Clay before Polishing?

G

goceltics34

New member
I am going to detail one of my cars this week. It is a 1994 Jeep Wrangler that has not been cared for. The paint is pretty oxidized and has a good amount of swirl marks and scratches. I wanted to know what the plan of attack should be.



Should I...

wash

clay

polish

seal



Or Should I...

wash

polish

clay

seal





Normally the clay would go before the polish but for this car, since it is really dirty, wouldn't claying first use up most of my clay. I am afraid that claying first would take longer. Couldn't I remove some of the paint fragments, etc. with a polish first?



Please help!!!:nixweiss
 
wash

clay

polish

seal



works for me..



however if i do smr I clay afterwards as i've found some minor particle imbedded in the paint surface after the swirl removing
 
Generally you should clay first and then polish later. Kinda like the philosophy of tweeze first and then shave later. If you polish before the clay then you could run the chance of knocking off the top of the IFO and making it harder for the clay to pull out. However, in this case you may want to do it the other way around. Technically you can still clay first, but you'll probably need to fold that clay so often due to it filling up with oxidation and crud that it won't be worth it. Much of the contamination and swirls will be on top and in the oxidation anyway, so try using something like AIO first to clean the paint and then clay prior to using an abrasive to polish out any swirls that remain. That's what I'd do.
 
Usually you want to polish after claying, as the polish may be more effective and you will be able to clean up any slight marring accidently left by the clay.



However, if the car is particularly contaminated and claying would be dangerous (or would use the entire bar), you can try going over the car first with some kind of chemical cleaner/polish. Then go back over the car with clay. Then you might want to go over the paint again with a light polish to burnish the paint.



JMHO.



- J
 
Sound like a good plan to me. I think I will apply AIO first, then clay, then polish. Thanks for your help.



Ask and you shall receive. How great is Autopia!?!!!
 
IMHO, you've got it switched around. AIO should be your final step. I understand using it as a chemical cleaner, but I don't think it's that big of a deal. The clay & polish will take off 10X what the AIO will.
 
kompressornsc, like i questioned earlier, won't claying first use too much of the clay and get dirty really fast? Maybe a quick wipe of AIO will prep the surface for claying, then polishing, then AIO. What do you think?
 
Sequence of Product Application:

Paint surfaces-

1.Car wash concentrate-

2.Detailerâ€â„¢s clay-

3.Machine polish 1-

4.Machine polish 2-

5.Machine polish 3-

6.Chemical cleaner-

7.Glaze-

8.Polymer sealant-

9.Carnauba wax-

10.Spray (Booster) wax-

11.Quick detailer-



As long as you have an understanding of what each step does you can alter the sequence or omit steps in the sequence to suit paints condition / needs

JonM
 
I guess I will tweek the steps just a bit to see what works best for me.



TOGWT, very informative response yet again. You never cease to amaze me!
 
goceltics34 said:
... won't claying first use too much of the clay and get dirty really fast? Maybe a quick wipe of AIO will prep the surface for claying, then polishing, then AIO. What do you think?
Click to expand...



I'd bite the bullet and use up the clay if it comes to that. I consider clay to be a "renewable resource" that just, by its nature, gets used/dirty/replaced.



I can see the argument for using a paint cleaner first, but the AIO leaves some very slick protection behind and IMO it's gonna compromise the effectiveness of the claying.
 
Accumulator said:




I can see the argument for using a paint cleaner first, but the AIO leaves some very slick protection behind and IMO it's gonna compromise the effectiveness of the claying.
Click to expand...



Interesting... Never though of that.



Thanks Accumulator!:up
 
That picture is of a 2004 car that has been babied to death. The jeep I want to work on is a 1994 that has been ignored. A lot more work needs to be done on this one. Once I get it to my satisfaction, I will definitely keep it detailed regularly.



Thanks for the kind compliments!:up
 
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