Considering I spent 4K dollars on painted stripes and a painted bodykit -I will tell you exactly what I did. Most all factory cars have a basecoat/ clearcoat and then they are baked so the paint dries and hardens. I had my car go from the dealer to the paint and body guy and he painted everything and baked it. After that he wetsanded it and applied a polish. one month after that I had my detailing hands on it (been detailing for 17 years) and repolished it and applied a nice carnuba wax to top ot off! (2 coats)Here are the results....tell me if you think I should not have done it. It is now 2 yrs later! Been clayed twice and 3 step cleaner polish and wax by Meguiars and she is essentially the same. No issues of what so ever. I would not go to a detailer that says you have to wait a year much less a month after a new paint job....JMO but you decide











this was from last summer (sept 07)



not the best pic but still illustrates my point (see the car next to mine- in the reflection off the paint)

 

My painted told me to wait 30 days to wax my car. They polished it already, so I ssume that would last at least
the 30 days...

 

Just use the meguiars 3-step. The sealer that they put on sucks and the step 1 will take it all off. I wsahed and did the 3-step the day i got my car.

 

Your paint will suffer if you wait a year to wax
her unless you store her inside and dont let
her see the light of day for a year.

 

^^ Yes. I don't even want to think about what the front end of a black one would look like after a year with no wax.

And I noticed in another thread you said you bought a leftover '07, so I think whatever crappy sealant the factory put on is long gone anyway.

 

MyGT500 - If it made your black paint look that good then it surely will make mine look that good as well. It is only 1 month oldshould I clay it first or just polish and wax? Also the strips are flat black vinyl, what can I do to protect them?- Thanks!

UltraShock - It was part of a package; contact Ryan Davis @ www.heritagecustoms.com you might want to get the phone number off of the website and call him; he is a little slow getting back on emails.

 

My body shop told me 45- 60 days on the areas they painted. My stripes are flat black, but they are paint. Body shop told me NOTHING but soap and water or detail spray on them. No wax, no polish, no protectant, nothing. It'll make 'em haze up.

I had the paint work done at the end of March, I just finally got around to doing the whole 9 yards (wash, clay, wash, polish, 2 coats protectant, 3 coats carnauba) a few weeks ago. www.blackfireusa.com if you have a black car. I've used Meguiars, NXT, all that stuff. Blackfire puts them all to shame.

This was at a show the day after the paint was finished.

 

I waxed mine the 1st week end I had it, It was fine.

 

I think they are just trying to sell you on the product benefits... but from what I know about paint sealants ( I am no expert here), they generally last about 6 months to a year. Essentially you are creating a hard, durable shell, protecting the paint on your ride which will wear off over time.

... and actually, yes I have head of wax not adhereing before. I have read on another forum about people having problems with waxing over certain paint sealents. Essentially, the wax would not adhere to the car. There were certain waxes that would work and others that did not. After the pain seal is set, try and wax the car. I dont think you will hurt anything.. There are many detailers that "layer" wax over paint sealants as the carnuba wax adds more depth and gloss to the paint.

I know a lot of people on this board are fans of Meguiars but in my opinion there are much better waxes on the market. It all depends on what you want to spend.... Pinnacle (what I currently use), Zymol, Swissvax, Pinnacle, Chemical Guys ('53) are all good choices.

Check out this article I googled for more detailed info:

http://www.autogeek.net/qude101.html

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If they put a "Sealant" on the car,wax will probably not be compatable with it. A sealant is like a liquid wax but is suppose to last a lot longer than wax (so they say). If you use a wax it will probably just dissapate the sealant and be replaced by the wax, but that won't hurt anything. Unless they are using something different than what is typically referred to as a Sealant.