Weekly Claying

No, I am NOT bored :D



Probably, I am just tooooooo obssessed to have a super slick paint finish. It usually takes about 20 mins. to clay my AUV/SUV.



One observation though, weekly claying reduces micro-swirls and mico-scratches on my paint surface.



The reason I am asking if somebody here clays weekly is to validate my observations on the benefits of weekly claying.



BTW, I have Klasse SG as topper and claying does not remove Klasse SG. In fact, re-application of Klasse SG becomes so so easy after claying.
 
I don't weekly clay, but someone told me that when I clay it will strip off some or all of my zaino. From what I understand, the Klasse SG is also a sealant....so am I hearing that claying will strip Z but not SG ?
 
SK2003TypeS,



I also thought before that claying can strip Klasse SG but based on what I have actually experienced for the past 6 weeks of claying, my Klasse SG is still very much intact after claying.



From what I have heared on how Zaino bonds to the paint surface which is stronger than Klasse SG then I assume that claying will also not remove Zaino.



You may want to try claying your Zaino and see for yourself if it will be removed after claying.
 
Claying shouldn't remove Zaino.



Claying also won't reduce "micro swirls" or "micro scratches". You could clay your car daily and it won't have any effect on swirls and scratches.
 
jaim,



I started this post a little while ago.

http://www.autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24725



Sounds like there are mixed feelings on whether clay will or will not remove Zaino or Klasse. I still don't know how you can tell whether or not a sealant is still on the surface. I've asked this question a few times in a few posts, but got no explaination.



I made a remark about beading, but someone told me that beading does not necessarily mean that the sealant is still there. My car is still relatively new (it will be a year in November), so the beading can be because the paint/clearcoat is still new....??? I don't know.



I washed my car yesterday and still had a lot of beading. Didn't have time to slap on another coat though :( It got dark.
 
This topic comes up from time to time and it's one of those where some of us will have to agree to disagree.



I spot-clay with every wash, VERY gently. It does NOT seem to remove an appreciable amount of whatever protection the vehicle has on it. It DOES sometimes affect the beading a little but that effect doesn't seem to last :nixweiss The next rain/wash, everything is beading/sheeting uniformly.



There's just NO way, IMO, that it could have removed my SG without my noticing it. The areas I've clayed MANY times still look/bead/sheet JUST like the areas that I haven't; I can't even tell where I've done it. And I haven't redone the SG on the WRX since I don't know when (maybe last summer!).



If you have some contaminants (like bugs) that have really eaten into your protection (or are UNDER it), then the amount/degree of claying required to remove them may very well remove your protection. It's a matter of how aggressively you clay and what the individual situations are.



Even when a sealant stops beading (starts sheeting, etc.) you should be able to tell if it's still there. The paint just "looks and feels different" when it is/isn't protected. I can get nearly a year out of a good (many layers of SG) Klasse job, gently spot claying with each wash. When it needs redone (as my WRX sorta does now), it just LOOKS like it needs redone. Sorta hard to verbalize, but it doesn't look as good as it "should". It also feels different. And the QD I like to apply after a wash no longer comes off as smoothly as usual (got some steaks last time).
 
jaim,



I think this is the first time a weekly claying regimen has been suggested here on Autopia. IMO, that is far too often. In fact, both of my cars are daily drivers and I do not clay them more than once a year. I know that different places affect cars differently, but I can't imagine ever needing to clay your car on a weekly basis. The swirl-reduction you are seeing might very well be the silicones/fillers in the QD lubricant you are using. I have noticed the slight swirl-filling effects of some very good QD's like ClearKote. If you're not using QD as a lube, then just scratch out all that stuff I just said. :)



Also, very light claying will not remove Klasse or Zaino, but if it is done weekly, the longevity of your coats will be compromised. BTW, what clay are you using?



If you are obsessed with a super-slick & smooth finish, I would suggest QDing your car every few days instead of claying every week. Clay does smoothen your car, but a good QD will make your car feel very slick. Also, the more often you QD, the less embedded contaminants you'll get on your car.
 
Gee thanks Accumulator, you posted your completely contrasting views while I was typing my message, LoL!



Yeah, in this situation, I agree to disagree with you. Agreed? :D
 
SK2003TypeS,



I am using Mothers Clay Bar with dilluted Eimann Fabirk Power Wash + as clay lubricant.



I can verify that my Klasse SG has not been stripped by claying because "BIRD BOMBS" does not penetrate on my paint surface.



I get about 1 to 5 "Bird Bombs" everyday on my vehicle hood and just a little QD does the trick with no "Bird Bomb" residue... a proof that claying has not remove my Klasse SG.



Note that this is based on my actual experience and not from a theorectical point of view.





dbackfan,



Based on my actual experience, claying really minimizes micro-swirls and micro-scratches on my paint surface because you lessen the embeded contaminants that have that great possibility of being removed and roll on your paint surface during any QD sessions. MF Towels are not that all 100% in being able to trap those small hard particles that can cause micro-scratches and micro-swirls.
 
