Clay Barring. . .how long does it take?

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litebulb99

New member
I'm a newbie to amateur detailing. I bought a PC7424 with PS21 Paintworks Cleanser. I read where I should clay bar following washing. From the threads I read, most folks take between 15 minutes and 1 hour to clay bar a vehicle. I own a silver 96 Aurora (purchased in 2003). Before I came to this site, my detailing consisted of hand application of NuFinish, which at that time did what I thought needed to be done, which was to apply a level of paint protection as evidenced by water beading.



I didn't think my paint was all that bad, although the swirl marks seemed plentiful enough. It looked like I still had plenty of shine. But then I started to clay bar the vehicle, and used the 'baggie test' to check my work. To date, it has taken about 4 hours to remove the contaminents and crud from my hood, roof, trunk, and top halves of my quarter panels and doors, but now those sections feel like glass. I think my technique was OK, using the lubricant, but I found along the way that too much lubricant wasn't good either as it made the clay (Mother's) non-effective in pulling out the contaminents. Perhaps I didn't wash the vehicle properly?



Assuming I properly protect the paint following a good cleaning with the PC7424, (thinking Collinite 476s for protection), how often, and how long do you think it should take for repeat clay barring sessions? I prefer waxing time to claying time, so I'm hoping to keep a good cover on the paint from now on to minimize the need for intense clay bar sessions like the one I am going through now. I never thought it would take this long!! I live near Detroit, which I am sure has it's fair share of airborne contaminents.



I really appreciate that those with experience, tips, and recommendations are willing to share them with newbies like me. You comments are most appreciated!! Thanks in advance!
 
How often you should clay, and with what clay will depend on the atmosphere in which the car lives... for example, a car that lives at the end of an airport runway will require very regular claying: I remember detailing a BMW that was parked near an airport, and it took me eight hours just to clay the car!



What you should find is that the next time you clay the car it doesn't take anywhere near as long as you wont be removing as much bonded contaminants from the paintwork - indeed you could likely get away with using a milder clay also, something like Sonus Green Ultrafine. I clay my own car every six months with Sonus Green (as part of its twice annual major details), and this is more than suitable for me and my car lives in a city and is parked outside...
 
Yep, depending on where you live and the environment in which your car resides are going to be some of the major factors. I don't know how bad Detroit is so I can't give an accurate answer.However once your car is properly protected it shouldn't take nearly as long as the initial claying did. Personally I clay my car about every 6 months or so.
 
I'll echo what Dave KG posted: If you clay soon enough, you can just use the Sonus Ultra-Fine (green) clay. That stuff is so mild that it basically just cleans your LSP, goes very quick and easy. I usually do a quick claying with that when I refresh the LSP..do a test spot and see if it picks up anything, if so do more, if not skip it.
 
Don't mean to hijack, but I wanted to add another claying question. Does everyone clay the entire car, or just the panels that feel rough? I did my first clay this last weekend, and only clayed the hood, trunk/read deck and lower body panels. The rest of the panels seemed smooth so I didn't do them.
 
tyoung said:
Don't mean to hijack, but I wanted to add another claying question. Does everyone clay the entire car, or just the panels that feel rough? I did my first clay this last weekend, and only clayed the hood, trunk/read deck and lower body panels. The rest of the panels seemed smooth so I didn't do them.
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I only clay the parts that need it, if its smooth and I don't feel any remnients I skip it and just go to the next stage. I probably do this from the stand point that out of the detailing products clay seems very expensive.
 
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