Waxing new car

[sageriders]

I took delivery of my new X on July 12. According to the tracking system on the new owner page, it hit the factory paint shop on June 28, and therefore, the paint is about a month old. Does anyone know definitively how long one should wait to apply the first good wax, i.e., with carnauba wax? I know that fresh paint needs some time for "off gassing", and that the paint isn't really hard until that process is finished. Some say 30 to 90 days, others say longer or shorter, etc. Someone else said not to worry about it at all, that it's only the polymer paint sealants that seal the pores preventing off gassing. What's the real dope?

Thanks for your help.

[motordavid]

You'll prob. get a dozen or more opins on the "product",
but if it were my car, I'd jump on the "wax" job, asap,
and I would use Zaino...
http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

If it's leased or, you aren't a nut about it, do as you like!

GL,mD

[Thunder22]

BMW bakes the paint job,so you can slap a coat of wax on there immediately....

i'm a fan of maguiars NXT myself... but use whatever makes you happy

[marc.hickman]

wait about 6months to a year before you put your first wax on your car.

[asawadude]

My uncle owned a body shop for 40 years, so I can answer this question.

As Gresch indicates, new car paint is cured in a high temp oven. Keep in mind, only bare body parts are being painted (sans glass, trim, interiors, running gear) before assembly and baked in temperatures as high as 300-650 degrees.

A new car can typically be waxed within a week of being painted.

By comparison, a repainted car is fully assembled and cannot be baked at the same high temperatures without burning or melting flamable materials like rubber, plastic, leather, etc. Paint booths usually have gas heaters set at 140-180 degrees which allows partial baking or they use infrared surface lamps which often results in areas of the vehicle being cured unevenly. The customer receives a vehicle with paint that will need additional curing and outgasing before it can be waxed. My uncle would leave a car in a booth for as long as a week to allow curing before handing the keys to the customer.

A repainted car should not be waxed for 2-3 months.

A couple of articles to support these statements:

http://www.meguiars.com/faq/index.cf...ection=_54#_54

http://www.mobileworks.com/auto-paint-finishes.html

[Thunder22]

Originally Posted by marc.hickman

wait about 6months to a year before you put your first wax on your car.

that's not true of modern day cars that have the paint cured to the body panels.... it is true of a repainted car though.

[LeMansX5]

Originally Posted by gresch

that's not true of modern day cars that have the paint cured to the body panels.... it is true of a repainted car though.

[sageriders]

Thanks, guys, for your advice. Asawadude seems to make the most sense, and includes reference articles. So, I guess I'll get out the wax!