clay vs compound

D

Detailing NY

New member
Some people have asked me if they should clay or compund the car. I do both sometimes, but that is just they way i detail.

YOU WILL NOT GET THE SAME RESULTS FROM COMPOUNDING THE CAR THEN IF YOU JUST CLAY THE CAR!!!!

Below is a picture of a 1994 Bonneville hood, half the hood has been compounded and polished, the other half has been clayed and polished. Which do you think looks better? Clay will not get out swirl marks that are deep in the paint, clay will not get out extremly heavy oxidation on the paint. Clay is great for the newer cars that do not need to be compounded as they are in good condition, but if you really want to work a miracle you will need to compound the car to really remove all that nasty stuff we all hate on out cars, including scratches!



Since i am clueless on how to shrink the pic and post it, I am going to have PFG post the link for me.



Hope this give someone some info/help on detailing



NYD
 
Brian - by "compounding" you mean with FI-II, SMR, #9, etc.??



and by polishing, you would mean like IHG, PPCL, etc.??



also, when compounding, is it not necessary to clay as well??



thx. :xyxthumbs
 
3m compound perfect-it III, (this is the best compound to use)

then i went over it with machine glaze.



The other side was just clayed and machine glazed, notice you still see the deep swirls
 
Hey NY Detailer,



There is a big noticeable difference -- agreed.



Have you compared Meguiars #9 2.0 versus the Perfect-It III for minor swirl mark removing and polishing?
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
Brian - by "compounding" you mean with FI-II, SMR, #9, etc.??



and by polishing, you would mean like IHG, PPCL, etc.??



also, when compounding, is it not necessary to clay as well??



thx. :xyxthumbs
Click to expand...



You cannot necessarily count on compounding to pull out embedded debris from the surface of the paint. For the most thorough job it is wise to always compound AND clay any damaged paint surface.



The polishing/compounding terminology is horribly misused. But to simplify just think of it in terms that polish should leave a protective layer and compounds don't.
 
I'm new to this but if I remember correctly, these are the glazes that work - from less abrasive to more



3M SMR

3M IHG or Meguiars #9 ver2

3M SF II



I got most of the acronyms down after reading alot of the threads. What does PPCL stand for
 
gs3_4me said:
Hey NY Detailer,



There is a big noticeable difference -- agreed.



Have you compared Meguiars #9 2.0 versus the Perfect-It III for minor swirl mark removing and polishing?
Click to expand...



To be honest with you i dont have #9, but i do have 3m smr.

When you are refering to perfect III are you refering to the compound. If so you must be sure you compound the car correctly becuase you can easly go from minor swirls to major swirls with the compound and a rotary.
 
Brad B. said:


You cannot necessarily count on compounding to pull out embedded debris from the surface of the paint. For the most thorough job it is wise to always compound AND clay any damaged paint surface.





I do agree with you!!:D

compound + clay + polish(glaze) = perfection
Click to expand...
 
I'm sort of confused by this topic. Compounding and claying are used to accomplish very different results. So, why would they be interchangable, i.e. use one or the other? Claying will never restore a damaged finish, but it will pull most of the particulates out. Compounding, however, is intended to restore badly damaged paint, i.e. major swirls, scratches, oxidation, etc... Clay will do none of this. So, why are we comparing the two exactly? Both have their place, claying can be used whenever you like, compounds should only be used as a last resort.



:nixweiss
 
Metallic Mike said:
I'm sort of confused by this topic. Compounding and claying are used to accomplish very different results. So, why would they be interchangable, i.e. use one or the other? Claying will never restore a damaged finish, but it will pull most of the particulates out. Compounding, however, is intended to restore badly damaged paint, i.e. major swirls, scratches, oxidation, etc... Clay will do none of this. So, why are we comparing the two exactly? Both have their place, claying can be used whenever you like, compounds should only be used as a last resort.

:nixweiss
Click to expand...



I posted this as i had a few emails to me asking if they should clay or compound, I just wanted to show them the results. Both are two different products that do two different things, and i do agree with you.



But what i dont agree with is that compounding should be used as a last resort. To some point i can understand what you are saying, if you have a 2001 car, there should be no need to compound. But give me a car that is older then 4 years old i will be compounding it. This is how i get the best results possible for my customers, i go by the paint condition and decide whether it should be compounded or not. If it is a car around 4 years old i will compound it and i know it will come out much better then if i did not compound it.



just my opinion:xyxthumbs
 
OK, that makes complete sense, and I understand now why you were comparing the two. I also agree with compounding older finishes for restoration, not newer ones, and that's mainly what I was thinking of but never said it directly, hehehe. Anyhow, I'm all clear on the subject, thanks for sharing!



:wavey
 
I also agree claying and compounding are to non interchangable methods of finish restoration.



On older vechicles i clay than compound the finish using a rotary with a foam compoundind pad and FI2. This will often remove 80 to 90% of the swirls and scratches from the finish. The scratches that FI2 can't remove are compounded. I than use a glaze (3M PI3 or 3M SMR) for the final finish. To me this is the best method for older vechicles.
 
Do you use the white 3m foam compound pad with PFIII? I have gotten outstanding results with that combo (rotary) the all of a sudden on another panel i get swirls. Also the pad loads easily and then starts to bounce and the residual is hard to get off.



I make sure to spur with a brush and try not to add too much product, any suggestions?
 
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