I never understood why someone said you need to put a plastic thing over your fingers to feel paint defects...
Tried this when it first got popular - hated it..Could not feel anything compared to my clean, bare fingertips...
To me, it`s like wearing a raincoat to take a shower..
Just use your clean, bare, fingertips to lightly feel the paintwork..
Do you feel roughness? Do they slide effortlessly over ALL the paintwork?
A good claybar or a rubberized clay towel first, is the only way I ever do anything to paintwork.. Then; either a compound, polish or a very light finishing polish with appropriate pads, a great wipedown, before applying any LSP, wax, sealant, coating, etc..
Process - I claybar/claytowel a section, rinse it off, dry it carefully, rub dry, bare fingers over that section.. Good? Move to next section...Not good? Do it over.. Test again.. The entire vehicle..
You get what your work paid for.. Perfect, flat, see newsprint clearly in it, glossy, paint or something in between... It is all good..
What You want to see is what matters.. I prefer to see perfect paintwork..
There are claybars, aggressive claybars, non aggressive ones, mild ones, soft ones, hard ones, sticky ones, take your pick.. Have used a lot of the Blue Clay Magic claybars you can buy at Pep Boys, etc... Zaino makes a really nice, soft, not sticky, mild, red claybar that goes forever..
If you want a claybar to last, you need to use a claybar cleaner in it when it gets all gunked up, or throw the gunked up section away... You might need more than one if you have to keep throwing sections of it away..
You need to look at it closely all the time to make sure it is not holding something that will scratch the paint next time you use it..
I think any marring that happens is user error and/or using a not very slippery clay lube... It really makes a difference to use the most slippery one for me..
Has to be as much as possible -
Cool panels, Cool panels...Not hot, not hot and in the shade, still hot panels.. It makes a difference..
Good luck !
Dan F
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