If you plan to paint your car during a rainy season or on a rainy day, it would be best to know the challenges that may happen to it. It would help if you had perfect condition weather with the proper humidity and temperatures to avoid blistering or poor adhesion, which will force you to have the painting job done twice. We will look at how rain can hurt your freshly painted car.
Will Rain Hurt A Freshly Painted Car?
Rain after paint can damage the new coat when it rains on your freshly painted car. The raindrops that come from clouds come back after condensing when they have collected contaminants and pollutants found in the air and create paint-nemesis that may damage your newly painted coat.
If you have applied latex paint on your car to give it a new look, it will need a minimum of two hours of direct sunlight to dry and stick before the rain comes.
Usually, when you touch a fresh paint after an hour, it may feel dry, but it can still be washed away by rain.
What Happens If It Rains On A Freshly Painted Car?
When heavens open after two hours, light showers may not cause severe damage to your newly painted car, but the affected areas may need repainting when it dries up.
Water spotting that settles on your car body can damage the paint; you need to wipe it before the new pigment absorbs it and damage it.
When it rains on the car body freshly painted, it affects the paint, and it will not adhere to the car body parts if they are wet. Therefore, your car is likely to experience an uneven paint job; the paint job will not look attractive and will need to be redone.
Rain after painting can also be acidic, and when it comes in that form, it may damage your painted vehicle’s body parts over time. The harmful particulates and pollutants that come with rain can damage or stain the painted surface.
How To Protect Car Paint From Rain?
Rain after painting can wreak havoc on your car’s new paint, but you can take the following steps to protect your car paint from being ruined by water.
Protect The Exterior Paint
Rain doesn’t get along with your car paint, especially when it is acidic or land on your car’s surface with pollutants and contaminants; it will also erode the paint coat with time.
When it rained on your car, please wash it after using a hose and then wax it.
Wax will ensure that the exterior paint can maintain the coat and keep the color intact.
Additionally, you can add a protection film on the exterior paint, which will protect the paint cover from even scratches.
Keep Your Car Under Shelter All The Time
By keeping your vehicle in a good cover, your vehicle will remain dry, and you will minimize the effect or corrosion. If you don’t have a garage, you can use the portable garage or protective cover when your car is parked outside.
Use A Rain Repellent
Rain repellent products are available in many forms and can be a lifesaver when it rains. They will reduce rainwater condensation on your car’s body surface. It would be essential to follow the manufacturer’s instruction of the time of rain repellent you have bought to avoid damages to your vehicle.
Seal Your Car
When you apply a sealant after washing your vehicle, including car polish or wax, it can prevent your vehicle paint from water damage. It can last for up to six months giving your car protection.
How Long After Painting Car Can Get Wet?
It takes 24 hours for new paint on a car body to cure, at the most.
However, it is essential to note that even after car paint has cured, it does not mean you need to start washing it with water, soap, and other detergents that you usually use.
Experts recommend that you wait for at least two weeks after the new paint on your car to do the first wash.
Once a month has passed after painting your car, it will be acceptable to take it to a car wash center, and the paint will not suffer.
Many body shops that do car paints recommend 30, 60, or 90 days before you wash your car. This is because the new paint on the car is soft, and it will take time before it cures properly.
When the paint is curing, the paint’s solvents will require plenty of time to evaporate. During this time, if the color gets dirty, you can wash your vehicle and rinse the road debris using plain water. You also need to do the washing gently and don’t apply a lot of pressure.
How Can I Paint A Car While Raining?
If you plan to paint your car when it is raining, it may not be a perfect weather condition to do it because it can be affected by poor adhesion and blistering.
However, if you want to continue with the painting, you need to apply an additive that will quicken the flash time to ensure that the applied paint can dry up quickly. Some additives will dry fresh paint within 10-15 minutes.
Rain should not be a big problem to prevent you from painting your car. When it is raining, all the airborne contaminants are generally on the ground.
Ensure that you check the paints instruction on the paint cane regarding temperature information. It will ensure that you will not encounter chalking problems. Usually, chalking is caused by high humidity, you can apply a clear base coat on your car without any trouble, and it’s the easiest paint coat to use.
It would be best to find a booth or garage to paint your car when it is raining and avoid over spraying because when it is raining, it can be windy, which may blow much trash circulating on air to land back on the sprayed parts. Also, ensure that the fan around is turned off until the clear coat tack is dry.
You can paint your car without a problem when you have the correct setup. All you need to do is cure your paint with a heating chamber to control moisture contents which may affect color adhering to the surface.