So I got my super fresh tC on the 19th (hit port on the 17th), so its been about 2 1/2 weeks now... I've waited and not done a single thing to the paint since I wanted to make sure the new soft CC is all "cured" and such (is that stupid?).

I'm not planning on doing any waxing or the such until probably a few more weeks (probably 3-4) more, but I did want to wash it sometime within the next few days as it has picked up some unsightly dust and mysterious fingerprints (Really, I honestly dont' know how they got there) on the glass.

Should I wait longer or is it ok? I hoenstly think its ok and I'm just being paranoid, but it never hurts to ask... And yes the dealer did do their "detail" before delivering the vehicle to me...

The car has also been kept in a closed garage for most of its time when not driving (Which hasn't been daily driven just yet...)

thanks!

is it stupid? I would just call it misguided Yes, paint needs time to cure. This is where this belief all started. If you go to a paint shop, you need to let the paint cure for about a month. Paint from car manufacturers is different though. The paint is actually baked in large ovens to rapidly cure it. Because of this baking, you can wash and wax new cars as soon as you receive them from the dealer.

wash, clay, and wax it now. and keep it up and your paint will look great for years to come.

as for that "detail" it hurt more than it helped.

I completely agree with NEOTHIN: Your new car can be washed and waxed as soon as you take delivery. In fact, the protection packages some dealers offer, and charge plenty for, are little more than a fancy wax job and Scotchgard for the seats. For about $25.00, you can buy everything you need and get your new car clean and protected. Let us know what products work best for you and congrats on the new ride!

thanks guys... I'll probably wash, clay, glaze, and wax it later on today when the sun starts going down and this insane heat wears off a little.

Do I need to wait for the glaze to cure before moving on to the wax?

Basically I'm going to head out to go get some clay later on (I already have a bottle of Meg's quick detailer spray), and from a previous thread I decided to buy red moose machine glaze, and natty's blue paste wax.

I also got Meg's high endurance tire gel (am not sure what gloss I prefer, so I just got high gloss for now, hopefully I won't hate it :P). That's about all for exterior.. for interior, got meg's quick interior detailer

decided not to buy the 303 high tech fabric guard since its like $15 a bottle, but I'll probably buy that in the future

hehe taking my advice eh? your process looks great. Glazes don't need any cure time between when they were applied and when a carnauba is applied over them. If/when you get the 303 fabric guard (which is what i use on my own car btw), pick up a sprayer of the 303 aerospace protectant. vinyl, rubber, and plastics in your interior will thank you!

^^ haha yea man, I basically just took your suggestions directly... lol. I'll get the 303 stuff once I get a job... danget its easy to blow all your money on detailing stuff. There was some wax that I saw that was $70 or so? crazy

yeah, souveran


i've got 1.5 jars of that left ^^

did you ever find it was worth the money?

But, I do have one last question... should I be waxing and glazing the headlight the tailight lenses as well? Or just wax, or nothing at all? I would think wax but not glaze...

i wax the lenses, but that's it.

i really don't notice that big of a difference in direct sunlight. twilight hours i do see a difference though. it's not worth the $$ though. I still use it though!

i'm a klasse all in one freak...that stuff isn't cheap at $15 for 10 oz. however you don't need that much for a single car...but when you help out and do other peoples cars, it goes quickly

you should buy the zymol vintage wax that is $1825...but free refills
http://www.zymol.com/vintage2.htm

zymol... blah.

that company is too stuck up. though i would love to see what a detailer would charge to use that wax.

i'm a klasse all in one freak...that stuff isn't cheap at $15 for 10 oz. however you don't need that much for a single car...but when you help out and do other peoples cars, it goes quickly

you should buy the zymol vintage wax that is $1825...but free refills
http://www.zymol.com/vintage2.htm

Wow, only $1825, huh? I already ordered three :silly:

oh and just an update... I washed the car, but unforuntaely I started late and by the time I was done it was pretty much dark nighttime :tap:

Oh well, everything else is set for today

I did notice what seemed to be the wax from the dealer still beading the water while I was washing the car... will claying get rid of the older wax? Will it cause big problems when I glaze and wax after claying? (I bought the Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Kit)

On the upside, though, the leafblower drying method works wonders on painted surfaces (still have to use a squeege for glass, though, but that's not a problem, and after I start treating all the glass with rain-x the leafblower should work on future washes)

yes clay will remove the old wax. The glaze will remove any remnants leftover after claying.

glazing and waxing after claying is recommended, why would it cause problems :-/

yes clay will remove the old wax. The glaze will remove any remnants leftover after claying.

glazing and waxing after claying is recommended, why would it cause problems :-/

oh no I was thinking of what happens if I apply it over the old wax (I was assuming at the time the clay wouldn't get rid of wax), if that would cause problems...

sorry my thoughts often race past what I'm actually typing so most of my sentences end up being kinda weird :P

you don't actually *apply* clay per say... it's more of a bar that you glide over teh paint. it doesnt leave anything behind.

you don't actually *apply* clay per say... it's more of a bar that you glide over teh paint. it doesnt leave anything behind.

sorry I meant apply the glaze and wax... but I know what you meant

danget I need to learn to write more clearly on forums

Be careful what you buy for cleaning and protecting your paint.

Research it, I use the Mr. Clean Kit an it does good. You can't go

wrong with Meguiar's everything though. When drying I only use

Microfiber towels. Oh and one more thing, make sure when you

are washing Do Not Go In A Cicular Motion. Alway wash in the

direction of air flow. This prevents holograms and swirl marks.

