Claying experiences?

[acuRAS82]

Just wanted some feedback from forum people... for those who clay once or more times per year, do you gather much dirt/contaminants?

I Clayed my 2004 TSX for the first time ever last spring. I got a decent amount of crud on the bar, but not as much as I expected for a 13 year old car that was never decon’d before.

ive since clayed my wife’s 2016 (you can tell who gets to drive the new stuff in this household) twice, not much going on there besides when I went over some paint splatter she drove over and sprayed the passenger side wheel area.

As I clay the TSX right now, I’m getting almost nothing off... to the point that I’m questioning why I’m taking the time to clay.

Does anyone else yield very little/almost no results from claying? I’m using both a bar and a mitt and neither is getting anything besides maybe one pull per panel.

 

[1500canoe]

I don't have the experience to properly answer your question, but I would think this is ideally what you want. I had a similar experience recently and just figured "it's a new car, garage kept, and in a non industrial area".

 

[LSNAutoDetailingLSNAutoDetailing is verified member.]

I've been looking for information on microfiber pad coverage areas... when removing oxidation on boats and even heavy cutting on a car am i using the same mindset behind the foam pads which would be a pad for the hood, and break it up by sections etc etc or can i cover more surface area with these? i have a couple GG microfibers and i tried one on my extended cab door on the pickup and cleaned it after i was done before i went on to the drivers door just as i would any foam pad. It seems after i cleaned it with air and a tool it was ready to go more so than a foam pad after finishing a hood on a car..Keeping a close eye ensuring no product has dried on them or saturation. thanks!

You're using the wrong test to tell if you're getting above bonded contaminants off your vehicle. Just because your claybar doesn't look dirty doesn't mean it's not grabbing above bonded contaminants and removing them from the surface.

The tests you want to be using is the baggie test:
The Baggie Test - How to inspect for above surface bonded contaminants

What you need to do is first inspect the paint by rubbing your hand on it, feels smooth? Now put your hand in a sandwich bag and rub it on the paint gently. The baggie will allow you to feel all the above bonded contaminants. Clay the surface area, gently until the clay is smooth over the surface, then do the baggie test again.

Do not drive yourself insane trying to get 100% smoothness. Remember, removing most of the above bonded contaminants using clay increases smoothness, and leaves less "gunk" for your polishing pads to pickup. Smoothness is what creates gloss.

Hope this helps!

 

[Avgguy]

Just wanted some feedback from forum people... for those who clay once or more times per year, do you gather much dirt/contaminants?

I Clayed my 2004 TSX for the first time ever last spring. I got a decent amount of crud on the bar, but not as much as I expected for a 13 year old car that was never decon’d before.

ive since clayed my wife’s 2016 (you can tell who gets to drive the new stuff in this household) twice, not much going on there besides when I went over some paint splatter she drove over and sprayed the passenger side wheel area.

As I clay the TSX right now, I’m getting almost nothing off... to the point that I’m questioning why I’m taking the time to clay.

Does anyone else yield very little/almost no results from claying? I’m using both a bar and a mitt and neither is getting anything besides maybe one pull per panel.

Do the baggie test... put your hand inside a plastic sandwich bag and run it across the paint... you'll feel any contaminants on top or not....but most likely you will.

But I only clay when I'm compounding or polishing afterwards. No need to, imho, otherwise. When I do I use a clay mitt. I can usually feel any contaminants on paint and I can also hear a different sound. Really.

 

[Eldorado2k]

You're using the wrong test to tell if you're getting above bonded contaminants off your vehicle. Just because your claybar doesn't look dirty doesn't mean it's not grabbing above bonded contaminants and removing them from the surface.

The tests you want to be using is the baggie test:

I respectfully disagree. I sometimes find the opposite to be true, meaning I’ve had numerous vehicles that actually pass the baggie test, but when I went ahead and did a test spot it turned out to have a bunch of crud coming off onto the claybar.

Not all contaminants are created equal, generally they’re able to be felt on the surface when doing a baggie test, but sometimes they’re not yet the paint is still in desperate need of a claying. IME this is sometimes the case when I run into a vehicle that somehow passes the baggie test yet I know it’s too good to be true because it’s probably never been clayed in its life.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Since we’re talking about claying... I polished a black Infinity yesterday. I wasn’t able to do a baggie test due to the car being dirty then wet after the bucket wash [I hate how that gets in the way of being able to do a baggie test] But either ways I was sure this car needed to get clayed so left it wet and began claying with a Med Grade Nanoskin Mitt and the paint was crazy loaded with contaminants.

