Maybe a dumb question

[Dalton]

I waxes my car with a synthetic just after I bought it this January. I have continues to keep it clean and fresh coats here and there. I now want to do a full detail including clay, paint cleaner and PUPP. Do I need to use a cleaner before the clay? I am worried about contaminants that may be trapped under the multiple layers of sealant. Will the cleaner take off the layers (I would say 3-4) of sealant?



What should my process be? I am leary about Dawn washing. As one member says "dawn is for dishes" I am worried about it damaging my paint.

[Bill D]

I would just wash as usual, clay, polish with the paint cleaner and then reapply the sealant. The clay will pick up any surface contaminants and the act of polishing should remove the old layers of sealant preparing the paint to receive the new layer(s) of sealant.

[Dalton]

But once I use the cleaner should I re-clay to get the contaminants that were trapped under there? The initial clay will get what is on top of the sealant.

[Bill D]

I`ve never encounterd the need to clay after polishing. Do you mean there are clearly visible contaminants like grit underneath the sealnt on your paint? Not sure what kind of contaminants you mean. You may need a heavier polish followed by a lighter polish to dissolve/remove such contaminants and remove any marring caused by this process.



In my experience a series of different strength polishes always worked well.



HTH

[Dalton]

I guess that was part of my question that I was getting to in a round about way. Wouldn`t there logically be contaminents under the sealant if I have never clayed before?

[Accumulator]

Dalton- Actually, YEAH, what you`re concerned about IS one of those rare situations where the clay/cleaner/etc. process isn`t always as straightforward as is usually is.



You could either a) use a STRONG wash solution (if not Dawn, something like AutoInt`s ABC, or even a VERY strong regular carwash soap mix) to wash off the sealant, or b) clay aggressively (might cause marring) to try to clay THROUGH the sealant, or c) clay a second time after using your paint cleaner.



*I* would do a combination of a) and c) myself.



BTW, not to :argue with anyone, but *I* have never had a problem from INFREQUENT Dawn/ABC washes, and ABC is a LOT stronger than Dawn. Just keep it off the rubber, etc. as best you can and *I* would say you`ll be fine.



Bill D- I had this problem on a car that had be sealed with something pretty good/durable by the previous owner. He didn`t clay before he did it and claying through the sealant wasn`t working too well. I could SEE the specs that I wanted to clay off, but I couldn`t get to them with all the sealant on there. NORMALLY, you`re right, though.

[Bill D]

Hmm..glad this situation has been brought up. Maybe this would be a good case for 1z`s Acrysol to aid in stripping off all the sealant, allowing access to paint`s surface to clay it to rid it of the contaminants?