Clayed my car and scratched the hell out of it

I've only clayed twice and have not had any issues. I currently have Meguiar's.
 
I always use a light polish after claying for this reason. My car is black so when I clay I too see marring.
A little 205 on a finishing pad takes care of the marring.
 
I used a clay bar for the first time two years ago and was a bit worried trying this process on my 911's paint. The paint by the way was near perfect with only very light scratches/swirls to start with, but it did have contaminants embedded in the surface.

I followed the instructions on Mike's on-line video and after doing a small section on my car, my worries about claying vanished. Nothing could be easier and more relaxing to do.

One trick I came across myself was to listen to the clay and that happened when the washer in the room next to the garage finished its cycle. You can actually "hear" the clay picking up contaminants (although you can feel it as well when sliding the clay across the paint). When all contaminants have been picked up by the clay, all you can hear is the clay lubricant being plowed by the clay bar.

A wipe with a micro-fiber towel and the end result was a paint surface as smooth as glass.

Meguair's 205 with a Lake Country Blue CCS pad followed by a wax and the result was phenomenal.

I did not experience any marring of the paint after claying.

BTW, I used the Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay and lubricant.
 
We use fine clay 20 to 50 times per week. I have not seen what you are describing but will be watching closer now. I have in reserve some mild clay that I am saving for when that car with severe overspray or bonded contaminants comes in. I'm fairly new, but I think you need fine/ultra fine/mild clay if you want to avoid marring.
 
just want to say im not a pro detailer but i tried nano skin on my da and dont think i will ever use clay again. not to say i didnt get good results when i used it but the nano skin was much easier to use and i got very nice results. the paint was very smooth and the truck was an 03
 
Agreed. I have the nano skin wash mitts and they are fabulous!! I tried both the DA version and the wash mitt during an Autogeek class, can't go wrong with both.
 
theparmachine said:
Clayed my car and scratched the hell out of it


Okay, I need a littled advice here. I washed my car this weekend and then rolled it into the garage for an application of WGDGP. However, I felt a couple of panels and decided that it needed a clay first. I clayed the hood, roof and trunck and then i had to go run an errand. I came back to my car and noticed that I scratched the hell out of the finish. Not bad scratches but none the less it took about 2 passes with the M205.

What did I do wrong? I am fairly certain that the car was clean. Was the clay old and full of contaminents? It was bright blue but it was old. I am not a detailers, it's just a hobby for me? The clay was Megs medium grade, is that too harsh? Or, was I not using the clay lube right?

I have no idea and could use a little help.
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You need to use a lubricant in order to clay your car. I recommend not to use the same piece of clay over and over again since its the same are cleaning yourself with a dirty towel. I am attaching you this video and hopefully it helps out. It is a bit long but informative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqW1nzgyMNA
 
theparmachine said:
I have since switched to the Nano Skin wash mitts and I must say that these things are great.

I first found out about them at the Mike Phillips detailing bootcamp and they have never let me down. They get the job done quickly and I have not noticed marring with the fine grade mitt, the medium grade mitt will mar.
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NANOSKIN F T W!! - I've only gotten marring one time using them, it was on some very soft Ferrari paint. Nothing some 101 couldn't fix though. Just need LOTS of lube!
 
The first clay application on my black Mercedes was with medium grade and it left noticeable marring but I was polishing after anyways so it wasn't an issue. I now use an ultra fine grade clay mitt for maintenance and haven't noticed any marring. I constantly rinse the mitt during use as well.
 
I used to say I didn't like to wax without claying first. After less than year doing customers cars, I now do a test spot first with my clay mitt. Some paints mar easily.

I did a new darker red metallic Sienna van a month or so ago, and marred the heck out of a portion of the roof before I noticed it. It didn't take much to remove it with Optimum Polish, but it was an extra step and more time. I'm glad I noticed it when I did!
 
Mantilgh said:
I used to say I didn't like to wax without claying first. After less than year doing customers cars, I now do a test spot first with my clay mitt. Some paints mar easily.

I did a new darker red metallic Sienna van a month or so ago, and marred the heck out of a portion of the roof before I noticed it. It didn't take much to remove it with Optimum Polish, but it was an extra step and more time. I'm glad I noticed it when I did!
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So did you switch to traditional clay so it didnt marr as bad?
 
WOW...talk about old thread reply! :rolleyes:

theparmachine said:
.... I was using dish soap and water as the clay lube.....
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This part though is what stuck out to me, back when the thread was new. :eek:

Considering dish soap is a bit more harsh, and strips more than literally anything else you could use on your paint, short of maybe acid. :laughing:

Although.... with Nanoskin these last few years I'll more often than not just use a clean splash of pH neutral shampoo and let er' rip.;)
 
7.3powerstroke said:
So did you switch to traditional clay so it didnt marr as bad?
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Nope, I just didn't clay it anymore. It wasn't included in the package(it was an NDP job), I just like to do it because I know it's supposed to give a better surface for the wax to bond to. I should have tried traditional clay to see if there was a difference.

I just polished up the mess I made and moved on.
 
I use Clay Magic medium grade and it does mar the paint slightly especially when I go hard on stubborn areas. Usually a quick polish takes care of light marring.
 
We've done this with thousands of retail vehicles. Clay bar the vehicle in sections & in a covered area (preferably inside a garage) during the wash process. Use a wash mit with dish soap to remove any existing paint protection so you have a "blank canvas" going forward. The amount of suds the dish soap creates provides that additional layer of lubrication that limits the amount of surface scratches that can occur when completing the claying process.
 
I did my car last week and did a full clay job as I noticed little sandy feel to the paint all over
"including tail lights". I have a bucket heater in a bucket with ready hot water at all times to mold the clay after each panel.

I used first ONR in clay lube ratio which I know ONR does not recommend nor support anymore.
Although the proportion of the mix are small I was exact about it with measuring cups and all.

Anyhow using ONR as a clay lube was a disaster. It married the paint and clear film especially bad
on a medium hardness paint. It was easy to remove the marring however mid-way I switched to
CG- Chemical Guys clay lube "blue in color" It worked fine as not to scratch the paint but it was too "slick" and slippery for my licking,
It also has this terrible blue dye that you can see actually dripping blue all over the place and my hands turned blue!
so I had to ONR wash each panel after each clayed area.

What is everyone collectively agree on as the best clay lube that is not too slippery and effective in removing contaminants
"does not require multiple passes"?
I know some pros are extreme and only use water to pick up every speck on the paint quickly but that's not for me.
 
I use ONR. I add way more than what they recommend for clay lube. Never had a problem
 
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