To clay or not to clay....

I

imported_ThreeSixT

New member
..that is my dillema. My car is "brand new" with the exception of the minor swirls that the dealer's grease monkeys put in my paint when they prepped it for delivery. As the first step towards prepping my paint, I conducted an initial washing this morning at the crack of dawn..actually, it was still dark out. I did a paint inspection following the wash and did not see or feel any major contamination or grit on the surface. I am considering just going on to te P21S GEPC without claying. What do you guys think?:nixweiss
 
If you put your hand in a plastic sandwich bag and run it over the surface of your car then you'll feel the small bumps that we use clay to remove. If your surface is bump free then there isn't any reason to clay. You can if you really want to, but its probably not a neccessary step at this point. GEPC should take care of any problems you have at this point. :xyxthumbs
 
I, on the other hand, would probably clay. It does not take very long and is easy. I think you would be amazed at the amount of crud that can be embedded on the surface of a new vehicle.
 
I just worry about claying when its not really neccessary because of the risks there are in putting microswirls in the finish. :nixweiss Its pretty much personal preference I guess.
 
Yes you always risk that. Just make sure to use plenty of lube spray and the surface is as clean as possible. :xyxthumbs
 
You guys are great..thanks fellas. I used the sandwich bag method this morning and did not find anything to be concerned about. I will opt to NOT clay this time round.:xyxthumbs



Ok here goes...time to start, my P21S kit just arrived. Will post in progress pics and final result pics when done.



BTW, how long (cure time) do I have to wait between P21S GEPC and AIO, and how long between AIO and SG?
 
There isn't any cure time between GEPC and AIO. You can just do one after another if you want. Its kind of overkill because they are both just paint cleaners. Not a problem though. I'd do it that way too. The GEPC will clean up more swirls than AIO alone and AIO will seal better than GEPC.



You shouldn't need any cure time between AIO and SG. The SG needs to sit on the car for about 45 minutes to an hour before you buff it off. Then you should wait a full 24 hours before appling anything else on top of it, including additional coats of SG. The AIO is a pretty instant product though. Since its not the primary sealant you don't have much to worry about. Its just a good base for the SG and a great paint cleaner. :xyxthumbs
 
I just bought a brand new Lexus RX300 for my wife. I picked it up a week ago, and they had prepped it and kept it indoors, the paint was absolutely perfect, felt like they had applied something, but no swirl marks whatsoever.



My wife wanted it to stay in the garage and she'd use her old car for a bit. My objective was to do zaino asap, but temperatures were not coopperating. Last Sunday I was able to. The car had been rained on once, and still had less than 100 miles on it. The surface looked perfect, so I did a dawn wash, z-1, and z-2. Afterwards I drove it back into the garage. It looked so great I ran my hand, really just my finger tips over the surface to feel that great smooth feel. I felt and heard scratchiness!!!! But remember it looked absolutely perfect. I did some z-6, but that did not improve it. Then I did the zaino claybar and it was only then perfectly smooth to the touch.



I was called by Lexus today that our new license plates had arrived and I could come by and have them installed. (I went by and picked them up- sorta lame to have them installed) While I was them I asked one of the service mangers if they use any particular products to prep the new cars. He said they use a teflon product from zip that is not available to consumers and that it was very durable, and generally good for six months. So my assumption is that the car looked fine to them, they used this so called teflon product, and when I did my first dawn wash, this product sort of protected whatever tiny specs were on the paint and the clay was the only way to get the paint truly clean.
 
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