How long to wait before waxing?

[OldCoastie]

That is very hard to answer, unless Ford was upgrading its paint plants and used an alternative method to paint at the factory. I know that around the same period Corvette's Bowling Green Assembly built an entire building for paint to resolve much of the issues of uneven coats, various drying periods, and peel. The new bulding has the most current paint systems in the world, and I do know that Ford was following the same path. Just don't know when.

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[OldCoastie]

I shot my first car in 1964, it was a rusted out 57 Chevy that was painted with a brush, I stripped the car, Bondo most of it, and painted it with Sears Spray Paint, Bright Red. IT WAS AWFUL and cost a small mint. Sold the car for $50.00 never recouped what I put into it. But no floorboards in the back and most of the passengers floorboard rusted out, was a 265 six, and was a 150....my first experience....

 

[OldCoastie]

Hope if this does not answer your question gives you some answers on what was going on with FORD's Paint systems. Talked to my friend in Virginia (super painter and body man), he told me that in 2012, Ford invested about $438 million to upgrade the Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan. As part of that project, the paint shop was replaced/modernized with the “3-Wet” paint process, which began operating when the upgraded plant went into production in 2013. The 3-Wet process means three layers are applied without baking between them, much different then what GM/Corvette uses for their system. The 3-Wet process is the first .applied is the Electrocoat (E-coat) corrosion protection where the entire body dipped in an electrically charged primer bath then baked once. Then the wet system is Primer surfacer applied, then Basecoat color applied and finally the Clearcoat applied. So it this.....Primer → Basecoat → Clearcoat are sprayed one after another while still wet. THEN body then goes through one large curing oven.
Ford does this method as in the past it had some serious issues and now does this method because 1 bake cycle instead of 2–3, Saves energy costs, less dust contamination, more uniform thickness of the clear coats (resolving no peel), and of course faster production on saving the bake time... Not an ideal system, but one that Ford uses.

In this respect FORD's paint system is much different then GM and Corvette, as GM uses many more steps with its system to produce a much finer finish.

In your case, around the Covid time Ford did make incremental improvements without replacing the entire paint shop, such as new paint robots, updated inspection lighting, Improved dirt detection cameras and Minor chemistry changes in waterborne basecoats. So your car could have been painted during a minor change, espcially since Ford is doing a lot of minor chamistry changes on the Waterbase Paints and they do use PPG. So cannot give you a definate answer but this does fall in line with what you described.


For the record, Corvette invested over 555 million on a new paint building and it took over 3 years to make it production ready. The 2017 Corvettes were the first to be painted and their paint jobs are almost flawless. So FOrd update its paint production to almost as good as Corvette but not quit.

Corvette Summary. (which Ford is following slowly)
Announced / started: 2015: Construction: 2015–2016: Operational: 2017
This paint facility was built to support the modern Corvettes built at the plant, including the later mid-engine models like the Chevrolet Corvette C8. They use entirley different paint Syste

 

[LouG]

I prefer traditional washing, but I have used the waterless "wash" supplied by the Ceramic coating company that did our cars, and it does work well in getting dust and insect splat off.
I'm pretty careful and haven't seen any swirls yet.

 

[86pagt]

Anyone know if there is a waiting period (for paint cure) before waxing?

i ordered a GT in California and will be driving it home to AZ . Just did the same route yesterday and the bugs were pretty bad. I’d like to get a quick (spray) coat of wax on before heading back to make the cleanup a little easier.

If your looking for something just to get you home and then do a complete wash and wax you can look at xpel track wrap. It will also give you some protection against rock chips. I have read that some people also use painters tape. If you looking for some quick protection previously mentioned Adapt does have SIO2 which will provide some protection. Not a fan of Meg’s wash and wax, tried it when it first came out many many years ago.Its old technology. It might be great on showroom cars but there are many products out there that provide more cleaning and have more slickness.. I would take TW Pure Shine as a quick detailer that provides more slickness over Meg’s wash and wax…

 

[tankcj]

If your looking for something just to get you home and then do a complete wash and wax you can look at xpel track wrap. It will also give you some protection against rock chips. I have read that some people also use painters tape. If you looking for some quick protection previously mentioned Adapt does have SIO2 which will provide some protection. Not a fan of Meg’s wash and wax, tried it when it first came out many many years ago.Its old technology. It might be great on showroom cars but there are many products out there that provide more cleaning and have more slickness.. I would take TW Pure Shine as a quick detailer that provides more slickness over Meg’s wash and wax…

Great idea on the track wrap. Thanks!

 

[DFB5.0]

But that product doesn't put on a layer of wax. That's just a cleaner (unless I missed something).

You have.

 

[Lord Haw-Haw]

Ferrari "dealer" is NOT Ferrari. I betcha Ferrari will find some Italian curse words if they hear about your nonsense.
2 Friends of mine own multiple Ferrari's and they use Ferrari specific cleaning materials exterior and interior. Expensive ? YOU BET !

 

[Garcia172]

Ferrari "dealer" is NOT Ferrari. I betcha Ferrari will find some Italian curse words if they hear about your nonsense.
2 Friends of mine own multiple Ferrari's and they use Ferrari specific cleaning materials exterior and interior. Expensive ? YOU BET !

How many new Ferraris have you owned? I've had several brand new. And they always detail my cars. It doesn't matter what you say or what you think. This is is what they used. And this is what I've used on the s650.

So get off your high horse. I'm just reporting back on what they use. This is Newport Beach Ferrari on Pacific Coast highway. A major Ferrari dealership.

This is a silly argument.

I don't care what anybody uses. I'm just throwing in my two cents, my history, and my experience with this product. The fact of Ferrari is using it... And I know for 100% fact they are... On new cars in the show room... well well over a million dollars each.... Says something about the product.

To each his own.

Don't use it I could care less.

I'm arguing with a couple of people that detail cars for a living lol

Whatever don't use it.

If you guys were so smart, you wouldn't be car detailers lol.

enjoy

 

[AZ_Ryan]

Jesus guy are you still offended over this..?

Heres a story for you. I put Armor All on my Porsche today. A major Porsche dealership that I wont name uses it. Trust me bro. I know Porsches and Ive been to Germany so dont question me! Its the greatest product ever and it only costs 8 dollars at Walmart. I dont care what you think, If you dont believe me just check the Amazon reviews. Ok, Im going to go cry in the corner and pretend Im not offended that two strangers on a car forum are making fun of me now.

 

[DFB5.0]

I think there is some overestimation going on in this thread as to the protective ability of a spray and wipe product, be that a wax, polymer sealant or Si02 spray sealant. That's not to say those product's aren't good or enjoyable to use, but they aren't offering much, if any, protecting of your paint, and quite often they end up being removed or severely degraded from a good wash. To be pig headed about it, I don't care what magic liquid in a spray bottle it is, they are great toppers but not great protectors.

To the OP, if you want to protect your paint and want to stay old-school wax, then I'd be looking at Collinite 845 or Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant. Old products, but they have redeeming features that are often lost in this age of ceramic coatings and Si02 everything. I still use those products because of the way they look and feel over the more modern stuff. Don't get me wrong, ceramics are great and I have several coated vehicles, but I still enjoy using waxes and sealants.

Collinite 845 -

Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant -

 

[Gregs24]

CARNAUBA WAX CONCENTRATE

Have used this for years - dilute to taste!

Used after pretty much every wash, takes about 10 minutes.

My S650 at 6 years old used as a daily looked like new when I sold it

 

[Zig]

My S650 at 6 years old used as a daily looked like new when I sold it

The s650 isn’t that old yet, ^ pre production model?

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