Skip claying

Sjbiss

New member
Hi,

Brand new vehicle with under 500 miles, 3 week old new factory build that was delivered via a truck not rail and is garaged every night - rained on 1x. Looking to put a ceramic coating on my vehicle this weekend. Will use an iron remover and perform a 1 step polish. Wondering if I need to clay the vehicle as there can`t be much contamination and I would think the iron remover and polishing would suffice. I`m not opposed to doing the clay work but it seems unnecessary and will just add to me having to do more paint correction to fix whatever marring it causes. Fortunately, I have a white care not black like my last vehicle. Looking for others input as I am a relative newbie to coatings.

Thanks everyone.
 
Just do a baggie test after the decontamination. If the paint feels rough, then clay. Do you really need to polish such a brand new car?
 
Just do a baggie test after the decontamination. If the paint feels rough, then clay. Do you really need to polish such a brand new car?
If doing a ceramic coating, I think a light polish is a wise step always. It perfects the paint that will have a long term protection that doesn’t hide anything. Also, it deeply cleanses any road film that might be present. And there’s no telling how many dealer installed swirls are present on new cars.

as far as skipping clay, think it would be ok if doing a baggie test to confirm what’s left. I always think the marring level of clay is overstated. I’ve never had a problem with modern fine clays like Pinnacle, Sonus, or even Meg’s pro blue.
 
In for a penny, in for a pound. If going thru the other prep/polish steps why not throw a quick clay in there? Grab a clay mitt like Nanoskin and do it while doing initial wash...time spent is neglible.

When I bought my new daily driver in 2017 the dealer was about 40 miles from Honda plant in Marysville, OH. Dealer skipped the usual prep, pretty much got it right off of the truck. Still benefitted from the `whole megillah` of prep & polish before coating.

Certainly can`t hurt...
 
If doing a ceramic coating, I think a light polish is a wise step always. It perfects the paint that will have a long term protection that doesn’t hide anything. Also, it deeply cleanses any road film that might be present. And there’s no telling how many dealer installed swirls are present on new cars.

as far as skipping clay, think it would be ok if doing a baggie test to confirm what’s left. I always think the marring level of clay is overstated. I’ve never had a problem with modern fine clays like Pinnacle, Sonus, or even Meg’s pro blue.

Thank you both. I will try the baggie test.
 
I never understood why someone said you need to put a plastic thing over your fingers to feel paint defects...
Tried this when it first got popular - hated it..Could not feel anything compared to my clean, bare fingertips...
To me, it`s like wearing a raincoat to take a shower..

Just use your clean, bare, fingertips to lightly feel the paintwork..
Do you feel roughness? Do they slide effortlessly over ALL the paintwork?

A good claybar or a rubberized clay towel first, is the only way I ever do anything to paintwork.. Then; either a compound, polish or a very light finishing polish with appropriate pads, a great wipedown, before applying any LSP, wax, sealant, coating, etc..

Process - I claybar/claytowel a section, rinse it off, dry it carefully, rub dry, bare fingers over that section.. Good? Move to next section...Not good? Do it over.. Test again.. The entire vehicle..

You get what your work paid for.. Perfect, flat, see newsprint clearly in it, glossy, paint or something in between... It is all good..:)
What You want to see is what matters.. I prefer to see perfect paintwork..

There are claybars, aggressive claybars, non aggressive ones, mild ones, soft ones, hard ones, sticky ones, take your pick.. Have used a lot of the Blue Clay Magic claybars you can buy at Pep Boys, etc... Zaino makes a really nice, soft, not sticky, mild, red claybar that goes forever..

If you want a claybar to last, you need to use a claybar cleaner in it when it gets all gunked up, or throw the gunked up section away... You might need more than one if you have to keep throwing sections of it away..

You need to look at it closely all the time to make sure it is not holding something that will scratch the paint next time you use it..

I think any marring that happens is user error and/or using a not very slippery clay lube... It really makes a difference to use the most slippery one for me..

Has to be as much as possible - Cool panels, Cool panels...Not hot, not hot and in the shade, still hot panels.. It makes a difference..
Good luck !
Dan F
 
​Delivered by truck transport? Your dealer must be within 3oo or so miles from the assembly plant. 90% of vehicles in the US are rail shipped to collection yards and then truck transported to dealers.
 
I`d rather do a chemical decontamination than clay.

I can count on one hand the UNmarred new vehicles I`ve seen in the last 40-some years, and I`ve seen a *LOT* of `em. Unless it`s shipped "in a bag", and *you* take it out, I`d expect it to need some degree of correction.
 
In for a penny, in for a pound. If going thru the other prep/polish steps why not throw a quick clay in there? Grab a clay mitt like Nanoskin and do it while doing initial wash...time spent is neglible.

When I bought my new daily driver in 2017 the dealer was about 40 miles from Honda plant in Marysville, OH. Dealer skipped the usual prep, pretty much got it right off of the truck. Still benefitted from the `whole megillah` of prep & polish before coating.

Certainly can`t hurt...

