Why Clay?

[SenojNW]

I'm relatively new to detailing and thought I might be able to skip this step... until today! I have a new (1 month old) car with metallic silver paint - I wash weekly but I did my first polish/wax today (just the bonnet/hood by hand) using Meguiars Wet Look Polymer Sealant (or Meguiars Cleaner Wax for the USA folks).



The finish came up nicely but when I ran my hand over - YUK!



You can't normally feel these spots when you run your fingers over while washing but they sure did stand out when it is waxed! I've taken a couple of pics that I thought showed how this grime/brake dust/whatever it is behaves when it hits the paint - look at it eating into it in the close up!



Well - better add some clay to my order!



Thought you guys might appreciate some photos of what this stuff looks like close up!



Is this likely to be worse on the front end? I don't want to clay my whole car!



How often do you guys clay? :think:

 

[gtbaka]

It's always a good idea.



Try running your finger across a paint surface inside of a plastic sandwhich bag. That shows you things you can't feel with a bare finger.

 

[Hey Moe!]

During the warm-weather months, I like to clay avery 4-6 weeks, which is about as often as I like to put on a fresh coat of LSP. The Sonus green clay available at Autopia works well for this purpose, as it allows me to remove "gunk" without getting rid of the last coat of LSP that I applied.



When I do my "spring detail," (coming soon, thank goodness), I clay before polishing, and I have some leftover Griot's clay that I use for that. Removing old glazes/waxes doesn't matter at this point. I just want to remove as much of the contaminants as I can.



When I first got serious about detailing, I didn't understand the importance of clay. I do now.

 

[SVR]

Same for me as well, I love the feel and softness of the sonus green

I clayed my bonnet yesterday for the first time in many months, nothing beats the feeling of clayed and polished paint.

 

[JoeJ]

you need to clay. Claying isnt difficult at all, and really not all THAT time consuming. I dont see why you wouldnt want to take the time to do the whole car.

As for how often I clay, I usually do it 3x per year. Once with my spring clean, with a pretty aggressive clay, once mid summer with the sonus green or other fine clay, and once before my fall detail that I do to winterize the truck.