Dan
Well-known member
Just because it beads water, it does not mean your paint is protected!!!! Freshly polished paint with no LSP beads water just like freshly clayed paint beads water!
Claying questions
- Thread starter bonoz
- Start date
Accumulator
Well-known member
SuperBee364 said:OK, I've held my tongue regarding my claying opinion(s) for far too long... every time you use clay, you mar your paint. ..(sorry, Accumulator, I think I might actually be disagreeing with you on this point!) you can clay gently enough to leave your LSP intact, I say you aren't claying, then, because if you are using clay to remove contaminants you can't otherwise get off, you are rubbing more than hard enough to remove even the toughest LSP....
Keeping this :argue in the proper spirit (hey folks, Superbee364 and I are pals)...
Heh heh, about time we disagreed about something
And I'm often feeling long-winded, so here goes:Nah, even with the SunGun and 15X I can't see any marring from my Sonus Green claying unless I mess it up (which *does* happen). But I've quit doing that sort of examination because (Autopian Heresy warning!) I just don't care that much any more, so maybe I *am* marring more than I think I am.
*Done the way I do it*, it doesn't strip Meguiar's #5 (!), much less my more durable LSPs (based on careful experimentation, upon which I can elaborate if necessary).
(And no, I'm *NOT* going (merely) by beading when I say it doesn't remove my LSP, though the beading I observe from well-LSPed finishes is very different from the beading I observe on polished but *not*-LSPed finishes. It's simply different just as the beading characteristics of various LSPs can be radically different.)
Clay an area aggressively/often enough and the beading will change, no mystery what's going on there.
But I spot-clay the heavily-KSGed MPV for months, and those areas are still thickly coated with the easily discernible KSG build film. Heh heh, if somebody can't tell that a surface is heavily coated with KSG then they have a problem that I don't have :chuckle:
When I clay entire panels, then yeah, the chances of micromarring go up exponentially. It's a risk I still accept most of the time, but it's a whole 'nother kettle of fish compared to the spot-claying I do to remove tenacious [whatever] without scrubbing with my wash media.
Here's the way I see it: if the clay glides across the surface of the paint/LSP/whatever on top of a film of lube, only bumping into/shearing off contamination that sticks up above the surface of the paint, then there simply isn't much opportunity for marring because the clay doesn't contact anything except the film of lube and the protruding contamination; it doesn't contact the paint and neither does any contamination that sticks to the clay (unless you wait too long to knead/replace or use too much pressure). But of course that's *IF* everything goes as planned though..and you know what they say about plans
Heh heh, would I bet superbee364 a nice dinner (say, for four
) that I could clay his MOPAR without *ANY* marring? Not on your life! But I'm OK with doing it to my own vehicles and if somebody other than myself wants to examine them, I'll live with the "hey, this isn't perfect!" judgment 'cause they're not perfect any how.
SuperBee364
New member
See, now if we could just keep *all* opposing sides discussions this civil on this board, we'd be getting somewhere. (Hides sledgehammer behind back.)
salty
Active member
I am going to take the civil road and say I agree with both of you.
The mildest clay I have would be hard pressed to marr a clean well lubed surface, that said it also has no real use because it doesn't remove hardly anything.
Step up to a clay that can remove a contaminate in timely manner and yes there is some marring going on.
Personally if i am going to clay a surface it is going to get polished after.
The mildest clay I have would be hard pressed to marr a clean well lubed surface, that said it also has no real use because it doesn't remove hardly anything.
Step up to a clay that can remove a contaminate in timely manner and yes there is some marring going on.
Personally if i am going to clay a surface it is going to get polished after.
SuperBee364
New member
salty said:
Yup, same here. Claying is polish prep.
Accumulator
Well-known member
salty said:
Well, I'd debate the "no real use" part, but you're right about it hardly removing anything; this is *NOT* real "decontamination" I'm talking about. Rather, it's just getting stuff that my oh-so-gentle wash regimen can leave behind (yeah, there're a few debatable issues there, huh?).
Whenever I clay for the purposes of resolving baggie-test-level issues I expect to perhaps mar things up a bit and have to polish. But that's one *very* rare situation for me, and if I luck out and *don't* see the need to polish after all, so much the better.
But then I avoid polishing/re-LSPing like the plague whenever possible...hey, I pretty much avoid detailing *period* as much as possible
salty
Active member
Accumulator said:
True the ultra mild clay would work for an after wash touch up, used properly. But for the average car it will not remove the contaminates in the time needed.
Because I do some correction after I clay 99% of the time, customers cars, I probably reuse my clay more than most. While not ideal, most of these cars have never been clayed and the simple act of removing the contaminates causes marring.
To use new clay on ever car would be costly, exception is the 1% that I see.
Accumulator
Well-known member
Salty- That brings up a good point: the diff between what a pro encounters and what somebody like me (usually) deals with. Once I get a newly purchased vehicle cleaned up, it just never gets really bad again, *ever*. So I don't really ever *do* what I guess is "normal claying"; I'm either hammering a neglected (by the previous owner) used car during the initial reconditioning, or decontaminating a new car (with "ABC" etc.), or doing maintenance details on something in near-concours condition. Kinda one extreme or the other.
Totally different from what you pros deal with, huh?
Totally different from what you pros deal with, huh?
CivicBeater
New member
superbee/accumulator, I've really enjoyed reading your commentary. Quite hilarious and I'm glad to see members of a forum agree to disagree in some aspects.
Very well, carry on...
Very well, carry on...
I have found that the softer and more pliable the clay, generally, the less marring. Riccardo yellow and blue are outstanding, followed by sonus green. Clay Magic Blue mars terribly for me, as its quite hard and un-pliable, as is Zaino clay (though they both are effective and efficient).
My guess is that the softer the clay the more readily contaminants are pressed further into the clay surface and therefore less likely to abrade the paint surface.
My guess is that the softer the clay the more readily contaminants are pressed further into the clay surface and therefore less likely to abrade the paint surface.