Clay + Bag Test

[agarabaghi]

So I clay bared my car last time I washed it and then waxed it and to the touch of the hand it felt amazing.

This morning at 430am I woke up and decided to rub a zip lock back over the paint just to see what I felt.

To my surprise I could feel ALOT of imperfections. I focused on the hood mainly and ran a clay bar with maguiars mist n wipe detailer, and it seemed to have gotten better (doing the bag test again). Is this something that I should expect, doing the clay bar after each wash will continue to improve the surface of the paint?

Before you say "well you drove the car after the wash" I wanna just put it out there that after the last wash the car has not left the garage.

Thanks!

 

[c8n]

Have you inspected the paint with the baggie test after your initial clay?

Provided you clayed your car properly and your car sat inside your garage the whole time, I can only guess that there is something wrong with your garage.

 

[mwoolfso]

What wax did you use?

 

[DogRescuer]

I love showing customers after Ive washed their car the "baggie test". Keep gently claying and eventually it will be decon free.

 

[agarabaghi]

I did not.

How smooth are we talking the bag needs to be when running over the paint? Some areas were smooth with maybe a couple little grit feeling bumps, and some areas like the top middle of the hood which I could have neglected to reach felt a bit more rough.

 

[c8n]

You really should not feel anything and the paint should be silky smooth after a proper claying.

I am not aware of any issues of claying your car frequently but personally, I would rather just do a complete clay job once every few months. The more often you clay, more lube you are wasting.

 

[SON1C]

You really should not feel anything and the paint should be silky smooth after a proper claying.

I am not aware of any issues of claying your car frequently but personally, I would rather just do a complete clay job once every few months. The more often you clay, more lube you are wasting.

and the chance of inducing marring! ^

OP did you reclean the hood before you baggie tested again?
As dust and debris etc will set onto the paint but not adhere to the point you need to break out the clay bar again

 

[agarabaghi]

What wax did you use?

The initial wash was:

Maguiars gold class
Compounded some scuffs and scratches with maguiars one step compound
Clay barred with GG yellow clay and used maguiar mist and wipe detailer stuff
Then I applied Rain X wax (all I had)

While parked in the garage I went a head and applied a layer of Maguiar Pure Wax over it.

Then I did the baggie test a day after and notice those imperfections or surface dirt. So then I clayed again and applied only the maguiar pure wax... and it felt better... I think I just need to continue doing it. The car is new to me, but 3 yrs old...

 

[Dr_Pain]

and the chance of inducing marring! ^

OP did you reclean the hood before you baggie tested again?
As dust and debris etc will set onto the paint but not adhere to the point you need to break out the clay bar again

:whs:

 

[agarabaghi]

What does reclean entail?

I wiped down with a microfiber before trying the clay again?

If you mean wash, no. It was 430am and i was bored... haha

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Just to note...

Often times when I do the baggie test AFTER I've thoroughly clayed the paint I can still detect a few bumps/contaminants still on the paint. Even if I re-clay.

When I use tools like,

Nanoskin Autoscrub Buffing pads – Fine and Medium Grade
Nanoskin Autoscrub Fine Foam Pad
Nanoskin Autoscrub Medium Foam Pad

Nanoskin Speedy Prep Towels – Fine and Medium Grade
Nanoskin Autoscrub Towel, clay towel
Nanoskin Autoscrub Towel, clay towel

Nanoskin Autoscrub Wash Mitts
Nanoskin AutoScrub Fine Grade Wash Mitt
Nanoskin AutoScrub Medium Grade Wash Mitt


The paint always feels like clean glass or even a chalk board, (Have you felt a chalk board lately? It feels very smooth, that's how you want your paint to feel)


The thing is all of the above will tend to mar the paint to some level so I only use these types of tools if I'm already planning on machine polishing the paint.

Actually, I only clay when I'm already planning on machine polishing the paint.


Here's an example, when we buffed my truck out the first time we used the Nanoskin Autoscrub pads to REALLY get the paint smooth.

1987 Chevy 4x4 Monster Truck "Before & After" Pictures

Craig using a Nanoskin Autoscrub Fine Grade Pad on the Flex 3401

49 days later when I buffed out the hood and roof I used detailing clay and it actually did work to remove all the contaminants both before and after the baggie test. But that's because I wipe the exterior down almost every day.


Bouncers Capture the Rapture Monster Truck Detail




Decontaminating Paint using Detailing Clay
I felt the paint with my hand and it felt smooth and clean. So next I did the Baggie Test. You can read about the baggie test here.

As I suspected, the paint is contaminated with "something" because I can feel little bumps sporadically placed over the finish. I figured this would be the case, there's just too much junk in the air including tree sap mist here in Southern Florida. So I'm going to clay the hood and roof. The sides felt smooth so I'm not going to clay the sides.

Capturing the spray coming out of the bottle shot
This is one of the hardest shots to capture, that is the spray actually exiting the nozzle. I think I took 5 pictures and caught it in this one.

Yep, that's my hand claying the hood....
I'm using Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay and Pinnacle Clay Lube because Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay is an Ultra Fine Grade Clay and that's what I wanted and that's all the paint needed.

Claying the roof
If you look at the perspective of this shot... that's me claying the roof.

Light Contamination
The truck was buffed out just 49 days ago and religiously wiped clean, including the roof, (I use a Werner aluminum work stand to get into the truck bed), so it's not going to be super contaminated. BUT there was some kind of gunk on both the roof and the hood and mechanically removing contaminants is a lot more effective then hoping they'll buff off by machine. Foam pads tend to glide over contaminants while the abrasives in the clay will abrade the contaminants off.

Here's the obligatory dirty clay shot...

 

[umi000]

What does reclean entail?

I wiped down with a microfiber before trying the clay again?

If you mean wash, no. It was 430am and i was bored... haha

At the very least, a QD or waterless wash - otherwise, you're feeling the dust and dirt that's fallen on your paint in the interim (and rubbed it across the paint too, probably causing marring). In fact, if you want to really minimize marring, try to avoid touching the paint unless absolutely necessary (for a wash, polish or LSP application) - the less touches, the fewer the possibilities to instill marring. Also, I would never use a dry towel on paint that hadn't just been washed - better to be safe, and use a product that adds lubrication (as mentioned, QD or waterless wash) along with the MF.

 

[agarabaghi]

Gotcha... well ill have to look into the waterless wash then! haha

I think overall maybe I rushed the clay job (as it was my 1st time) and never got everything completely clean.

I guess we will see what happens next time...

 

[c8n]

Others might cringe at me but if the car has been sitting inside the garage, I use California Duster and it only gently and lightly hovers over the paint. I tend to think this is a better method than applying even the lightest pressure wiping off QD and etc.

Edit: I should have also mentioned, if I am going to clay, I would just wash it again.

 

[ken tuep]

I have also found the Griots clay to be almost too fine. Meguiars usually does a much better job. The clay may be to blame, not lack of effort.

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[agarabaghi]

The best part of this hobby, besides this forum is being able to try new products!

Can maguiars clay be purchase without the whole kit?

 

[ken tuep]

It can be ordered here at AG.

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