Why clay before paint cleaning?

[Phil Price]

I did a search on this topic but no one gave a reason to clay 1st. I would have thought the steps would be:

1. Wash the car

2. Use a paint cleaner

3. Clay the car.



My reasoning would be is to clean the car of the less embedded dirt by washing and using a paint cleaner. This woould leave the clay to remove the heavier and more embedded dirt.



Isn't this thinking the same as using the least aggressive polisher then moving to the more aggressive polishers to remove swirls? :nixweiss



I'm

 

[Jngrbrdman]

You could do it in any order you want to. The reason using clay first is more effective is because it will help clean the paint as well as do things a paint cleaner can't. It cuts down the amount of effort you have to expend actually cleaning the paint. If you want to really see the difference it can make then clean your paint and feel it. Then clay that area and feel it again. Clay is a different animal than a paint cleaner. It is pretty unique. There is no 'liquid clay' product out there that comes off the shelf. Well, unless you consider something like an ABC product to be liquid clay....

 

[Steve @ Guru]

If you had a splinter in your finger, and knew that you needed to clean it with an alcohol swab, would you rather tweeze the splinter first, or rub the alcohol swab all over the debris?

 

[2wheelsx2]

Good analogy, Geeky. I'll have to remember that one when someone asks me about clay, the next time.

 

[stangman]

After you use a clay bar once, you'll wonder how you got along without it before.

 

[shaf]

Paint cleaners don't "clean" paint in the sense that they stink at removing the rough feeling contamination that gets stuck to the paint. That isn't their job, and I think they should really be named something else all together to stop confusing people! :wall Paint cleaners/cleansers are really for lightly polishing the paint. For this reason I really think polishing should come after claying because the claying process can sometimes leave light swirls.

 

[Heff]

Another reason, to clay first, is that the paint cleaner is intended to prepare the surface for the sealant/wax to bond to, including clay/lube residue. The paint cleaner should be the last step before applying wax or sealant.

Heff

 

[Mirror]

Because the book says to clay first.

 

[Mirror]

Bump. 

 

[Accumulator]

Or do a chemical decontamination instead and then evaluate the paint before deciding on the next step.

 

[Mirror]

How does chemical decontamination deal with Rail Dust on a new vehicle? 

 

[Accumulator]

Mirror- The acidic step of the decontamination dissolves the ferrous material (both the rust and the not-yet-rusted stuff) that's on top of, and most importantly *down in the pores of* the paint.  It "gets down in there" to remove stuff that the clay won't get to.