fresh paint + winter storing
 

im painting my car this weekend... but will be parking it for the winter. its going to be parked outside since i need room to work in the garage. it can only be in the booth for 2 days...

soooo after that what should i do? park it outside with no cover? park it outside with a cover? or park it in the garage for a week or 2 then move it outside?

obviously i want whatever will work best for the paint but since its fresh i dont know what to do?

from my experiences--me thinks you need to find a heated area of at least 55 degrees for about two weeks--or even a mite longer for full cure--

Leave it in the booth for two days, then don't worry about it.

Body shops do this all the time. One shop near me actually puts them outside "wet" most of the time.

my garage is fully heated... forgot to add that. i unno, i know shops put them out but they arent really stored they're drivin around... which i guess should be fine cuz theyll go threw worse than what being parked will. so ill probably put it in the garage for a week.

BUT car cover or no car cover? i had one on last year, but that was the old paint and i didnt care much... it was decent.. about 75 bucks or something like that.

The catalyst for paint needs at least 55 degrees for crosslinking of the paint so it cures. Now I think as long as it sits inside for a few days abouve 55 you should be okay pulling it outside. Solvents will probably continue to evaporate out of the paint for awhile but I would think that would be okay after awhile. Its not the warmest around here all the time and have let cars leave after sitting inside in a warm garage for a day to cure. Just don't paint and shove outside without giving the catalyst time to fully cure the paint. Check the tech sheets for the paint and see if it gives a time for full cure or to put into service. If the booth has a bake cycle, you could always throw some heat to it when done to speed up cure time, or use an infrared heat lamp.

A loose car cover wiping in the wind might cause damage to the new paint?

No car cover. Sun and air help curing in place of the heat lamps that curing booths have.

Long term storage with a car cover usually isn't the best. Dirt gets under it and turns the cover into sandpaper. Also a wet cover after a rain, can get nasty looking too. I store my boat under one of those metal framed canopys (10X20) to keep the sun and rain off of it. $80 at most stores.