Research is the best ways to protect your paints future!

mr. clean is quite possibly one of the crappiest soaps that i've ever used. It has VERY little lubricity which helps washing tools brush away dirt particles without causing them to get grinded into the paint and cause swirls. Because of this very reason, I will never use it on a car that I care about.
meguiar's does make a few decent products, none of which are available in OTC stores. NXT paste MAYBE, but it's durability is crap anyways. a month out of a synthetic? please...
Microfiber is a wonderful invention. The different weaves allow you to specialize your towels to do everything from glass and drying all the way to product application and removal. The cheap stuff from your autoparts stores though, these come with a very short nap and have linings that aren't the greatest. This is why I only buy online.
washing in the direction of airflow? How is that going to prevent swirling? If you slide a dirt particle across the paint with any form of pressure on it, it WILL cause a swirlmark, regardless of if your moving the mitt in the direction of airflow or not.
holograms are only caused by rotaries. washing isn't going to cause them.

i really don't mean to pick on you, but there's all sorts of misguided information being spread on every forum I visit and quite truthfully, i'm sick of it.

ok finally completed the job today, thanks for all the help man

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/2379/img0001nh7.th.jpg (http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0001nh7.jpg)

The garage smelled really good after I was finally done waxing the car :P

yeah, natty's blue does smell pretty good ^^

car looks great dude!

mr. clean is quite possibly one of the crappiest soaps that i've ever used. It has VERY little lubricity which helps washing tools brush away dirt particles without causing them to get grinded into the paint and cause swirls. Because of this very reason, I will never use it on a car that I care about.
meguiar's does make a few decent products, none of which are available in OTC stores. NXT paste MAYBE, but it's durability is crap anyways. a month out of a synthetic? please...
Microfiber is a wonderful invention. The different weaves allow you to specialize your towels to do everything from glass and drying all the way to product application and removal. The cheap stuff from your autoparts stores though, these come with a very short nap and have linings that aren't the greatest. This is why I only buy online.
washing in the direction of airflow? How is that going to prevent swirling? If you slide a dirt particle across the paint with any form of pressure on it, it WILL cause a swirlmark, regardless of if your moving the mitt in the direction of airflow or not.
holograms are only caused by rotaries. washing isn't going to cause them.



i really don't mean to pick on you, but there's all sorts of misguided information being spread on every forum I visit and quite truthfully, i'm sick of it.


If you haven't noticed I have a black vehicle, thus making me a little more prone to noticable imperfections. I have not had a problem with the Mr. Clean Kit! I'm not quite sure you know what a swirl mark is. I didn't say that you won't scratch the surface. Scratching the surface to some degree is inevitable. When you wash in the direction of air flow those scratches, however fine they are, are less noticable. Swirl marks are circular scratches that tend to be more noticable in direct sun light. According to Websters Dictionary the definition for Swirl is to move with an eddying or whirling motion. Now I will define whirling for you since you have problems with meanings. Whirling is to move in a circle or similar curve especially with force or speed. :tap: So, you got any more tough comments? :come:

Misguided information is often given but know what I am saying before you call it Misguided. I am personally sick of people acting like they know what they are talking about and feeling the need to prove something by commenting on other post. Have A Nice Day! :cry: :cry: :lol:

nautical blue shows just as many paint defects as black, i know what your talking about.
as for knowing what a swirl mark is, i've been detailing semi-professionally for a couple of years now. I've seen everything from dealership f*ckups to all out clearcoat failure and everything in between. I've used everything from and orbital to a rotary and know how and when to use them effectively. I think I know at least a little bit....
paint is A LOT softer than many people think it is. even german cars, who have really hard clears as compared to other brands, have clears that are easily scratched. washing is the biggest culprit to swirl marks, period. Rubbing dirt across the paint surface WILL cause swirls. To combat this, you need to dislodge the dirt and then somehow flush it away without having it rub across the surface. To do this you need a soap that has good lubricity and a good wash technique. using the mr clean system does neither. there are far better choices out there such as using a foam gun and a high quality soap that doesn't contain so many polymers.
as for swirls and scratches being inevitable, I beg to differ sir. I would really like for you to find either on my paint, even in direct sunlight. my car is a perfect example of how a good wash technique should work.

Havent read everyons answers, but yes you can wash it right away. Its not like you are getting a car that is three weeks since it was painted. Yes you just took delivery. But the time from when the manufacturer paints it till its finished, loaded on a truck, taken to a port, put on a boat. Boated around the world, taken off the boat, trucked to the dealer, then delivered to you, well that is probably plenty of paint drying time.

Congradulations on your job, I've done body work for about five years now, but I'm not in a competition to see who has bigger balls by the amount of experience we have and know what you are saying about a well lubricated soap. The way I use my kit is different from most. I first rinse with water then spray my soap. Next I rinse again, this allows for any coarse dirt to release that didn't come off with the water. Next I re-soap and continue the wash process. As for have no scratches,
just drive The Perfect Beast up here and show her off. with my experience in paint work I am an great critic.

i wasn't trying to show you up, i was just telling you that i know a little something about paint and its defects.

I also presoak. read the "how do I wash" thread that was just started in this subforum

that is all.

dude, leave neothin alone. he knows his stuff, nuff said

this board has always been too quick to pull the trigger