Fresh paint: better safe than sorry


Wide-O

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Hi,

As I was having my 13 year old car resprayed (red faded by UV, car living outside), I have been researching the do's and don'ts of treating fresh paint.   There is a LOT of conflicting information out there, as often new cars &  fresh paint are mixed up.  Same goes for older project cars with "older" types of paint systems (single stage etc.). So I was hoping for a final confirmation (or rebuttal) of the info I have been able to gather.

What I understood so far:

Factory based paint is baked at very high temperatures and is 100% cured when the customer gets the new car.

Fresh paint as applied by a body shop (my situation) is "dry" for 90% after 24 hours, good enough to polish by the body shop, but it is not safe to put on any products that can hinder the curing.

From reading posts from Dr. G. - back from 2008 - I concluded that fresh paint (the one on my car is now 5 days old) CAN be protected, but only by products that are a) water based b) contain no solvents and c) contain no abrasives.

I do believe Optimum Car Wax is a product that confirms to these criteria, and have ordered it for my car, to put on some mild protection before we put on a ceramic coating (in about 2 months).  For what it's worth, my painter uses the PPG system, and is of course a base coat/clear coat application.

My main goal is to have some kind of protection in the next 2 months that will not interfere with the curing of the paint.

Is there any problem with my information, any inaccuracies, or are there other caveats I didn't think about?  I already ordered the product, so it's not a commercial question; I just want to give my car and my investment the best protection I can give it.

Thanks for any input you can give me.

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