New to claying

pilfjd

pilfjd

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Just looking for some advice and suggestions. As the title says, I'm new to claying and I wanted to do it on my car. I've never done it before in my 1+ years of ownership and I wanted to do it last night. My goal for now is not to get rid of swirls and such but just to get the paint nice and smooth and relatively clean for a decent coat of protective wax/sealant.

Anyway, the clay I used was Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay because everyone seems to think it's pretty safe and non-abrasive way to clay a car. Well, after 2 hours I'm done. I'm pretty happy with the results, but not the amount of time it took to do the whole car because it seems that it takes about 30-40 minutes for professionals to do a whole car. Is this a typical? Would a more "aggressive" clay speed up this process? Or is it because the car hadn't been clayed in over a year?

The next step later tonight is to use Pinnacle Paintwork Cleanser then apply some Collinite 845.
 
One thing I've noticed people new to claying do and that is move their hand slowly over the paint. Not saying you did this just something I've noticed other's do. If a person does move their hand slowly over the paint it will make the job last a lot longer.

Here's a video that shows the right way to clay...

Show Car Garage Video: How detailing clay works and how to use detailing clay to remove above surface bonded contaminants



As for using the Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion, here's a couple of articles on the topic...

Priming your pad when working by hand

How to use a hand applied abrasive polish or paint cleaner by hand


The below was taken from this article, pretty dramatic before and after shots of the pads and the impurities removed even after washing and claying...

How to clay, clean and wax paint by hand with Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion and Pinnacle Signature Series II Carnauba Paste Wax


While claying will remove above surface bonded contaminants, Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion will remove embedded road grime and pollutants as you can see when we compare the applicator pad we used to a brand new, clean applicator pad.
PaintCleaningByHand012.jpg



New, never been used clean foam applicator pad
PaintCleaningByHand013.jpg




Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion removes road grime and dirt that stains the paint and will hinder any wax from bonding to the paint. Besides helping your wax to bond better to the paint by removing embedded road grime and dirt staining, you create a more clear finish which will enable your eyes to see the beauty of the color coat under the clear coat as well as sharpen reflections and increase gloss.

After cleaning half the hood...
PaintCleaningByHand014.jpg
 
I joined AG back in July and reviewed the link Mike provided you before I did my first claying exercise this summer. My new vehicle (< 3 mos. old) took ~ 45 min. My wife's Acadia was about 18 mos. old (never been clayed before) and it took me 90 min. to 2 hours. I have read that the pros clay cars in 20 - 30 min. Not sure how true that is but I am resolved to "depending on the age of the size of vehicle and the last time it was clayed your mileage will vary", and sleep well at night with this in mind. :-)
 
This first time I clayed it probably took 1 1/2 hours. Over time I've gotten MUCH faster at it. I can clay my car in about ~30 min. I think its because of a couple of things, you get much faster a kneading the clay, the spray of clay lube, the wipe off ect has become much more fluid. Also claying it on a regular basis makes it go by much faster.
 
Thanks all, and thanks Mike. Your guide on how to use Pinnacle Paintwork Cleanser was the primary motivation to do all this. My suspicions on enhancing my technique and regular claying will help make it go faster seems to be confirmed. I'll certainly have another opportunity to enhance my technique when I do my wife's car next. It will probably be another 2 hour effort since we drive her car more than mine and it gets less car washes, but I'm hoping to change that and keep her car washed regularly.
 
I too have gotten faster as I've gotten more experience. I start on the cleanest panels first and move to the dirtiest last (just like washing)

For any given panel, I find that working from the right to the left side works best for me since I hold my lube in the left hand. Working from right to left means I can constantly be spraying the area I will be moving into, which helps speed things along as my clay rarely gets "stuck" b/c there isn't enough lube to help it along...
 
When is the right time to clay? Before you strip your old waxes and sealants (with ps21aw/griots paint prep) or after? Would this be ideal or should you do the paint-prep first? I think I marred my finish when I stripped them off first one time.
1) clay
2) griot garage paint prep
3) polish
4) wax
 
If you are going to polish the paint, using paint prep is pointless. The clay and polish will completely remove any old wax or sealant.
 
bigez said:
When is the right time to clay? Before you strip your old waxes and sealants (with ps21aw/griots paint prep) or after? Would this be ideal or should you do the paint-prep first? I think I marred my finish when I stripped them off first one time.
1) clay
2) griot garage paint prep
3) polish
4) wax
Click to expand...

You should use Griots Paint Prep after the polish. I know it states that it can be used before 'polish' but when they say that I think their more talking about glazes. The paint prep will remove the oils in the compounds/polishes so your wax or sealant will bond much better.

Sent from my DROID Pro using Tapatalk
 
can you clay a car when wet or should you always clay a dry car. I will be using lubricant either way. Also I see based on Mike's claying video that I might not have to clay vertical surfaces of my car?
 
WRXINXS said:
can you clay a car when wet or should you always clay a dry car. I will be using lubricant either way. Also I see based on Mike's claying video that I might not have to clay vertical surfaces of my car?
Click to expand...

I had this question as well. I once tried to clay a wet car and marred the finish. Although I was using the clay lubricant, I believe because it was still wet (from the wash), the water diluted the clay lube and made it less slippery and more likely to scratch. That's my theory, but I don't know.

Could I have used the car wash itself as lube? (after it was clean of course). Or, is it best to just dry the car completely and then clay. The problem is, after I clay, I usually want to wash again, so was tying to save a step.
 
how long should it take to clay an average car? and roughly how many oz of lube should you use
 
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