goodspeed

my car is just about done.. and as you know I opted for the body resotr, and complete paint job, well, dave, my body man told me if I ever put wax on my paint job, he would void all warranties. He explained to me that wax/paint to not mix, hence when he started to prime my car he what he called "fish eyes" meaning little circular imperfection that appeared when mixed with the primer, he said that was the wax that was causing this. What have you guys heard about this? I thought It was kinda wierd, but If I think about it, I have never seen a "wax" job do anything special to a car. He told me to refinish my car, if it ever needs to be done, he will sand it with 500 grit and buff it out. Of course, maybe its only true to the kind of paint he is using, which is the expensive stuff, he is not usig synthetic or acryllic, he is using urethane(sp) paint, and the clear coat he purchased for my car was about $260 dollars a gallon. We are putting the car back together and it looks exactly if not better than the paint you will see on a nice 2000 c5, or viper......Im impressed, I will be taking extremely LARGE pictures for you guys wensday when I drive it home.

I stayed with him the night he painted the car, and after the clear dried, and he let me look in the booth, I almost cried it was so beautiful! I LOVE MY CAR!!!

Gene

iTrader: (1)

Well, as I understand it, you shouldn't wax it or wash it for some time after it gets painted, because the paint has to "breathe" for a while first. And wtf! yeah if he sprays primer on the car and there is wax on the existing paint of course it will be weird... you ought to sand it before primering it anyway eh? hmmm

West TX RX-7

Yeah don't wax it at all for a couple of months and then I'd only use a polish in leu of a wax. Course alot of people use meguires carnuba wax and swear by it.

goodspeed

of course its sanded, but even when primer was sprayed on metal, it still got fish eyes, he said from wax soaking in He said NEVER wax the car ever...not in 10 years... He said paint/wax dont mix. The number one thing to do he said to keep my paint job looking nice, is just to keep it clean. He will void all warranties if I ever wax my car. If my car looks a little dull after a few years, he said he would sand it with 500 grit and buff it out, and it will look perfect.

Icemark

He failed to prep the car/existing paint properly if you were getting fish eyes.

He should have wiped the car down with prep sol or a cutting agent before painting.

Its not from the wax, the wax simply acts a sealer to the paint so the paint looses less oils to evaporation.

But as for paint maintenance, you should a couple times a year (depending on what the paint is exposed to) polish and wax your car. Even in the Mazda Owners Manual they require washing and waxing.

For best result you do need to do both polish and wax. See polishing rubs out the old dry paint as well as puts back some of the oils into the paint. The coat or two of wax simply seals in those oils and help protect the surface.

The combo polish and wax waxes often don't protect the paint as well.

FPrep2ndGenRX7

You need a second opinion. That advice sounds like total BS to me. Never wax your car? Just bring it back to me and I'll sand it with 500 grit paper and buff it? That guy is full of ****. If he got fish eyes its because he didn't prep the surface properly and he was blaming something else for his lack of ability to do the job right and he probably didn't want to redo the paint on that surface again. He sounds lazy and cheap to me.

goodspeed

Trust me, he prepped it rights, he was using primer on some body work he was doing on some parts and noticed it, it is perfect now...he still doesn't believe in waxing, and I have personally seen this guys works and several cars he has painted from 2 months ago to 5 years ago, and its unreal how good the paint job looks on some of the older ones. Thats just his philosophy I quess, hes been doing it for 17 years, Im sure he knows what he is doing..... But doesn't it sound bad that wax actually soaks into the paint and you can see those "fish eyes" even after the clear and paint is sanded off, I dunno if I want wax soaking into my paint like that...Im going to take his advice and stay away from the wax...

FPrep2ndGenRX7

If your happy with the car and there aren't any fisheye's showing I guess I would leave well enough alone. I still would wax the car. A good pure brazilian carnubawax will not soak into the paint as he calls it. The wax is there to protect the paint. If it soaks into the paint it changes it. Whatever he is talking about is something other than standard wax. I spent about $2400 on my paint job 5 years ago and it always looks better after its waxed. Nothing but Mother's or Mequiers products for me. I don't mean to talk bad about that guy but it just sounded like BS to me.

goodspeed

I've been in the shop with this guy for 2months while he worked on my car, its not bs. Im getting some high res pics for you middle of next week and you can judge if its a bad job or not....

As for the fish eyes, they are not there now, he took care of it!!!! get a ******* clue, he did notice them, obvisouly he is not just going to leave it like that, he notcied them on my back quarter panel and FIXED IT!, however, he explained to me why that happens and why he doesn't like to use wax. Ill gladly let any body come down and inspect my car if you would like.... Show car quality, the work and effort dave puts in is beyond what any piddly *** body shop would ever do. As far as being cheap, he uses the best paint materials money can buy. One little ******* pint of paint is 140 dollars, a gallon of clear is 260 dollars, I saw the damn reciepts. Cheap, the guy is not even trying to rip me off, hes giving me breaks because Im helping him with my computer, he is doing tons of free labor for on fixing my car. Hell, out of pocket Im giving him 1,750 dollars for fixing the wreck and total body restor and compelte paint job, he has spend tons of hours on my car....How is a guy cheap and not even caring about the money.

I put the post up to see if anyone had heard about this before, not for cheap shots on the ability of the person Im having done. Why the **** would he tell my to not wax my car, does it benifit him in anyway, NO, right on his little invoice, ANY PROBLEMS I ever have or question about the quality of his work will be taken care of FREE of charge, Meaning, IF im not happy, he will make so I am Happy with his work. ****, he hasnt even asked me for one ******* dime yet.