Even with a Med Grade Mitt it took a while before the paint became smooth and it was so bad that I almost felt like it was too much for the mitt and taking precious life away from it.

So I decided to try my old claymitt in certain areas... I prepped at night and when I woke up yesterday morning to continue on the car I noticed some areas were extremely marred. I was like what the heck happened here? Then I remembered I had used my old claymitt on those spots. Lol. The rest of the car had no marring thanks to my new mitt being well taken care of.

Check out the difference between the mitts. I use the old mitt to clay windows.

 

[Paul A.]

I do the baggie test on my car about once a quarter i.e. about every 3 months. I wash it weekly and find I need to clay every 6 months. Its a daily driven vehicle.

 

[Kamakaz1961]

The Baggie test will determine if you need to clay or not.

 

[FUNX650]

Just wanted some feedback from
forum people... do you gather much
dirt/contaminants?

As I clay the TSX right now,
I’m getting almost nothing off...

Does anyone else yield very little/almost
no results from claying? I’m using both a
bar and a mitt and neither is getting any-
thing besides maybe one pull per panel.

When I Clay...(and even if the Claying
process doesn’t result in getting more
than one pull per panel; not gather much
dirt/contaminants; getting almost nothing
off)...the other result from Claying that I
look for is the highly anticipated increase
in the amount of gloss of the paint surface.


After all:
•Gloss comes from a smooth surface.
-One way to create a smooth surface
is via the Claying process.


Bob

 

[Belo]

I don't have the experience to properly answer your question, but I would think this is ideally what you want. I had a similar experience recently and just figured "it's a new car, garage kept, and in a non industrial area".

there is some truth to this. All cars are exposed differently. I think the test is the most important answer, however you should know how often you drive, your climate and where it's kept. Perhaps you still need to clay, just not as frequently as some do. It's like pool chemicals, I can't tell you exactly what your pool needs until I test it first

 

[DBAILEY]

That's the idea. If you are taking good care of the car you shouldn't have much to clay bar. If you waited until you could see the dirt accumulate on the clay bar then you waited too long.

 

[Desertnate]

I freely admit I don't do a baggie test on my own vehicles when I clay them annually. However, I do notice a difference with my bare hands when claying. The surface is much smoother afterwards. I can often also tell the clay is doing it's job by how it slides across the paint. Even with the best lube you'll be able to feel the resistance lessen as the contiminates are pulled from the paint to the point where your last pass should be frictionless. Seeing embedded grime in the claybar for me depends on the location of the pannel. The roof and hood might see a little. Lower doors will see more grime and the rear hatch is always the worst.

When I Clay...(and even if the Claying
process doesn’t result in getting more
than one pull per panel; not gather much
dirt/contaminants; getting almost nothing
off)...the other result from Claying that I
look for is the highly anticipated increase
in the amount of gloss of the paint surface.


After all:
•Gloss comes from a smooth surface.
-One way to create a smooth surface
is via the Claying process.


Bob

Very true. I think this change in apperance is more noticable with lighter colored cars. My darker vehicles will always look glossier after a good session with a claybar, but I've seen white and silver cars have a dramatic difference. When I first clayed a silver car I owned years ago, the color change was quite dramatic. That one instance alone sold me on using clay.

 

[acuRAS82]

I can vouch. My silver Acura definitely looks glossier and feels smoother after claying Friday night... even with barely any rough patches during the process, the clay obviously improved the overall paint look/feel.

 

[LSNAutoDetailingLSNAutoDetailing is verified member.]

I respectfully disagree. I sometimes find the opposite to be true, meaning I’ve had numerous vehicles that actually pass the baggie test, but when I went ahead and did a test spot it turned out to have a bunch of crud coming off onto the claybar.



Not all contaminants are created equal, generally they’re able to be felt on the surface when doing a baggie test, but sometimes they’re not yet the paint is still in desperate need of a claying. IME this is sometimes the case when I run into a vehicle that somehow passes the baggie test yet I know it’s too good to be true because it’s probably never been clayed in its life.

Page 30 of Complete Guide To a Showcar Shine ~ Mike Phillips This is why I stated "Just because your claybar doesn't look dirty doesn't mean it's not grabbing above bonded contaminants and removing them from the surface."

