does claying usually take forever

[BillNorth]

10 hours does sound a little extrme. For me it takes me about 2-3 hours to clay my car, and I clay it once every 6 months. Clay is one of those things where you can instantly feel/tell where you've skimped and done a half a$$ job. When I clay, I clay. I want everything out.



In the end don't worry so much about what other people do. Just make sure that you live up to your own hopefully high standards.



As for the rust coloured specs, see this thread. Pay particular attention to the advice given by Ron Ketcham.



http://www.autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1870&highlight=acid



Bill.

 

[rockstar_style]

Dang, that sucks about the over spray. I would of complained and made the company painting the building pay for a complete detail. This just happened to me recently to both my Mustang and Navigator. My neighbors insurance company paid for it all. $500.00 for the Mustang (it's a convertible and they had to dye the top) and $400.00 for the Navigator. I had the Mustang done by one of the best shops in town and did the Navigator myself and pocketed the money. The hard part about the Navigator was that the over spray was white and the Navigator was white. You could have easily made them pay for a detail. Irresponsibility like that makes me mad.:angry

They did take care of repairing the cars that got the overspray, but it was a week until anybody else noticed. I noticed as soon as I got home hoping to feel a nice smooth car and it was as gritty as sandpaper. I reclayed before other people came forward. They all got detail jobs...and I'm getting $16 to replace my clay bar and some wax (that's what I told them I'd be happy with). Can't complain since that's what I asked for, but I wish I had waited to send in my expense report until AFTER I heard what everybody else was getting.

 

[rockstar_style]

10 hours does sound a little extrme. For me it takes me about 2-3 hours to clay my car, and I clay it once every 6 months. Clay is one of those things where you can instantly feel/tell where you've skimped and done a half a$$ job. When I clay, I clay. I want everything out.



In the end don't worry so much about what other people do. Just make sure that you live up to your own hopefully high standards.



As for the rust coloured specs, see this thread. Pay particular attention to the advice given by Ron Ketcham.



http://www.autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1870&highlight=acid



Bill.

Thanks for the link...I've been looking for one like that.

 

[BillNorth]

There were some other discussions we all had way back when, but I can't seem to find them. Ron went even more in-depth about the rust specs. I'll keep looking.



Bill.

 

[rockstar_style]

Don't let these folks bust your chops, rockstar_style! If some fool says they can clay a car in 15-20 mins., then RUN! In my experience, if you want to do this process to maximum advantage, then you gotta do it slow. (But, then, I believe in doing almost everything slow.) I clay 3-4 times a year on each of my cars, and I'm sure it takes 2-4 hours per car to do it carefully and be sure I'm claying every square MM of the car. If you're taking 10 hours, you may be a little off-the-top. On the other hand, it's kinda like making love to your car. Do you want to do a 20-min. quickie? or do you want a several-hour lovemaking session? Me, I go for the latter.



As you read Autopia, be aware that we have various demographics here. Some folks are top-notch detailers. For them, time is money. They HAVE to learn how to get good results in a little time. Others of us are enthusiasts who nearly worship our cars. For us, it's ok to spend hours (not minutes) claying.

I'm probably going too slow and making sure every square inch is taken care of. A quickie now and then is not a bad thing though...I'm not sure what I'm talking about anymore, but now I'm going to have to wait a couple of minutes before I get out of my car.



Thanks for the advice and perspective. :xyxthumbs