Questions after my first detail..

[cmp1223]

Ok, today i just finished the detail of my Silver Honda Accord 2000 EX-V6 (pics coming tomorrow). First, i washed with Turtle Wax Zip Wax (had it on hand) then clayed with TopOftheLine clay and a 1:16 ratio of shampoo:distilled water as lube.



Question: The car still felt gritty after the clay using a bag. Could this be the clay, lube, or my technique? It took me about 30min to clay it and i used moderate pressure and broad strokes. Maybe I was going too fast w/ the stokes. Similar to the speed of wiping a window, but slower. Or, is this just the way it is, just a little gritty after clay.



Then i went on to SSR2.5 (orange pad) for scratches i put into in using a kitchen pad and then SSR1 (white pad) on the entire thing. I could not feel the scratches with my fingernail, but after everything a few faint scratches still remained. Is this normal? I expected 2.5 to remove everything. I worked slowly. It took me about ten minutes to do the trunk scratches on PC 3-5.



Also, about every body panel i put another few lines of SSR on the pad, is this about the right amount, ot too much?



The rest was good: AIO w/ white pad, and EX-P by hand. Look great! Thanks to everyone here!

 

[lpquick]

No time limit to claying a vehicle, when I clay I am constantly testing the area I'm claying, when the grit feeling is gone, I move on to another area that needs work. I don't clay every inch. I just clay where it needs it. Of course I'm talking about my own car and since I take care of it, wash it, I know where it needs claying if at all. You seem to be in a rush IMO, could be just the way I read your post, sorry if I'm wrong. I only clay before I'm about to refinish my car, not every time I wash it. I will not start to refinish until I remove all the grit, that's why I clayed in the first place. If I didn't, I would be afraid of marring and swirling the finish while working, undoing all my hard work! Hope this helps!