Question of the Month: Wax or No Wax?
05. May, 2009 
7 Comments
Rumor has it that the painted parts for my rebuilt bike are nearing completion. Now I haven’t had anything really painted, spray bombs don’t count, in over twenty-five years. This is the first time I’ve had anything painted by a professional painter, so I’m in a quandary. How do I take care of the parts when I first get the bike back? Do I wax them? Polish them?
What have some of you done to protect your new paint jobs. Give me some suggestions.
What I have always been told is you want to give the chemicals time to work off and the paint time to cure, so don’t wax it for about 3 to 6 months. I’m no painter, and I am sure there are people who polish and wax as soon as they get their parts back and haven’t had any problems, but I wouldn’t want to be rubbing on an expensive paint job until I knew it had time to cure properly. Just my opinion, that and about $12.50 will get you a coffee at Starbucks.
My painter recommended not waxing. He gave me a bottle of Meguires’ swirl remover. It does shine it right up. I may still wax it after a few months to cure.
FMC,
Believe me Fred you won’t catch me spending $12.50 on a Starbucks coffee. That would pay for 6 rounds of a French vanilla cuppacino with 2 donuts at the local Sheetz.
That sounds right to let the paint cure. Thanks!
From what I’ve read you should allow 4-6 weeks for the paint to cure on most standard jobs. I’d wait a bit longer if it was me, but I’m slightly paranoid about such things.
had some paint done last year the painter told me 15 days to wash then 40 to 60 days you could wax
It would help if we knew what it was painted with? Some clear coats are so tough that the Meguires’ swirl polish is all that is needed to keep it sweet looking.
Some other paints might be a bit softer and benefit from a wax that does not contain any petrolium distilates.
Once the paint cures, maybe some of that overlay plastic sheeting in the wear areas might be the hot set-up?
I have a can of classic car paste wax and a can of simoniz paste wax on my garage shelf that I use for critical wax jobs. This kept the chrome on my bike looking pretty good thru 10 years of salty chicagoland conditions et al. Paint got dinged and scratched anyway.
I’d wait about two months, but as far as waxes, you can’t go wrong with Maguires. I’ve used the cleaner wax,Californias Gold and the swirl remover on all my vehicles, two and four wheeled.