Hi Mike,
I'm wondering if it is necessary to buff off the dried lubricant after I finished claying the car? I having heck of a time trying to buff off the dried lubricant with a micro fiber towel after I finished claying the car... it leaves a hologram/haze effect on the paint, and it takes some crazy elbow grease to completely buff it off.
Although others have posted already to this here's my take...
After claying a section, wipe off the residue while it's still wet. I think this is pointed out in both of these articles.
Tips and Tricks for using detailing clay
Mike Phillips said:
After you're finished claying this section, wipe-off the excess residue from the surface before moving on to new territory. This means having a few clean microfibers on hand and someplace clean and accessible next to the car.
After you wipe the section clean and it's dry, check the surface with a clean dry hand to insure it is in fact smooth and
glassy feeling, if it is, try to remember how long you clayed the section or approximately how many strokes you used and then lock this into your memory and duplicate this to each new section you clay. Keep in mind that some bonded contaminants are more stubborn than others and may take more effort to remove or a more aggressive clay formula.
Repeat the above until you've clayed all the panels that felt contaminated wiping the clay lube residue off after claying each section.
And also in this one,
Wolfgang Elastic Poly Clay Bar - Review and How-to
Mike Phillips said:
Next I rubbed the clay patty back and forth over an area about 16" inches squarish or so. At first you will feel the clay grabbing a little bit, that's normal, as you continue to move the clay over the paint it will remove more and more above surface bonded contaminants and then will start gliding effortlessly.
This is a pretty good sign that this area is now clean and smooth
and you can wipe-off the lubricant residue and then move onto a new section.
Can I go straight to white polishing pad with the dried lubricant still on the car (so I can skip the buffing step)?
Gosh no!
Claying remove above surface bonded contaminant and while most of these will be trapped onto your detailing clay, some will be mixed in with the residue left on the surface so not only wipe the surface clean but DO A REALLY GREAT JOB OF WIPING THE SURFACE CLEAN.
If you don't feel you can wipe the surface clean or want to take the extra step of insuring the surface is 100% clean the you can re-wash the car. I have no problem with anyone re-washing the car or with anyone recommending to re-wash the car but in my entire life I've never re-washed a car after claying but instead just done a great job of wiping the paint clean.
Detailing a car already takes a long time, adding the extra steps of washing the car and then drying the car will just make it take even longer. Like many things related to detailing cars, not washing or re-washing will be personal preference.
I'm also wondering, if my paint doesn't have much swirl marks after claying the car, can I go straight to machine polishing (Porter Cable Orbital Buffer) using white LC white polishing pad with Klasse All-in-one?
Sure if you want to, depends upon what your expectations are, one man's ceiling is another man's floor.
Klasse All-In-One is a cleaner/wax or cleaner sealant for all the D.O. people, point is it falls into a category in the car wax industry referred to as Cleaner/Waxes.
I've been teaching people to do a Test Spot ever since I started posting to the Internet and don't plan on stopping that practice anytime soon, so if it were me I would do a test spot using your pad, product and process, (process is how you apply the product with your pad), and then wipe the residue off and inspect the results in good lighting. If it looks GREAT, or at least great to you, the duplicate this over the rest of the car. If is doesn't look that good, or at least not acceptable to you then won't you be glad you didn't go over the entire car?
If your test spot doesn't look good then come back here to the forum and ask for help.
