Clay and Polish -vs- Just Polishing

[Danin Re]

Sooo... I clay and then polish because that`s what I learned. But, why do we do this? If you have to compound and/or polish the paint anyway, wouldn`t that take care of the stuff the clay is getting? Does it just make it easier for the compound or polish to work? Or is it a matter of the stuff that the clay gets would cause too much marring while compounding or polishing? Thanks for tolerating my dumbassedness. :think:

[Thomas Dekany]

Sooo... I clay and then polish because that`s what I learned. But, why do we do this? If you have to compound and/or polish the paint anyway, wouldn`t that take care of the stuff the clay is getting? Does it just make it easier for the compound or polish to work? Or is it a matter of the stuff that the clay gets would cause too much marring while compounding or polishing? Thanks for tolerating my dumbassedness. :think:





No it doesn`t - that is why one uses a clay.

[Danin Re]

Hmmm... okay. Glad I just got some more, lol. And thanks for the quick, simple anwer.

[White lexus 23]

I am no pro but in my experience sometimes when someone brings me a car that is covered in sap and other contaminants claying sometimes takes to long. I just use a shlegel 37pc pad. And Megs fine cut cleaner to blast off everything. It works for me and gets the finish super smooth in no time and doesn’t harm the finish

[Holden_C04]

Clay will remove embedded contaminates in the paint - polishing will not. What polishing does to these contaminates is round their edges. They still exist but are less noticeable.



One should always clay prior to polishing.

[David Fermani]

I am no pro but in my experience sometimes when someone brings me a car that is covered in sap and other contaminants claying sometimes takes to long. I just use a shlegel 37pc pad. And Megs fine cut cleaner to blast off everything. It works for me and gets the finish super smooth in no time and doesn’t harm the finish



:nono That`s not a good way to remove tree sap or any contaminants. Due to the nature of sap, it will gum up your pad and is abrasive. I don`t think there`s a detailing school or system out there that promotes this process. There`s lots of good ways to cut corners/save time, but this isn`t one of them. *Maybe* buffing a few undectable spots might be ok, but you still run the risk of contaminating your pad. If you buff a clean surface, it will ensure a perfect, long lasting swirl-free finish.

[Accumulator]

One of the nice things about clay is that, with the right technique and the right clay, it can be a basically nonabrasive process (nonabrasive to the *paint* that is). If you keep a vehicle a long time, you sure don`t want to be abrading its paint every time it gets contaminated- voice of experience here as I got my Jag before there was detailing clay, and decades of polishing (pretty mild polishing too, nothing like Meg`s #2 Fine Cut!) has thinned the paint to where I can no longer do much correction. Now that I can use clay for most paint cleaning, I harldy *ever* abrade the paint of my vehicles.

[Hey, Moe!]

As I have gotten more into the clay habit in recent years, I have been machine polishing less and less, so I guess that`s falls in line with Accumulator`s thoughts.