Hey guys, i bought my Z two weeks ago and the same day i bought it i went to work. After work i came out to see a 4 hour old car that was keyed on the door and quarter panel. After $700 dollars of work it is a new car agian. The bodyshop that did the work suggested that i do not wax the car for 120 days. My question is will i be able to apply Zaino polish during that period, or will that have the same effect as wax?

 

Don't apply anything to it for the first 120 days.

 

Thanks Bixby you just saved me 5 hours of detailing today

 

Well, if you're having withdrawls mine is due for a few more coats.


It's not the type of detailer (wax/polish) you use. The problem is that the paint just hasn't cured completely, is soft and could fog if you apply a detailer to it to soon. It's really good to go after about 60 days but if you apply something then have issues the shop won't cover it.

 

You can start applying Zaino after 2 weeks. It won't affect the paint at all.

 

Does anyone have a good answer to this? We have some conflicting opinions here. I just got my drivers door resprayed and also would like to know how soon i can rewax it.

 

I use Zaino products religiously and on my Mustang that I had before the Z, I had the front bumper repainted and I MIGHT have waited 2 weeks (just couldn't wait any longer!) anyway, I had no problems.

 

Like I said before. You're better off waiting just in case. Chances are you'd be fine after a couple of weeks but body shops don't tell you to wait for no reason. If the paint clouds or has other problems within that window & you've applied a wax or polish you could have a difficult time getting the body shop to warranty the work.


I use to custom paint cars / bikes as a hobby and I'd tell them the same thing. When you layer paint it isn't completely cured when the next layer goes on, then the next, then the next & so on. So now say you've got 6 coats of paint, now you lay on 1 or 2 coats of clear coat. It's up to 8 layers of paint. Again, the paint is dry to the touch but is "soft" due to the fact it requires lots of time to harden. Granted 3 or 4 months is probably excessive and with todays paints and polishes the likelyhood of having a problem is probably much less then when I was spraying but if it were me I'd wait..

 

Sal Zaino, who by trade was a custom car painter, says Zaino can be used in 1-2 weeks after painting. Many folks actually appied a coat of Zaino prior to leaving the paint shop, but do NOT use Z-1 or ZFX for 2 weeks. Zaino isn't like 99% of the other products that you should not use on your car for a couple of months or more.

 

I trust Sal, but I'd still wait at least 6 weeks. Old school stubbornness I guess.

 

Let me ask this... I'll be picking my car up Tuesday from the bodyshop. Had to replace the entire front bumper and several pieces behind it. I have all the Zaino products and am ready to use it for the very first time. The question is, after i wait a couple of weeks, is it still alright to start out with the Dawn prewash or will I need to wait longer before I start the initial process?

 

My bodyshop said 1 month.

 

Since there's no wax at all on the new paint I don't think dawn is required. You may want to claybar though.