My wife was in San Francisco, Californa and Salt Lake City, Utah, USA sometime last year. Based on her own observations, the dust in those states as compared here in our country (Philippines) is about 1,000% less than ours. Also, she observed that dust in USA are NOT BLACK in color unlike here in the Philippines. Probably because our public transport uses more diesel fuel than gasoline and the population is about 15 Million for an area as big as Hawaii.



The above reason probably calls for a weekly claying as opposed to your environmental conditions in USA.



I am really very enthusiastic in sharing my experience on weekly claying because based on my actual experience it really does help a lot to have that very smooth paint finish. Also, micro-swirls and micro-scratches was substancially reduce when I started the weekly claying regimen.



It usually takes about 20 mins to clay my AUV/SUV. Not that much time.
 
I don't think that claying every week would be harmful. The benefit, of course, is that all contaminants are removed.



I cannot substantiate whether claying will remove Klasse SG or not, but I offer a hypothesis.



How do waxes and sealants disappear? They are WORN off, whether by washing, rain, etc. If you wax your car, and then store it under a cover, the wax may degrade by drying over time, but it is not going to wear off. What are you doing when you are claying? You are rubbing the clay on the surface! So, I contend that there is some removal of whatever product is on the paint. However, the amount removed is probably miniscule. Hence, that may be the reason you are seeing the swirls being minimized. You are actually slightly polishing the surface, but in this case, it is the surface of the sealant, and not the paint.



Does this make sense, or am I way out in left field? :D
 
2wheelsx2,



I do agree with you that claying will remove waxes but for selants such as Klasse and Zaino, I doubt it.



As an experiment, I applied Klasse AIO (2 coats) and Klasse SG (3 coats) on the front panel of my refrigerator paint surface (as close as I can get on a car paint finish) after One (1) week I tried claying the paint surface using Eimann Fabrik Power Wash +. In fact, on one portionI even tried using Meguiars All Purpose Cleaner Plus as lubricant.



Result: Klasse SG was not removed. How do I know. I still have the same gloss and slickness before I tried claying the paint surface with both types of lubricant. To be sure, I tried comparing the left and right side panel of my refrigerator to see if they are the same...they are not. I then applied Klasse AIO (2 coats) and Klasse SG (1 coat) on the right side panel of my refrigerator... whola... it has almost the same gloss and slickness as the front panel that I just clayed... I concluded then that claying with both lubricant did not remove my Klasse SG.



You may want to try it yourself to see if we get the same results.
 
2wheelsx2,



I do not think a clay bar such as Mothers Clay Bar can polish a paint surface. I dunno for other products but for Mothers I am sure it can not.



I have personally tested claying my sisters 10 year old car and claying was not able to remove any of the micro-swirls / micro-scratches it has.



What I observed was the paint surface became smooth but not slick.. probably because it does not have any type of protection whatsoever.
 
That's exactly my point. I think the clay is leveling the SG. It's not touching the paint. Just thinkg of it like this. Rub a cotton terry cloth on your paint - HARD. What do you see. Very light scratches. Why? Because the fabric is digging into the paint. So even the cloth is polishing the paint, somewhat. It's just polishing it unevening, so you are getting the scratches. This is especially easy to see on black paint. I put some scratches into finish of a black Trans Am Firehawk with an MF and QD but rubbing too hard to get some bugs off.



So what I am saying is that for instance, if each layer of SG (say it is 0.1 mm thick), you are removing some with each pass of the clay (say, 0.01 mm worth). Does that make sense?



Just like rubbing on hand on a smooth hard surface. What happens? Little pieces of your hand (your skin) is removed, because in this case, the surface is harder than your skin. Try this on a smooth glass table, and the look at the glass with a high powered hand lens. You'll see minute white particles, which are pieces of skin.
 
Very nice ! A lot of good thoughts here. I used Pinnacle clay and spray when I recently clayed some pollen off of my hood. I used a piece about 2 fingers wide and just glided it over the surface with a few passes. The only pressure was the weight of my fingers on the clay just keeping it on the surface. So I'm labeling this as my "light claying" action.



I also had a few bird bombs on my paint yesterday before I washed. They came off with the water from the hose and 1 pass with the mitt. So my weekend warrior theory is that my "light claying" didn't take off my Zaino. Maybe worn a little thinner or shorten the life of it. It did pass the knuckle test for smoothness.
 
2wheelsx2,



Very nice idea / point that you raised re: Klasse SG being leveled by claying.



However, I do not rub the clay on top of my paint surface... What I do is just to make it (clay) glide on top of the paint surface... My fingers are just very very light on top of the clay bar and no pressure is being applied. In fact, I am very hesitant to apply any pressure because the clay might stick to the paint surface or it will get very difficult to make it glide already when there is pressure. I do not think that Mothers Clay bar is that abbrasive enough to be able to polish or abrade any thicknes of Klasse SG with very little or no pressure at all being applied on the clay bar.
 
I see your point. But the trouble I have with no removal of SG is then: How do the swirls get minimized or removed? The clay certainly is not filling the swirls. Got any ideas of what you think is happening?
 
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