How long should it take to clay?

I

imported_Malachi

New member
I recently read a post stating that it does not take that long. My experience is that it takes me about 1.5 hours on a four door sedan. How does that measure up with the rest of you?



I thought that was about normal since I am basically cleaning the entire car 1.5" at a time over and over.
 
With my new clay holder, I did my Cayenne in less than 15 minutes Sunday morning.



The real answer is that it kinda depends on how dirty the paint is to start. My Cayenne hardly got one side of the clay dirty at all and I had driven 7,000 since the last time I clayed.
 
DavidB said:
With my new clay holder, I did my Cayenne in less than 15 minutes Sunday morning.



The real answer is that it kinda depends on how dirty the paint is to start. My Cayenne hardly got one side of the clay dirty at all and I had driven 7,000 since the last time I clayed.
Click to expand...



What does a clay holder look like and where can you get one. :nixweiss I just love trying new gadgets.
 
It varies....amount of crud built up on the car and such. Our Cherokee is parked near the airport all day so it gets filty.When it is time to clay you can clearly see LOTS of tiny rust specks, since it is white the rust sticks out like a sore thumb. It may take me an hour and a half to do it after the winter months. The Passat isn't a daily driver so it usually doesn't take any longer than 30-45 minutes to do it.
 
Maybe 20 minutes, but my Miata is not only small, but the top doesn't have to be done either. Around 45 minutes on all other car's I've done, which have been midsized in their surface area.
 
Wow, you guys are fast, or I am severly anal. It takes me anywhere from 2-3 hours to clay a BMW 3 series. I only clay once a year so that may also contribute to the extra time.



Bill.
 
It takes as long to clay as needed to remove the bonded contaminants. No less, no more. The clay bar you are using also makes a difference. I have found the Clay Magic blue bar to be the best consumer level bar, although the reformulated white Meguiars bar is pretty good too, much improved over the previous, mushy version.



Normally, I can clay a vehicle with minor surface gunk pretty quickly, but paint overspray can be a real PITA. I spent over 8 hours alternately claying and buffing the overspray off a black 420SEL. He had sealed his fence and that stuff is like glue!
 
Scottwax said:
It takes as long to clay as needed to remove the bonded contaminants. No less, no more. The clay bar you are using also makes a difference. I have found the Clay Magic blue bar to be the best consumer level bar, although the reformulated white Meguiars bar is pretty good too, much improved over the previous, mushy version.



Normally, I can clay a vehicle with minor surface gunk pretty quickly, but paint overspray can be a real PITA. I spent over 8 hours alternately claying and buffing the overspray off a black 420SEL. He had sealed his fence and that stuff is like glue!
Click to expand...



I second that opinion that Megs new clays are a vast improvement. I also tried their "New" aggressive C-2100 clay. It is awesome! Here is a little write up I did on Meg's board in case you missed it.
 
The initial claying session usually takes me about 45 min to 1hr. But after that it is just spot treatment which takes me anywhere from 10 to 20 min.



Regular maintenance is key.



With Aloha,

Ranney :)
 
It varies per vehicle and condition of paint. On my garage kept Grand Cherokee, it usually takes me 45 minutes. On my older Grand Cherokee that sits outside, it will take me about one hour to one and one half hour.
 
The first time I clayed my Corrola it took me about one and a half hours to do it. But it was pretty bad. I am getting ready to do my Expedition and I am planning on 2-2.5 hours to clay.

That clay bar looks pretty puny sitting on my Expedition!:)
 
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