advice on claying, would it be necessary for me?

M

mooredriven

New member
I know it's a measly ~$20-$30 purchase, but with the recent toys, the bank account is crying, i'm wondering if it'll even be worth my while to clay the car. I have read that some don't think it's a necessary step, but it's one I've always taken.



I have a PC7424 from CMA (with the accesory kit) on its way to me right now, and I bought some 3M SMR. I am a Klasse user and I usually top it with Blitz after 3 coats of SG.



Anyhow, this will be my first time using the PC and SMR, usually I just went the dawn/clay/AIO/SG/SG/SG/Blitz route. My only curiousity this time around is whether the clay would do me any good. I've also just had portions of the car repainted (the hood, pass. door, fenders, and roof) so I want to make sure the clay won't bother that, though I doubt it would.



thanks for any advice.
 
Depends how old the car is, where it is stored, what it is exposed to etc.....



There is supposinly an old trick, take the wrapping of a cig box and put your finger in it and run it over your cleaned paint. If you feel bumps then your paint should be clayed. Otherwise you can skip the clay.



If you ask me, a polish will do the job off clay won't it? The polish is just abrasive while performing the same task.
 
that was my thought as well, the polish will be performing a similar action, AFAIK.



BTW, the cars are both in my signature, the 2000 Jetta has some swirls, but is in good shape. The 98 beetle needs a bit of work, it's got some swirls and really needs wax.
 
I would just use that little trick I told you about and take it from there. Use the polish and then use the trick again to see if it is smoother.



People say you want the "smooth as glass" feel so see if the polish will provide you with those results. If you ask me, claying and then polishing is kind of useless BUT WHAT DO I KNOW.... Think of it, you clay to remove the stuff on TOP of the paint right? Then you polish to remove stuff on top of the paint and defects in the clearcoat so your cleaning the top of the clearcoat twice right?



I know someone has something to say, I just started an anti-clay post, get the flak jackets because we're about to get bombed. :cool:
 
I would prefer claying. It may not be absolutely essential to a good looking protected car, but claying makes polishing and waxing much easier, not to mention the car feels baby butt smooth. I don't notice that polish gets out all the tiny bumps and raildust that clay gets out. Clay does something no polish does, in my opinion. There are lots of tiny contaminants and raildust stuck in the paint, making it bumpy. Why seal these contaminants into your car for months with three coats of SG, when the car could be squeeky clean, slick, and free of all contaminants? Clay will pick up and remove all the nasty stuff that polish will just rub. And actually, clay is only $13 at Wal-mart, so hurray Wal-mart!
 
Hey Chuck, do you have a pic of your car? I would like to see what you consider "faded", probaly one spot on the car 1 inch by 1 inch that doesn't look dripping wet :-)
 
Haha, Joed, I wish!... actually, I can tell it is really faded when it is parked next to newer black cars. And under high powered lights, my car looks almost grayish brown. I wish I had a digital camera, but alas! I do not. I believe the problem is oxidation underneath the clear coat. However, I am finding that after my second application of FI-II, it is slowly regaining its black color, so I am hoping that as I polish it more and more in the months to come, it will look better.



Stupid oxidation! Who needs oxygen, anyway?!
 
Claying is different then polishing.



The clay (supposedly) pulls the particles out of the paint where as the polish just levels them down even with the surrounding paint.



CLay makes the paint smoother by removing particles..also as I think carguy said in some other thread when polishing around or near these particles you get little spots immediately around it where the polish does not touch due to the relative heigth of the particle.



DO the baggy test and look really close at your paint...if it feels smooth and you do not see . size spots then claying is not really required.



I hope this helps...if not check out car-port and then claying in the details details details section.
 
Yea, I know if you remove a good amount of the clearcoat you can get your color back.



In the pics fourm, there was a red ford explorer that looked rusty redish brown. After some polish he got it back to a nice dark orange red, sure it's not perfect but the cost of a new paint job compared to the price of some polish and your time really outweights itself.



You really really should take some before and after pics....
 
Clay will pull the contaminants out of your paint better than any polish will. When you have a splinter you don't go rubbing it with sandpaper do you? that would basically just level out your skin (clearcoat) and the splinter some, but not remove it or "pull" it out.