Besides, this guy comes so highly recommended, I've had 10 of my friends that have had work done with him, I've spoken to tons of custoemers , repeat customers in shop that had nothing but the best to say about his work. This guy has never had a complaint, he does everything to perfection. His work is impecible. I remember a post saying that once you wreck the front end of a 7, you can never get it perfect again, I bent the frame in my wreck, it was 2" two low on one side, he had to weld in a new radiator support, quess what, It looks better than it did before , Every garp , alignment and everything is perfectly in spec.

IM REALLY sorry for getting all pissed, I just really believe in the quality of work being done on my car. I thought I would just ask about the wax, I didn't expect everone to say the guy does shitty work. Its just not possible. I've talked to over 10 customers in shop that were getting work done and several others that have had work done and not ONE had any complaints and he has done it WAY cheaper than any other body shop I have seen.....anyway, sorry...

goodspeed

Once again, i dont want to get anyone mad, I apologize for jumping on everybody. But its my car, If you took your car to someone, your hoping of a good job to be done, and thats what Im hoping and seeing.

As for the fish eyes, the paint is perfect and flawless, he fixed that, he just noticed some of them and explained to me how that happens and how he thinks and says keeping the car clean is going to make your paint job last longer that just throwing wax on it. He says if you keep your car clean, its going to look just as nice as it looks now, you will have no need for the wax. It makes sense to , If I keep my car clean, dirt and grime of it, its not going to oxidize and dull my paint and whatnot, so when he says that it makes sense. I cant find one customer with a complaint about this guy. He has had a few people that had a few dislikes about some work and quess what, dave fixed it until they were happy, free of charge, hence everyone has never doubted his work.

Maybe there is nothing wrong with waxing, but I think he is just saying your car will look just is nice, if not nicer by just keeping it clean.

Anyway, sorry about the angry post , I know the work getting done on my car is good, which is what any rx-7 owner wants.

Icemark

Ask him what causes oxidation?

Its from the paint drying out.

Not from the car getting dirty.

What prevents it?

I only know one thing. Good quality carnuba based wax.

I am sorry you have taken personal offense to our questions, but in the years I have owned cars, professionally worked on cars and taken them to body shops that specialize in exotics and pleasing **** owners I have never ever heard of something as silly as not waxing your car to protect the paint. And never ever have I heard of a shop voiding the warrenty on the paint because you used wax on your car. Now your not supposed to wax for the first 8 weeks... maybe that's what he meant.

It truely sounds to me like he doesn't like prep work and the manditory bath of prep sol or some other wax removers that must be used before a quality paint job.

But I guess if you don't wax your car you will get to visit him in 5 years anyway to have the car re-painted. Your choice.

Crusader_9x

when i bought my car it had a fresh coat of single stage urethane paint which doesnt use clear coat. and i knw that it is hard as **** o find a wax to stick to it. i would never reccomend urethane.

NZConvertible

Of course he fixed the problems in the paint, he knows it was because he didn't prep it properly. Nobody's perfect, he just missed a bit, that's all. For him to turn around and then blame someone else proves this guy think's a bit too much about himself. He make be good and I'm sure your pictures will reflect that (actually photos on a computer probably won't without a megabuck monitor), but like I said, nobody's perfect.
As for not using wax, a bet you could find twenty expert painters who'd disagree with him without any trouble at all. Now try to find someone that aggrees! His threats of not honouring his warranty if you use wax not only reinforce what I think of this guy's personality, but would probably also get him laughed out court if you challenged him.

RLBRX7

Fish eyes in paint can be caused by many things. Example: Petroleum based products on the surface prior to painting can cause them to appear.

Not to wax the surface within a few months of the fresh paint is recommended, however, to never wax at all???? Makes no sense to me. My main hobby is boating. When fibreglass boats first hit the scene everyone said, 'Hey isn't it great, fibreglass, no-maintanence'. After a few years of no wax the chalky look appears, and the same line has become a joke. In my opinion, if you do not wax, you are definitely going to require a paint job. Just my 2 cents.

akageals

I can only say that my car was repainted about a year ago and is absolutely beautiful. It's jet black and I keep it clean (bath....once a week). I always looks better when waxed (meguiars). You can tell the biggest difference if you wax one section and compare it to an adjacent section. The wax gives it a deep, wet look.

Todd

FEDREX

If wax was so harmful to paint I'd think Meguiar's, Johnson & Johnson, Eagle One, Zymol, etc. would be spending a lot of time in court....but, that's not the case.

1QWKRX7

If he knows about fisheyes then he knows it can happen anywhere and should of used some fisheye reducer. I used it when I painted my old car and I never say one fisheye in my paint. As long as you wipe the car down completly( maybe he missed that spot) and use fisheye reducer then you should never see any of them. Which side quater panel was it?

FPrep2ndGenRX7

goodspeed - I call it like I see(or hear) it. If there is a fish eye after the car was painted and the bodyshop guy fixed it and you are happy then more power to you and him. But, as most everyone else replying to this thread has pointed out that not waxing your car will be a bad thing in the long run but its your choice.

Peace

RLBRX7

What is the brand name of that fish eye reducer? I spray wooden half-models of boats I make and sometimes the fish eye is a bitch. Even after all precautions. I shoot them with a very small gravity feed airbrush, the small model kind, using marine paint. Its hard to mix, which is another possible cause of fish eye(improper paint/thinner mix). I have been trying to locate a mfg of the stuff to no avail.

HAILERS

I never wax my car. An it looks like it.

GTUsGUY

In my experience the fish-eye come when the surface that is going to be painted is oily. It should clean the surface before painting it.

Also you can reduce the posibility of fish-eye with appling the first coat of paint very little at the time, dusting it.