Well have you ever ( Clay Bar related )

Jesstzn

Jesstzn

New member
Have any of you here ever "Burned through your clear coat " Because you clayed to fast and never used enough lube?



Most I have ever ran into in all the cars I have clayed ( 100+ a year for 5 years ) is if you use too little lube you will get a clay streak and/or the clay bar its self will stick to the surface stopping it.
 
Uhmm.. Are you talking about the clay leaving a streak on the clearcoat because there isn't enough lube there? I've never ever heard of someone "Burning through their clearcoat" using a clay product.
 
Camaro5Ryan said:
Uhmm.. Are you talking about the clay leaving a streak on the clearcoat because there isn't enough lube there? I've never ever heard of someone "Burning through their clearcoat" using a clay product.
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Nope .. not the streaking ... I never have heard of it either but we have a guy in another forum that is stating you can "Burn through the clear" "



I'll quote a portion of his post in blue ... mine is in red



Quote



What you're gonna wanna do is have a very thin layer of wax on the car, it's not manditory but it is helpful, then use the lubricant that comes with the kit, clay small sections at a time in a shaded area, otherwise the lubricant will dry very fast.



Just make sure you keep the area lubricated or the worst case scenerio is that the clay will literally burn through your clear coat..... and thats bad.



I don't know what you use for clay.. I clay +100 cars a year and use a few differenr brands and if you under lube the clay just sticks to the surface like glue , its impossible to "burn" through the clear. You can't create friction because the clay sticks. The most your going to get is a clay smudge on the clear that you will have to remove. Maybe your using clay thats all dried out and should be garbaged anyway.



I'm really not going to argue about it, it's not worth my time. You stick to whatever you believe, but I detail cars for a living and I know what's right and what's wrong.



Unquote.
 
a.k.a. Patrick said:
D, how can your argue with that!
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Pretty tough I guess .. he is a Pro .... I posted this over here because I thought after all these years I might be missing out on something..... But my logical old mind says .. Hmmm...
 
Clay is abrasive and creates marring, thus it *could* wear away paint. You'd have to use a very aggressive grade and rub it over the surface many 1000 times. Pretty unlikely IMHO.
 
However, David, very strong guys like me have to be very careful when using clay so we dont grind down to the bear metal...
 
Heh heh, I think what a.k.a. Patrick meant is "how can you argue with somebody who's so [silly] ". And hey...arguing over the internet....you know...



IMO this is one of those things that might be theoretically possible but will never happen for practical purposes.



BUT, OTOH...I actually know, *first-hand*, that combination of aggressive clay, lousy technique, and very thin paint (e.g., on a sharp edge) can result in it. I know because, yep :o I've done some "oops!"-level abrasion on *really* compromised old single stage when claying aggressively. So I guess it could happen with clearcoats too. But still :rolleyes:



Actually, I see this as being more likely to happen to somebody with experience, who pushes the envelope a bit, than with somebody who's so new to claying that they need anyone's adivce. I'd clayed a *LOT* of times before that little "oops!" on my old Volvo and heh heh, I doubt anybody coulda told me that I might do something like that :grinno:
 
Accumulator said:
Heh heh, I think what a.k.a. Patrick meant is "how can you argue with somebody who's so [silly] ". And hey...arguing over the internet....you know...



IMO this is one of those things that might be theoretically possible but will never happen for practical purposes.



BUT, OTOH...I actually know, *first-hand*, that combination of aggressive clay, lousy technique, and very thin paint (e.g., on a sharp edge) can result in it. I know because, yep :o I've done some "oops!"-level abrasion on *really* compromised old single stage when claying aggressively. So I guess it could happen with clearcoats too. But still :rolleyes:



Actually, I see this as being more likely to happen to somebody with experience, who pushes the envelope a bit, than with somebody who's so new to claying that they need anyone's adivce. I'd clayed a *LOT* of times before that little "oops!" on my old Volvo and heh heh, I doubt anybody coulda told me that I might do something like that :grinno:
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Ya in reality this guy is giving "solid" advice to a noob who like the rest of us would never have the stamina to remotely come close to doing it on anything but soft old worn out thin SS paint. The OTC clays aren't near aggressive enough for that.
 
I recently clayed a black vehicle and afterward I noticed a lot of "marring" on the finish of the paint. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I used A LOT of lubricant in the process. I am confused as to why the finished now looks like it has a whole bunch of holograms. Can someone explain what I am experiencing?
 
clay is abrasive, its going to mar the finish! Thats why a few of us recommend only claying when polishing.



I had a guy on another forum try to tell me clay is not abrasive at all....(shakes head)
 
OK, I'm still very new to this but this thread does open up the topic for me to ask a question that I've been wondering about.



I've now read several hundred of the before and after threads here, I love them! The story is mostly always the same; car comes in dirty but paint doesn't always look terrible...car is washed and clayed and then the lights come on. "See, now that I've removed all the layers of stuff that the owner had on there the true surface shows through"...lots of swirls usually with many pics to prove it.



When I read these I can't help but think; how does the owner or any of us really know that you just didn't instill much of those swirls with the claying?



Of course they are always polished to perfection, but I keep getting this niggling feeling that the claying (while great for smoothing the paint and removing contaminants) is the big culprit here.



It may be just how the story is presented with pictures but it's the same time and time again. Again, I'm fairly new, but the hundreds of these threads is swaying me. Look at the ones that don't clay first, it's usually an easier job.



Not looking for a fight, just an observation.
 
I think an easy way to tell that the marring from the clay is different from the damaged paint is by looking at the direction. If you clay in small straight lines, there's no real way to get circular marring in the shape of swirls. I might be right, might be wrong...input on this theory?
 
rcrobbins said:
I think an easy way to tell that the marring from the clay is different from the damaged paint is by looking at the direction. If you clay in small straight lines, there's no real way to get circular marring in the shape of swirls. I might be right, might be wrong...input on this theory?
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That's a good point....The marring I'm noticing is seen in straight lines >>> The claying was done in a back in forth motion.
 
Claying without marring can be tricky, and whether it can be done at all depends on a whole lotta factors.



That said, if somebody's marring an Audi with Sonus Ultra-fine Clay, then IMO they're doing something wrong. OTOH, I marred the [crap] out of the M3's equally hard paint with Sonus gray, even though I was trying to be gentle about it. Whole lotta factors....



One of the great things about the SmartClay (the stuff you can't buy in the US any more) is that it can do some pretty thorough cleaning without marring...well, if you do it right.



Oh, some food for thought: two types of potential marring from the clayjob- 1) marring from the clay itself, and 2) marring from contaminants stuck to/in the clay. With *many* detailing clays, IMO the main issue is the latter.
 
Accumulator said:
Claying without marring can be tricky, and whether it can be done at all depends on a whole lotta factors.



That said, if somebody's marring an Audi with Sonus Ultra-fine Clay, then IMO they're doing something wrong. OTOH, I marred the [crap] out of the M3's equally hard paint with Sonus gray, even though I was trying to be gentle about it. Whole lotta factors....



One of the great things about the SmartClay (the stuff you can't buy in the US any more) is that it can do some pretty thorough cleaning without marring...well, if you do it right.



Oh, some food for thought: two types of potential marring from the clayjob- 1) marring from the clay itself, and 2) marring from contaminants stuck to/in the clay. With *many* detailing clays, IMO the main issue is the latter.
Click to expand...





Kind of slipped off topic .....
 
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