True, which is why I stated, "removing most of the above bonded contaminants using clay increases smoothness, and leaves less "gunk" for your polishing pads to pickup" I think the point is the OP is looking at his clay wondering why it's not dirty. That will not always be the case. I don't do baggie tests, and if I do it's really for the customer. When I get a car in, it's going to get Bug/Tar decon, Iron-X, Wash, Clay, Polish, LSP regardless. For my own vehicles, I don't clay unless I'm going to polish.

I hear what you're saying...

 

[Eldorado2k]

Page 30 of Complete Guide To a Showcar Shine ~ Mike Phillips This is why I stated "Just because your claybar doesn't look dirty doesn't mean it's not grabbing above bonded contaminants and removing them from the surface."

True, which is why I stated, "removing most of the above bonded contaminants using clay increases smoothness, and leaves less "gunk" for your polishing pads to pickup" I think the point is the OP is looking at his clay wondering why it's not dirty. That will not always be the case. I don't do baggie tests, and if I do it's really for the customer. When I get a car in, it's going to get Bug/Tar decon, Iron-X, Wash, Clay, Polish, LSP regardless. For my own vehicles, I don't clay unless I'm going to polish.

I hear what you're saying...

Ok, but I’ve never had paint that failed the baggie test, and after I clayed it the claybar was clean as a whistle...

...Yet afterwards the paint suddenly passed the baggie test. [meaning that contaminants were removed even though they weren’t visible on the claybar] I’ve never seen that happen.

[I also don’t see where it says that’s possible on those pages from Mikes’ book]

I have however had paint that passed the baggie test, yet when clayed there was tons of contaminants visible on the claybar...

 

[SWETM]

I don't either think that you feel all bonded contaminants on the paint even with a baggie test. If you get to a new customer and would explain for them the baggie test is a good way for them to test it. But for you own cars or customers cars you have maintance of you don't always feel the contaminants even with the baggie test. Cause you hold down the amount of contaminants on a well maintained car. But it's still gets them on the paint. Then it's up to you to decide if you benefit to clay or not. And a test spot with claying is a good way to see how the is. Then it's much of the environment you live in which and how much contaminants you get on the paint too. And the level of maintance and the LSP and other things that makes the difference.

 

[acuRAS82]

Ok, but I’ve never had paint that failed the baggie test, and after I clayed it the claybar was clean as a whistle...

...Yet afterwards the paint suddenly passed the baggie test. [meaning that contaminants were removed even though they weren’t visible on the claybar] I’ve never seen that happen.

[I also don’t see where it says that’s possible on those pages from Mikes’ book]

I have however had paint that passed the baggie test, yet when clayed there was tons of contaminants visible on the claybar...

Just to clarify where I’m at now: my clay wasn’t super clean after claying Friday, but just not as dirty as I expected. Maybe I didn’t know what to expect but I’m back on the clay train now. It’s good to do and I do believe it has lots of benefits, whether the baggie test reveals a lot of roughness or not.

I should note that on my hood the baggie test is tough because there are so many tiny paint chips that get felt but obviously are going to remain during the clay process.

 

[Desertnate]

I should note that on my hood the baggie test is tough because there are so many tiny paint chips that get felt but obviously are going to remain during the clay process.

I think too many people are getting hung up on the baggie test. I don't question it's validity, and when you're a pro being paid good money by a customer for absolute perfection of their vehicle, it has it's place. However, for those of us doing lesser jobs or simply keeping up our own fleet of non-show car vehicles, I feel simply performing the act of claying a vehicle is far more important than passing the baggie test or how much grime is visible on the clay. If you are claying the vehicle properly, the paint will benifit, and hopefully it will be measurable either by touch and/or visually.

Maybe I'm a simple knuckle-dragger, but I've got several cars in the 6~10 years old which look as good/better than new. I always clay before re-applying an LSP, but I'm pretty sure some area's which feel perfect to my "naked" touch would fail the baggie test. I'm OK with that.

 

[Belo]

I can vouch. My silver Acura definitely looks glossier and feels smoother after claying Friday night... even with barely any rough patches during the process, the clay obviously improved the overall paint look/feel.

there's no debate that claying is good for any car... I think the question is more along the lines of how often is it worth the time to clay? What's the ROI on clay once a year or once a month etc.

 

[acuRAS82]

there's no debate that claying is good for any car... I think the question is more along the lines of how often is it worth the time to clay? What's the ROI on clay once a year or once a month etc.

I think in my environment with my 2 cars, once a year seems adequate. It had been 14 months since my last clay and I’m writing threads to convince myself it was worth it... and the outcome is that it was worth it. Less time than 12 months inbetween and I’m not sure I would arrive at the same outcome, in my environment.