I would get some clay. You can get a mothers, zaino, or clay magic bar for less than 20 bucks. Also, I would not be using abrasives on new paint unless I really needed too. After claying, evaluate the paint. Do you new painted panels have swirls in them? If so, use the SMR with the PC. If there is no visible marring left, I would skip AIO (as another coating of abrasives in overkill) and go right to SG. Wash the car first before applying the SG.



Hope this makes sense and helps.....
 
yeah i hate to use any abrasives on the fresh paint as well, but those jokers swirlmarked their own paint. I'd take it back to them, but it seems like asking for more problems. :(



i think I will go the claybar route since i did see it cheap at walmart, and be done with it. Hopefully I'll be able to get the car back to my standards, since apparently the bodyshop had low standards for detailing after paint. Funnily enough, they did a tremendous job painting the car, it's just what they did to it afterward that irks me. :D
 
I wish I had taken some before/after pics the first time I used FI-II. There was a difference, and even more of one after the second time I used FI-II. It didn't do much for my swirls, for some reason (but Meg's #9 SR 2.0 did the trick after the FI-II), but I can tell that the FI-II truely did bring back some blackness. Black is such a hard color to deal with, especially if it has 9 years of oxidation (the previous owners obviously never so much as waxed it. Who knows how often they washed it, and how they washed it!:eek: ).



Anyway, back to the thread, I agree with Guess My Name. Check and see if you need the clay, using the baggie test. Obviously, if you don't need it, you can skip that step. But if it feels bumpy, I reccomend doing the clay, though you can probably skip it if you REALLY REALLY don't want to do it!!
 
When All In One is used I notice a big difference, something you can physically see. I would never use the Glaze without using the All In One, but that has me wondering, if I used the clay would I need the All In One.......
 
I would say yes, joed. Clay and AIO do different things. Like Guess My Name said, clay pulls out particles. AIO cleans, polishes, and protects, but doesn't actually pull out any particles. But if the car is brand new and prepped already, then the AIO is not needed.
 
clay will not remove much in the form of oxidized paint and other thingys. Just mainly particle contaminates and overspray.



AIO is intended to clean new paint and lay down a layer of polymer for the next coat of SG.



SG can be applied to any clean paint per the bottle.
 
When I got my car back in November, it was brand new - only 5 miles on it.



I had specifically requested (due to the great advice on this forum) for the car to be delivered AS IS - no detailing. None. Had them write it on my receipt - wash the car, and it's yours to keep.



(Granted - the wife didn't care for a $40k+ car to arrive dirty; but hey, if I only did things my wife approved of and understood, I'd spend my entire day cleaning and taking out the garbage). Digressing...



Anyhow - I got some Mother's Clay, and the Klasse twins.



Initially - there was much debate as to whether or not I should be claying or just AIO'ing. Given that the car was white, I could see imperfections very easily. Rail dust - stuck out like a sore thumb, in the form of little red specks.



I decided to try my luck on one panel with just clay, and another with just AIO. So I did my fenders (for some reason, I love to experiment with my fenders).



The verdict - when I did the hood, which I did with both AIO and clay - it came out much smoother, and defect free. Just a smooth, spotless, ready for SG surface. I immediately went back and fixed up the fenders, by first applying the clay, then AIO'ing.



I highly recommend you do both steps. Sure - it's a hassle. But if you weren't looking for a hassle, you can always try that car wash around the corner - $0.50 more gets you a hot wax! :bounce
 
Claying gives the most returns of grins when done properly...It is amazing the feel of bumpy paint versus smooth paint.



It is not that hard to do and kinda fun in a detailing kinda way.:D
 
Cool, thanks for the advice. :)



And as for the car wash around the corner, there's a reason I used the soft water loop in my garage... but not for soft water.;)
 
I'm getting by with paint cleaner instead of claying on my Thunderbird. It's also garaged and covered extensively.

Paint cleaner works, but it's a petroleum distillate, so you have to watch it a bit.



Still not a substitute for claying, I just don't enjoy the clay.

By what I'm reading, paint cleaner and clay do about the same things anyway...remove bonded contaminants.
 
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