paint job. This is the base coat, mid coat and the clear coat. The mid-coat on this paint job is a tinted clear. This allows you to be able to see through the tinted clear and see the base caot color. This adds depth to the paint job. If you remember the candy colors, this is the same concept.

After the Mustang was repaired, snaded and prepped for painting, the following steps were taken.

1. Pulled in the paint booth and masked off.

2.Wiped down with wax and grease remover.

3.Tacked off with a tack rag.

4.Primer sealer sprayed on the entire car.

5.Sprayed black where needed for stripes.

6.Masked black off.

7.Sprayed one light coat on the over masked off black areas. This is the remaining black paint that was not masked off. This will help achieve hiding.

8.Spray 2 medium wet coats base coat – this is the color

9.Spray 2 medium wet coats mid-coat – this is the tinted clear

10.Unmasked stripes and areas that are black

11.Spray 1 tack coat of clear coat – this is a thin coat of clear to allow the full wet coat of clear to stick without running. This step is not required, but works well when custom painting. Eliminates clear from running on paint stripe edges.

12. Spray 2 full wet coats of clear coat.

Now ready to unmask and put back together. All of the part were painted separately off of the car. Bumper cover, rocker moldings, etc.

They did a great job on the car. Sorry for the poor video quality….that is my bad! I’ve learned to stay very still if I am going to speed the video up.

Paint code is E9 – The code will give you the base coat and mid-coat formulas

We used PPGs Sealer, Paints and with PPG 2021 Clear Coat

BCC Collision Repair Updates

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Lots of things going on here at Butler Community College. Everything from body repair, painting to buffing. The students are learning a wide variety of skills. Take a look below to learn more about what’s going on.

Jenni has just completed a door that will be used for training. This door was removed from a vehicle then Jenni and Devin built a stand for the door to attach. Next Jenni cut an access hole in the outside of the door to allow students to see how the inside of a door operates, which includes: window regulator, power locks, door latch, linkage rods, and various clips used. Props or trainers like this helps the students have a clearer understanding of how things works.

Yes, this class does involve some classroom and computer lab work. Here they are in the lab doing a research assignment.

James is practicing his spray pattern, overlap and technique while spraying an epoxy coating.

Devin is learning how to polish paint. Slow process, but makes the car look great. There are a number of reasons to color sand and buff a paint job. For instance, if you have a little dirt, a run, orange peel or just to get that show quality look.


Rodrigo is repairing a damaged door. He is in the process of straightening the metal back to its original shape.

Check back, we’ll have more updates soon. If you have any questions about our program give me a call.

Donnie Smith
316-323-6890
asmith73@butlercc.edu