First Time Claying

playloud

playloud

New member
Well, now that I have received my special Clay order from Poorboy's, I am going to clay a car for the first time. I have a few questions:

1. Do I need to clay the rubber trim? I am going to do the paint and the windows, but the CRV has a lot of trim.

2. Will Poorboy's S&W work as a lubricant, or should I get some S&G or something else altogether? I have read the discussions about using just water, claying as you wash etc. I would like to have a lubricant on hand just in case.

3. Will any clean microfiber towel work to wipe off the lubricant?

I plan to polish next so I will not worry about completely cleaning the car after claying. My polish questions I will pose in another thread... :confused:

Thanks for any advice!
 
I've always liked S&W for a clay lube, it's very slick and it assures a clean finished product. I've also used S&G, #34, and the DP QD with success (though the DP has wax in it, this makes your first polishing step kind of odd).
 
1. No, unless there is paint overspray or something you want to specifically remove.
2. Yes, S&W, or any QD will work. I cut QD by half with water to save cost, but if that isn't an issue, enjoy the scent. Soap and water works fine. I don't find just water works.
3. Any mf with soft edges, yes.
 
Just to add to the other members' excellent responses, DON'T clay rubber trim. Rubber tends to hold a tremendous amount of dirt, and the clay will pick it up so fast that you will waste quite a bit of clay. Also, I like to clay while I wash, but the water is pretty soft here. I mix up a bottle of around 1oz. soap to 30oz. water for extra lube where the suds aren't enough.
 
Just to add a few more tips you might already know about . . .

-If you drop the clay on the ground throw it away.
-Do not use the same clay on your paint that you have used on wheels or glass. Split your clay bar in a couple of pieces and use each piece for a different area. Alternatively, you could clay the paint first and then do the glass and/or wheels. Once you use clay on glass or wheels you should only continue using that piece for those areas.
-Be sure to keep checking your clay to see how dirty it's getting. Once you've picked up a decent amount of contaminants re-mold the clay folding the dirty side in on itself to expose a clean surface.
 
My advice would be to cut the clay up into smaller, yet still manageable pieces. That will help cut the emotional stress of dropping a brand new piece of clay on the ground and having to toss it in the garbage pail. :)
 
Welcome fellow CR-V'r :) There's a lot of black trim on our V's, but I don't clay mine. I just hit it with Spray & Gloss after washing & buff it up well.
 
Another newb clay question.

How do you know when the clay is dirty and needs to be folded or tossed? Does it become visibly dirty? Does it stop cleaning well? Or does it start to fall apart?
 
The clay will become visibly dirty...you will see black/brown specs clay. When they start to become a bit concentrated, you fold the piece. When you can't find any surface of the clay where the visible dirt is not concentrated, it is time to relegate the clay to window+wheel duty.
 
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