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I am totally against claying due to a scratch I put on the hood of my 2000 Boxster S. I stopped using it. Besides, I could never see a difference when I did use clay. Clay is wet sanding. Clay was developed to remove over-spray in paint shops.
Until.... today. My buddy came up from Virginia and we gave his Porsche Cayenne my classic Dawn wash, and Meguiar's Ultimate Compound worked with my Porter Cable orbital. So after we washed the car, I ran my hand over the door... WTF? The paint was like sandpaper. I am not making this up. I never felt paint like this before. Never. No way was I going to put a polisher on this mess. So..... clearly... I am going to try the clay. The embedded crap started at the door handle level and down from their on both sides of the car. The hood was pretty fine... clayed it anyway. But everything below those door handles was a total mess of sandpaper paint.
It did short order of the mess.... but what the hell was this mess in the paint? Seriously what is that crap? Remember, I used a strong solution of Dawn and hot water. He purchased the car with 70K miles, owned it one year. The car was covered in that 3M wrap... the whole car... so he had it removed and had, well perfect paint (or maybe not!).
Anywho..... I used just under two fat bars of Mothers clay (all I had). Then I polished the crap out of an awful bird crap etching on his hood..... you gotta remove bird crap as fast as you can as it is acidic as all heck. Then I attacked tree-branch scrapes down the side.. the reason he came up....She drove the car..... I finished by applying Avalon King Ceramic (one bottle will do two large cars easily). He was over the moon.
So..... I still will never use clay on my or Her car. I don't like the stuff and never had a reason to use it. The paint on my cars is always smooth.... don't know why, but it always was. But this Cayenne was a certified mess.
I don't use clay. I use a nanoskin pad. It's like a sponge that has a rubberlike surface that acts just like a clay bar. It requires a special lubricating fluid which you dilute with water. I always "clay" before polishing but I use the nanoskin to do it. Bonus, if you drop it you just rinse it off, no throwing it away!
Park under a shade tree and you'll need to clay the car before washing to get the little invisible tree sap off or the paint will not feel smooth to the touch. Feels like fine grit embedded into the paint surface and the longer it stays on the harder it becomes to remove. Soap will not do the job alone, so claying is the easy way. Never had any scratches, but always use lots of lube when claying. Makes the paint butter smooth and hard to walk by without touching it with your fingers.
Park under a shade tree and you'll need to clay the car before washing to get the little invisible tree sap off or the paint will not feel smooth to the touch. Feels like fine grit embedded into the paint surface and the longer it stays on the harder it becomes to remove. Soap will not do the job alone, so claying is the easy way. Never had any scratches, but always use lots of lube when claying. Makes the paint butter smooth and hard to walk by without touching it with your fingers.
Erotic isn’t it. I also mutter soft words and cooing sounds while I do it.
I've clayed my cars for many years. I do like the Griots Garage clay and their Speed Shine (the only two Griots Garage products I buy - mainly because their products overall I think are just ok but the pricing is just ridiculous. I did try the synthetic clay product. After a half hour with it, it went into the trash.
I am totally against claying due to a scratch I put on the hood of my 2000 Boxster S. I stopped using it. Besides, I could never see a difference when I did use clay. Clay is wet sanding. Clay was developed to remove over-spray in paint shops.
Until.... today. My buddy came up from Virginia and we gave his Porsche Cayenne my classic Dawn wash, and Meguiar's Ultimate Compound worked with my Porter Cable orbital. So after we washed the car, I ran my hand over the door... WTF? The paint was like sandpaper. I am not making this up. I never felt paint like this before. Never. No way was I going to put a polisher on this mess. So..... clearly... I am going to try the clay. The embedded crap started at the door handle level and down from their on both sides of the car. The hood was pretty fine... clayed it anyway. But everything below those door handles was a total mess of sandpaper paint.
It did short order of the mess.... but what the hell was this mess in the paint? Seriously what is that crap? Remember, I used a strong solution of Dawn and hot water. He purchased the car with 70K miles, owned it one year. The car was covered in that 3M wrap... the whole car... so he had it removed and had, well perfect paint (or maybe not!).
Anywho..... I used just under two fat bars of Mothers clay (all I had). Then I polished the crap out of an awful bird crap etching on his hood..... you gotta remove bird crap as fast as you can as it is acidic as all heck. Then I attacked tree-branch scrapes down the side.. the reason he came up....She drove the car..... I finished by applying Avalon King Ceramic (one bottle will do two large cars easily). He was over the moon.
So..... I still will never use clay on my or Her car. I don't like the stuff and never had a reason to use it. The paint on my cars is always smooth.... don't know why, but it always was. But this Cayenne was a certified mess.
That crap on the clay is probably dried E3M oil. It's used for roadway maintenance - usually applied over small rock chips (rock chips applied over the paved asphalt, then sprayed with the E3M oil (E3M oil is an emulsion of water and liquid asphalt.)
If you're driving in the wrong place at the wrong time, your car can get covered in the stuff. (Ask me how I know...)
I've clayed my cars for many years. I do like the Griots Garage clay and their Speed Shine (the only two Griots Garage products I buy - mainly because their products overall I think are just ok but the pricing is just ridiculous. I did try the synthetic clay product. After a half hour with it, it went into the trash.
+1...being in the business for over 25 years, with all the innovations we’ve seen, still use clay on EVERY car prior to polishing or paint correction. It’s the only product that your hands can feel the imperfections and your ears hear the progress
but not all clays and lubes are created equally and you have to knead the clay constantly to reveal the fresh parts and force the contamination deep into the clay to avoid scratching the paint
Bruce, I love you, man, but if you scratched your car using clay, thats user error, not a fault of the product.
Clay isn't at all like compound. Compound grinds off high spots. Clay grabs dirt. Compound thins your clear coat every time you use it.. Clay doesn't. Totally different methodologies.
Clay only becomes abrasive if you don't turn it and use it too long. I think the stuff is magical, and one of the best detailing products to come along in ages.
To see how effective clay bar really is, and it is, put your hand in a plastic sandwich bag and run your hand over the surface. Then clay bar the paint and run your hand over the surface again.
11-06-2020, 07:55 PM
Claying - I was wrong! Almost....
