Is Claying too often bad for the paint?

I

intence

New member
My wife's new (black) car has a few fine metal particles in the finish, after pointing it out to the dealer, the car was clayed and waxed by hand (I should know better, but surprisingly they didn't make many swirls).



I've found a couple spots where there are still a few tiny particles (i'm anal about stuff like this). Will claying the car again (soon after the first time it was clayed) hurt anything? Can I clay it a few more times (maybe 2 more) to make sure I get rid of all the embedded dirt/particles (looks like rail dust to me)?



Any downsides to doing this, am I going to wear out the clearcoat or thin out the paint?
 
If you are starting with a mostly clean surface and keeping plenty of lube on the working area, claying again shouldn't do anything more than glide around easily while removing the particles hanging out on the surface. Just so you aren't trying to scrub the paint with the clay :)
 
Thanks, any advantage/disadvantage to using soapy water vs. lube? If I clay, i'm also guessing it's necessary to wax again afterwards?
 
Lots of lube firstly and you will likely have to wax afterward.

The new Sonus fine clay or maybe using a very light hand might save you from having to wax, especially if you have multiple coats of a sealant on the surface. You will need both experience in using the clay and to know if you still have wax left.



Some prefer the lube and others the soapy water. Some have had clay break down in the soapy water, others no problem. It depends on the brand. I have always used lube/QD spray and have never had a problem.



Isn't it Accumulator who clays frequently and has it down to such a science that he doesn't remove his LSP??? I hope he'll chime it.



Eric
 
I still dont see how that is possible to not remove your LSP or pretty much all your polish's and LSP's when you clay. Ive been claying for years and when im done its obvious i have nothing left on my paint, just bare CC.
 
EMazda3S- Yeah, I'm very clay-centric in my detailing :D



I too have been claying for years, started when "detailing clay" first came out in the early '90s. Since then, I've been spot-claying at *every* wash and have been able to observe its effect on my LSPs over a long period of time (consider how many hundreds of washes-with-claying that amounts to, every one resulting in some areas getting clayed and some not- plenty of opportunity for comparison).



It does *not* remove an appreciable amount of LSP as long as I clay very gently. When I let my LSPs go for a long time the repeatedly-clayed areas do fail first, but not by much. If you refresh your LSP as often as most people here, and clay gently, you won't remove enough for it to matter. Sal Zaino has opined that a normal claying will remove "half a layer of Zaino" so it's not like I'm alone in my opinion (which wouldn't bother me anyhow ;) ).



I've experimented with my various clays and LSPs, putting LSP over a speck of contamination and then claying until I cut through the LSP and finally removed said contamination. It takes some mighty aggressive claying (by my standards) to do that, far more aggressive than what I do on a regular basis. Cutting through a remotely healthy LSP takes such aggressive work that IMO it's claying "incorrectly" for most applications.



With the Sonus green ultra-fine clay, just cutting through *Meguiar's #5* took some doing :eek: With Sonus green, and the way I clay, it's basically impractical to cut through a LSP, I get out more aggressive clay for jobs like that, like when I accidentally wax over some dirt.



This is easy to prove to yourself. Find a few specks of contamination that need clayed off. Cover some of them with your usual LSP (let it dry, buff it off, get a coat of it over the contamination) and leave others unwaxed. Use your clay, working very gently, to remove the specks. Note how much more work it takes to remove the ones covered with LSP.
 
As long as i'm gentle though, multiple clays shouldn't hurt the car? I'm really anal about keeping my cars looking good over the long term.



There's still a few areas with particles on my wife's car. If I clay it again (gently, and wax afterward) it shouldn't hurt anything or damage the paint?
 
I think you should be fine to clay again and then wax if you want to.



I knew Accumulator had it down. Thanks for reiterating that info Accumulator!

I haven't yet tried the Sonus green clay but I look forward to doing so.

It would be very nice to break out the clay at a wash to just get rid of some specks without having to LSP right away every time.



Eric
 
Intence- Unless you do something that I'd never expect you'll be fine. Note that I keep some of our vehicles a long time (had my '85 Jag since new, our "good" cars are at least five years old) and I think long-term.



The idea of clay is that you shear to contamination off the paint. You shouldn't really affect the paint at all since the clay floats along on a sheen of lube (like hydroplaning tires on wet pavement) until it runs into the contamination, which it shears off (it doesn't really "pull" it off). It's kinda like using a razor blade to clean [stuff] off a window after spraying window cleaner on it first.



You might also want to look into decontamination systems like ABC from AutoInt. I've been using ABC on new cars and find that it gets the contamination better than claying alone. If I used it on my S8 when it was new you can bet it's safe to use ;) I used to be plagued by recurring "rust blooms" that looked terrible on silver and white; I'd clay them off but they'd come back as I never really got all the contamination. The ABC's "B"/acidic step burns it out- no more rust blooms on my vehicles. Don't worry, the "acid" isn't harsh, I wouldn't mind if it were stronger.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. The only place i've found ABC is from the autoint site, and it looks like it's only available in large quantities. Is this the only place to get it, or is it possible to get a smaller quantity to do one or two cars?
 
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