Thank Budget, I used a Nanoskin sponge. Seemed to work well with minimal marring.
 
​Delivered by truck transport? Your dealer must be within 3oo or so miles from the assembly plant. 90% of vehicles in the US are rail shipped to collection yards and then truck transported to dealers.

This is what the dealer told me so maybe I didn`t ask the question right or I heard what I wanted to hear.
 
I never understood why someone said you need to put a plastic thing over your fingers to feel paint defects...
Tried this when it first got popular - hated it..Could not feel anything compared to my clean, bare fingertips...
To me, it`s like wearing a raincoat to take a shower..

Just use your clean, bare, fingertips to lightly feel the paintwork..
Do you feel roughness? Do they slide effortlessly over ALL the paintwork?

A good claybar or a rubberized clay towel first, is the only way I ever do anything to paintwork.. Then; either a compound, polish or a very light finishing polish with appropriate pads, a great wipedown, before applying any LSP, wax, sealant, coating, etc..

Process - I claybar/claytowel a section, rinse it off, dry it carefully, rub dry, bare fingers over that section.. Good? Move to next section...Not good? Do it over.. Test again.. The entire vehicle..

You get what your work paid for.. Perfect, flat, see newsprint clearly in it, glossy, paint or something in between... It is all good..:)
What You want to see is what matters.. I prefer to see perfect paintwork..

There are claybars, aggressive claybars, non aggressive ones, mild ones, soft ones, hard ones, sticky ones, take your pick.. Have used a lot of the Blue Clay Magic claybars you can buy at Pep Boys, etc... Zaino makes a really nice, soft, not sticky, mild, red claybar that goes forever..

If you want a claybar to last, you need to use a claybar cleaner in it when it gets all gunked up, or throw the gunked up section away... You might need more than one if you have to keep throwing sections of it away..

You need to look at it closely all the time to make sure it is not holding something that will scratch the paint next time you use it..

I think any marring that happens is user error and/or using a not very slippery clay lube... It really makes a difference to use the most slippery one for me..

Has to be as much as possible - Cool panels, Cool panels...Not hot, not hot and in the shade, still hot panels.. It makes a difference..
Good luck !
Dan F

Thanks Dan
 
My experience with of why to clay is to remove these four types of contaminants found on the paint:
1) Tree sap from parking under or near such trees
2) Road tar residue, after first removing the majority of it with a tar-remover.
3) Paint over-spray, and that can come from a variety of sources, including highway road striping or parking near a building being painted on a windy day OR the unfortunate experience of unavoidably driving though a paint-spill accident .
4) Ferrous or iron contamination from rail dust during transport and/or brake rotor from daily vehicle use.

I still clay using a clay bar. It might be time to consider "upgrading" to the newer clay mitts.
I`ve only used a mild clay (the ubiquitous clay-standard Blue Magic), but even with judicious rubbing and the correct amount of clay lube (Meg`s Mirror Glaze No. 34 Final Inspection), still induce some marring, especially for stubborn-to-remove highway paint over-spray or industrial paint. Yes, I figure I can polish that out, but not always.

Your question to clay or not on a brand-new vehicle is a good one. Chances are it only has iron-ferrous rust flakes and a liquid ferrous decontaminate will remove that, but hence, the suggestions for a visual and tactile inspection are required to REALLY know what is on your new vehicle paint, and if found, that their removal may require a mechanical claying by whatever method (old-school bar or new-school mitt) for a truly clean paint surface.

Let us know what you find and how you removed it.
 
I always clay before doing a polish and coating. It might not need it, but it won`t hurt. I`m always surprised by how much crud I pull up when claying a new car. The transport process is pretty filthy.

Do you really need to polish such a brand new car?

I would say, "yes". I recently polished and coated my son-in-law`s new Scat Pack Charger. At the time it was only 4 months old with 3K miles. The dealer didn`t touch it at delivery, so there wasn`t any marring, but the gloss was significantly better after I give it a quick one-step with a finishing polish.
 
Same here. I always used Valugard ABC and never needed to clay.

Bill D - When you use Valuguard ABC, (is that 3 steps?), does this leave the paintwork as smooth and clean as when you use a claybar properly?
Thanks,
Dan F
 
Hi Dan

Yes, it`s 3 steps and yes it can leave the paint very smooth. However if you determine the paint is quite contaminated to begin with, I`d suggest using clay during step B. I never had to do this though. I understand B can eat clay so have plenty on hand to do this step.
 
Bill D - When you use Valuguard ABC, (is that 3 steps?), does this leave the paintwork as smooth and clean as when you use a claybar properly?
Thanks,
Dan F

-AND-

Bill D said:
Yes, it`s 3 steps and yes it can leave the paint very smooth. However if you determine the paint is quite contaminated to begin with, I`d suggest using clay during step B. I never had to do this though. I understand B can eat clay so have plenty on hand to do this step.
Same experience here, though I *have* had to either clay or use the VG/AI "bug pad" (or whatever they call it) when the contamination was really bad. As noted, it destroys the clay in one hot minute.
 
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