After the coat
When can I drive on a freshly sealed driveway?
Usually 24 hours for a car and 48 before anything heavy, and the number moves with the weather, so the one you are given that day is the one to go by.
The numbers
- About 24 hours for a car, 48 for anything heavy.
- Cool, damp or shaded conditions push both numbers out.
- Turning your wheels while stopped is what scuffs fresh sealer, and it does it after the drive-on time too.
- Nothing parks on it, and nothing gets dragged across it, until it has cured.
What is happening while you wait
Asphalt emulsion is asphalt carried in water, and it cures by the water leaving and the particles knitting into a film. Until that has happened the coat is soft. A tire rolling straight across soft sealer usually does no harm; a tire turning while the vehicle is stopped scrubs it, and that is the mark people call about.
The weather sets the pace. A warm dry day cures fast. A cool damp one, a heavy dew, or a drive under deep shade all push it out, which is why a number off a website is worth less than the one you get on the job.
The first week
Roll on and off rather than turning in place. Do not park a vehicle in the same spot and leave it there. Keep trailers, jack stands, kickstands and anything with a small hard foot off it, because they press into a surface that has not finished hardening.
If somebody has to be told, tell them. Most fresh-sealer damage is a delivery driver or a visitor who did not know.
On a commercial lot
The same 24 to 48 hours applies and it has to come out of your operating week. Striping goes on after that, on a cured surface, because sealer covers every line on the area it touches.
So the useful thing to say when you ask for the estimate is which hours and which areas you cannot lose. That is the part of the schedule the number gets built around.