HELP! I think I scratched the SH*$ out of my 911

sws1

New member
Doing my big detail today on a dark blue metallic Porsche 911.



Car was only touched by me when I picked it up new. It had JW Prime, AJ, and P21S Wax.



So, today, I washed, and then clayed with the grey Sonus clay.



Paint is marred all over the car. EVERYWHERE. Clearly from the clay.



I thought maybe it was the sealant that was scratched (and not the paint). So I used a DAS BLUE pad and some JW Prime on the hood to see if it would get rid of it. NO. I then tested on a few cleaned spots some AJ, thinking it might fill in the scratches. A hair better, but scratches still visible.



So, it looks like I need to dry something else. Here is the only other stuff I have available.



3M Imperial Hand Glaze

P21S Paintwork Cleaner

Different DAS pads. (2 other colors in addition to the blue one I used.)



Will some combination of those products address these scratches?



And if they do, do I then need to go back over with JW Prime?



Thanks



I should also mention that it's cold here in NJ. Could that have hardened up the clay and therefore made it more abrasive?
 
Try the green pad with prime on a test section. If that does not work try the P21S Paintwork Cleaner with the green pad. You might need to purchase a true light polish like menzerna FPII.



Porsche clear as you see is very soft, so you are going to get claybar marring.
 
Yeah i always have problems with the sonus gray clay marring the paint. Try the sonus green clay next time. It may take more passes to get the surface clean but it definitely won't mar the paint as bad.
 
Having just clayed around 30 plus vehicles this month a little marring is the norm depending on what clay you use and what pressure im guessing your paint looks like its been flatted with wet and dry paper ?3

Get your self some menzerna final finish and polish a polishing pad a it will come back to life .

Theres a lot of hype saying that clay is safe it is in most cases but if you dont lube enough or are not carefull with pressure some will the sonus grey is known to need a follow up with polish let us know how you get on.
 
Thanks guys. I'm going to try to green pad first with Prime, then try green with P21S Paint cleanser if that doesn't work.



Incidentally, after trying one of those other 2, should I then step it back down to blue as a final step, since it's the finest?
 
I "think" you should be fine with the green pad as a final step if it works to remove the marring. Again porsche clear is pretty soft. Just tape off and do a test area, then follow up with the blue to see if it makes any difference.
 
I am still curious if the clay really caused the marring. I have not clayed that much but these horror stories almost make me think that something can wrong even if you do everything right.
 
Bunky said:
I have not clayed that much but these horror stories almost make me think that something can wrong even if you do everything right.



I'm a total newbie at detailing. I bought Clay Magic and used it on my Silver Jeep Grand Cherokee, it cleaned the surface perfectly and did not leave any marring at all. As said above use lots of lube and never reuse the clay if you drop it or if it becomes contaminated.
 
Isn't Porsche clear really soft? That combined with the relatively agressive grey sonus clay, with the cold temps probably did cause the marring.



Me being as ham fisted as I am, I have inflicted more than a bit of marring while claying even hard clears.
 
Bunky said:
I am still curious if the clay really caused the marring. I have not clayed that much but these horror stories almost make me think that something can wrong even if you do everything right.



EVERY TIME i use the sonus gray clay it causes marring. On my jet black bmw with rock hard clear it caused deep marring that was a paint to correct. When i use sonus green or auto magic blue i don't have problems with marring like i do with the gray stuff. It's an aggressive clay.
 
Well, I finished the car. I used the Green pad with the JW Prime, and it got rid of alot of the marks. I'm now down to some slight spiderwebs. Definitely noticeable to me, but maybe not to others. In the spring, I will definitely use polish to get rid of the rest of the marks.



And there is NO DOUBT that the clay caused the problem. The paint was spotless when I started, and after claying, there were scratches EVERYWHERE. And they were all in the same direction as my clay strokes (Front to back). I used a new chunk of clay. 2 chunks in fact.



I think I'm tossing out the grey clay and using green if I need to.
 
Maybe your problem is that your using too agressive of clay for the type of paint condition your car is in.........



Not enough lube ?
 
I believe that the clay did it as well. I used the same clay on a dark blue Scion tC (soft paint) and it did the same thing.

I didn't polish aggressively afterwards so some of the marks are still visible to me. Although it's good for now until I give it a good polishing. :2thumbs:
 
sws1 said:
Well, I finished the car. I used the Green pad with the JW Prime, and it got rid of alot of the marks. I'm now down to some slight spiderwebs. Definitely noticeable to me, but maybe not to others. In the spring, I will definitely use polish to get rid of the rest of the marks.



And there is NO DOUBT that the clay caused the problem. The paint was spotless when I started, and after claying, there were scratches EVERYWHERE. And they were all in the same direction as my clay strokes (Front to back). I used a new chunk of clay. 2 chunks in fact.



I think I'm tossing out the grey clay and using green if I need to.



Do your spider webs look like this?



DSC_0049.jpg




Used Menzerna 106FA and a white LC pad via PC speed 5 to get it 95% or so.



DSC_0051.jpg




The current Porsche paint seems to be awfully soft and maintaining it 100% marring free is challenging to say the least.
 
landcruiser said:
Do your spider webs look like this?



DSC_0049.jpg




Used Menzerna 106FA and a white LC pad via PC speed 5 to get it 95% or so.



DSC_0051.jpg




The current Porsche paint seems to be awfully soft and maintaining it 100% marring free is challenging to say the least.



Yes - the looked similar to that. Just more so.
 
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