I'm nearing the end of painting. How long do I wait for wax/first wash + wax? Since I'm not kilning it, how long should I wait? 3-4 weeks? I'm not intending on driving it until then anyway (insurance, yikes). Anything I should know? I know I'll wait at LEAST 2 weeks before putting the lights back in (snug...). I just REALLY don't want to ruin this paint job. Only 2 runs on the front and back so far, just have the rear quarters and roof to finish.

If it matters any, I'm using Nason acrylic.

 

If the car isn't being baked, you need to wait at least 6 months for the paint to fully cure. If you put any sealant on the paint it won't cure. After I got my car painted I kept it in the garage out of the sun as much as possible (makes fresh paint sticky) and I washed it after 2 weeks (that's what my painter told me) and I've hand dryed it every time it's gotten wet since and she's still spot free.

 

Do not let people shoot from the hip and say 6 months or 3 months or whatever. The appropriate time is what ever the techsheet for the paint says. It will have a cure time. If it says fully cured in one month then start waxing in a month.

None of these people in this forum engineered nor created your paint. Therefore read the techsheet.

 

I agree 100% with the above statement...

Even at my shop, the paintline we use states that with a bake booth the paint will not cure 100% until after 1 month, meaning no waxing and only handwashing carefully...but its all in the tech sheets...

 

The paint was purchased 20 years ago. No tech sheet exists for it as of right now. (And by exist, I mean the can has travelled about 600 miles from it's origin, tech sheet wasn't high up on the priority list, therefore cannot be in my posession.)

 

general rule of thumb is wait at least 30 days.. or so I've always assumed.

 

Contact the manufactuer.

 

Yep,Thats the ticket.