Clay service with no polishing after?

Johnnyboy

Johnnyboy

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I've gone through different websites for detailers (some of who belong to AG forum members) and I noticed that a lot of them seem to offer claying the car as part of the detail but no polishing afterwards.....only protection (wax/sealant). Me personally, don't see how that would work considering that there is a slight chance that there could be marring or worse from claying the car.......especially on darker colored cars. Any insight as to why someone would offer this? Maybe I'm missing something here?
 
After clay wash the car to get the clay residue off and I would inspect the paint with a brikman light or similar and see if theres any micro marring scratches etc. If not why bother? Unless you wanna get some gloss out of it.

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Not everyone is willing to pay the price for paint correction. I do it all the time when people want a sealant/wax done. We have had a debate on whether or not to do on black cars. Sealant needs a clean paint to bond to it. Most the marring comes from clay baring in my opinion is from improper claying.With softer paint yes there is a bigger chance of marring.
Todd
 
^ That....very well said. A clay bar treatment itself can be a value-add for a wash & protection detail. It's one of those easy '50/50' demos, where you can show the customer what just came off a 2'x2' section of the hood. :)
 
A lot of hobbists and car enthusiasts will wash, clay and wax, so that limited process isn't out of the ordinary for potential customers. You can utilize an AIO product as the LSP which may help to diminish any marring induced by clay. Moreover, if someone doesn't want their vehicle polished and is willing to live with the existing swirls, I doubt a little marring is going to bother them either. If it's a brand new car with soft paint, there is definitely some risk, and doing a test spot would be the wise choice before committing to a process and price.
 
I have a hard time convincing people about the benefits of decontaminating (because of the time and money involved). I have on more than one occasion clayed without polishing and as it was pointed out before, if they are able to live with the scratches, swirls, RIDS, water spots etc... they will not notice the micro marring (if you left any behind).

It is a lot easier to convince them of the benefit of claying, ie better substrate to put sealant and wax and improved longevity of the "sacrificial layer" but the extra gloss?.... nah!
 
Good information from all of you.....slightly different takes on this but all seem to have the same idea! I wouldn't feel comfortable advertising such detail but then again, a lot of my customers seem to want smooth paint and "shine" and I guess explaining the risks of having the paint clayed and not polished correctly beforehand, would knock out some of the worries of them claiming that their car doesn't look like they thought it would....... and to be honest, they don't seem to care about the risks once the price goes up because of the process and time needed to do the proper correction.
 
It's not something that I recommend but yea. If I warn them about what the end result could be and they don't care then I go ahead and do it.....but I don't like to advertise it because I don't really feel comfortable claying without polishing.
 
Pureshine said:
Not everyone is willing to pay the price for paint correction. I do it all the time when people want a sealant/wax done. We have had a debate on whether or not to do on black cars. Sealant needs a clean paint to bond to it. Most the marring comes from clay baring in my opinion is from improper claying.With softer paint yes there is a bigger chance of marring.
Todd
Click to expand...

^^^ Agree
 
I offer clay bar treatment without polishing and it's included in all my packages except my maintenance washes. Many of the vehicles I see are already swirled to begin with and the customer doesn't want to pay for paint correction. So, I will do my normal decon (iron-x & clay bar) and then apply a sealant or a wax. It helps with longevity of any LSP to ensure a clean surface to apply it.

Yes, it can induce some marring on softer paints but if your keeping the clay clean, kneading to a new area, and using a quality lube, then the risk of marring is not that high. Also, depends on the aggressiveness of the clay your using.
 
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