First Synthetic Clay choice help.

[Accumulator]

These products are pretty gentle. Even on soft black Japanese paint marring is minimal. Nothing a quick polish can’t correct.

But, leaving aside the topic of "knowingly damaging the paint just because you can fix it, lots of clearcoats can`t afford much correction. New cars with thin paint, older cars with thinned paint....and gee, the *time* do do a correction! Yeah, sorry, that`s my usual hard-sell But gee, if just washing the car three times can do a full decontamination without marring the paint, that`s always my preference. I just wish the "B" were a bit stronger (but then it would only be Accumulator-proof, and they want it idiot-proof instead).

I haven`t ordered anything from Automotive International/ValuGard for ages (the ABC doesn`t go bad), but when I did I called (800) 543-7156. No idea whether that number`s still good though.

Used to be you could get VG`s ABC at dealerships, Ford, Chrysler...maybe Ron Ketcham will chime in, Ketch is our resident expert on all things ValuGard (and a lotta other topics too).

[rand0m]

But, leaving aside the topic of "knowingly damaging the paint just because you can fix it, lots of clearcoats can`t afford much correction. New cars with thin paint, older cars with thinned paint....and gee, the *time* do do a correction! Yeah, sorry, that`s my usual hard-sell But gee, if just washing the car three times can do a full decontamination without marring the paint, that`s always my preference. I just wish the "B" were a bit stronger (but then it would only be Accumulator-proof, and they want it idiot-proof instead).

I haven`t ordered anything from Automotive International/ValuGard for ages (the ABC doesn`t go bad), but when I did I called (800) 543-7156. No idea whether that number`s still good though.

Used to be you could get VG`s ABC at dealerships, Ford, Chrysler...maybe Ron Ketcham will chime in, Ketch is our resident expert on all things ValuGard (and a lotta other topics too).

Definitely no need to correct unless needed. But even modern thin paints take quite a bit to get through. At least with a DA. I see a lot of value in a chemical decon like that, especially if you’re a detailer or maintaining cars that would benefit from clay more frequently (dailies, neglected, etc...) or just preserving a show piece.


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[Accumulator]

Definitely no need to correct unless needed. But even modern thin paints take quite a bit to get through. At least with a DA.

I wish I had *current* safe-clearcoat-removal guidelines...the only hard data I have is related to Fords from the era of my Crown Vic. (On those, you could only remove ~2/3 mil or ~16microns, which would indeed take a little while via DA.

But the last Mazda I had couldn`t withstand *NEARLY* that much! The only time I ever damaged clear to the point of "gotta repaint" was on that, via PC, with a *VERY* mild pad/product combo (the panel was getting reshot anyhow..). That paint was so thin it could *NEVER* have withstood any kind of "normal correction", let alone the kind of stuff we see/post about here.

Remember that it`s not about "cutting through" or even thinning the clear enough that it can be noticed under any inspection conditions; it`s about not removing the [however many microns of] clear that provide UV protection.

Or...you can just hammer it until there`s no way you can leave it in the sun for long..and then pamper it from that point on, as I did on my `93 Audi But I really put that in the "do as I say, not as I did" category!

Heh heh...keep `em long enough and *any* vehicle has to be pampered like a showpiece, which is sure a PIA.