Accumulator
01-05-2005, 11:51 AM
Even though this comes up fairly often, I still find this topic sorta interesting. People often assume that clay removes LSPs, sometimes from their own past experiences and sometimes just by assumption. I do not believe the "proper" claying removes an appreciable amount of LSP, though it will remove *some*. From my perspective, it`s a simple matter of my knowing what I`ve experienced many times. It`s something that, IMO, anybody can prove to himself (or herself) by experiencing the same thing. I`ve shown it to nay-sayers in in-person demonstrations and you can prove it yourself.
Sometimes I`ll inadvertently seal in some contamination when refreshing my LSP and I`ll spot it at the next wash. It takes a much more aggressive approach to claying to remove this "sealed in" contamination than it does to remove "regular" contamination.
Here`s a simple way to prove to yourself that *gentle* claying doesn`t remove much LSP:
Find an area of your vehicle that has a little speck of contamination that you would normally remove by spot-claying. Something that`s on there good enough that minor rubbing *without clay* won`t remove it (not something that`ll easily wipe off).
Apply your LSP to this area, right over the contamination, and buff it off normally. Now you`ll have a freshly LSPed area with the contamination sealed away under your LSP. Note that this experiment will work best if the LSP is something sorta tough (Zaino/SG/Collinite will work better for this example than Souveran, for instance).
Next time you wash the vehicle (the experiment will work better if you let it go for a while), clay the area in question *very* gently, using either your clay lube or wash solution, or *something* to keep the clayed area well lubricated. Clay as gently as you can, a lot more gently than you normally would.
After a few gentle passes, *not enough to remove the "sealed in" contamination*, look at your clay. Even though you were being unusually gentle, you`ll probably see dirt on the clay that has been cleaned off the LSP, but the contamination will still be there. This is the kind of claying that I do. Enough to clean the LSP, but not enough to remove it.
Now clay more/harder and see what it takes to cut through the LSP and finally remove the "sealed in" contamination. It`ll take a lot more than what you did earlier.
Sometimes I`ll inadvertently seal in some contamination when refreshing my LSP and I`ll spot it at the next wash. It takes a much more aggressive approach to claying to remove this "sealed in" contamination than it does to remove "regular" contamination.
Here`s a simple way to prove to yourself that *gentle* claying doesn`t remove much LSP:
Find an area of your vehicle that has a little speck of contamination that you would normally remove by spot-claying. Something that`s on there good enough that minor rubbing *without clay* won`t remove it (not something that`ll easily wipe off).
Apply your LSP to this area, right over the contamination, and buff it off normally. Now you`ll have a freshly LSPed area with the contamination sealed away under your LSP. Note that this experiment will work best if the LSP is something sorta tough (Zaino/SG/Collinite will work better for this example than Souveran, for instance).
Next time you wash the vehicle (the experiment will work better if you let it go for a while), clay the area in question *very* gently, using either your clay lube or wash solution, or *something* to keep the clayed area well lubricated. Clay as gently as you can, a lot more gently than you normally would.
After a few gentle passes, *not enough to remove the "sealed in" contamination*, look at your clay. Even though you were being unusually gentle, you`ll probably see dirt on the clay that has been cleaned off the LSP, but the contamination will still be there. This is the kind of claying that I do. Enough to clean the LSP, but not enough to remove it.
Now clay more/harder and see what it takes to cut through the LSP and finally remove the "sealed in" contamination. It`ll take a lot more than what you did earlier.