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:
Clay and Polish -vs- Just Polishing
- Thread starter Danin Re
- Start date
Thomas Dekany
New member
Danin Re said:
No it doesn't - that is why one uses a clay.
White lexus 23
New member
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
New member
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.
One should always clay prior to polishing.
David Fermani
Forza Auto Salon
White lexus 23 said:
: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
Well-known member
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.