Compounding/Polishing with out Claying??

[investinwaffles]

Is this a huge no-no? My car was clayed about a month ago, and i wanted to know if it was a bad idea to skip claying the paint, and hit it with the intensive polish from menzerna, then to the nano polish??

 

[bambo2888]

nah, youll be fine. in fact, i would have hit it with polish right when i noticed the imperfections. you chose two very good polishes to do it with, too. good luck!

 

[D]

Cars really only need to be clayed once or twice a year. Do it more and Id use Pinn. poly clay. I ALWAYS clay customer cars before polishing. 99% of the time the cars havent even seen wax in the past year.

 

[Thejoyofdriving]

always clay.

 

[sparkie]

To clay or not to clay, it's all up to you! If it was my car and I had time, clay. But that's me...

 

[investinwaffles]

nah, youll be fine. in fact, i would have hit it with polish right when i noticed the imperfections. you chose two very good polishes to do it with, too. good luck!

I just got my UDM. Im not really detailing for $ right now, just friends and families. Since i only got my UDM this past week, i havent had time to fool around with it and i only barely had time to wash it today. So, ill just wash it later with some dawn soap to get the old wax off, then try out my new stuff.

 

[D]

You dont need to use dawn soap, its unnecessary, and too strong on weather stripping.

 

[bambo2888]

in all honesty, i would skip the clay bar if youre going to polish. polishing will not only do what the clay bar would, but also gets the swirls etc. whats the point in clay baring if your just polishing that surface away? it sjust unecessary overkill in your particular situation.

likewise, a small amount of dawn (squeeze for 1-2 sec. into the bucket) is a nice beginning to cleansing the paint. i would still recommend following with Pinnacle's Paintwork Cleansing Lotion to really cleanse the surface.

As for what D&D said about the seals, the Dawn-wash should only used used very seldom, so in reality, you really don't need to worry about the rubbers. It would be a different story if this was routine, which we will all highly advise against. These one or two Dawn-washes won't really dry anything out for ya.

Good luck!

 

[D]

That may be true. But why use unnecessary products that do more harm then good. Even if he doesnt use the clay bar, hes still polishing so that will remove anything left after the wash. So in my mind, Dawn does more harm then good no matter how many times you use it.

Dawn also turns brake rotors yellow. I guess that doesnt matter if you're using wheel cleaner that turns them yellow, but still.

 

[bambo2888]

That may be true. But why use unnecessary products that do more harm then good. Even if he doesnt use the clay bar, hes still polishing so that will remove anything left after the wash. So in my mind, Dawn does more harm then good no matter how many times you use it.

Dawn also turns brake rotors yellow. I guess that doesnt matter if you're using wheel cleaner that turns them yellow, but still.

just about every wheel cleaner and auto soap will turn your rotors yellow. if you look, your rotors get rusty just over night, its normal. the second you press your brake its instantly removed, no big deal.

i personally just cant justify claying if youre just going to polish/buff. whats the use? many pros, including myself, use Dawn on a daily basis when starting fresh on a car. theres no harm.

 

[D]

PB wheel gel, P21S wheel cleaner, NXT Wash, Gold Class, DP Xtreme, PB wash, all those dont turn them yellow. I find that if you turn the rotors yellow, then the second you hit the brakes it turns up a lot more dust. If I use a harsh wheel cleaner such as PB spray and rinse. Then once Im done using it Ill drive the car up and down the drive way a couple times hitting the brakes to get rid of it, then hit them with the pressure washer for a final cleaning. When I do this, the water that flows off the rim is black even though the rim is clean. Im not sure if this happens because the rotor is yellow or not, Ill have to experiment more with that.

"i personally just cant justify claying if youre just going to polish/buff. whats the use?"

So whats the point of using Dawn if you're going to clay (most of the time) and polish?

We could argue about this all night.

 

[Thejoyofdriving]

I always clay, even if im going to polish. Think about it. You are going to be polishing your car in a mix of polish, pollen, road grime, brake dust and fallout. Claying will remove most of these contaminates, which means you are going to be polishing your car in clean polish. not in a slurry of polish and Contaminates.

 

[tod071]

Is this a huge no-no? My car was clayed about a month ago, and i wanted to know if it was a bad idea to skip claying the paint, and hit it with the intensive polish from menzerna, then to the nano polish??

What else was done to the car? If you clayed a month ago, did you polish too? Or did you just wash, clay, and wax?

If you polished a month ago as well, do you really need to polish again? As far as claying after a month, I don't think you need to. As D&D suggested, I too, would only clay 1-2 times a year to remove heavy build up of contaminants.

 

[TOGWT]

I always clay, even if im going to polish. Think about it. You are going to be polishing your car in a mix of polish, pollen, road grime, brake dust and fallout. Claying will remove most of these contaminates, which means you are going to be polishing your car in clean polish. not in a slurry of polish and Contaminates.

Well said young grasshopper-

If I’m going to polish the car with an abrasive, do I still need to use detailer’s clay?
One good reason to clay before you polish; polishing can result in smoothing and rounding the surface contamination it making it significantly harder to remove later. Although a polish / compound will remove the contamination there is a risk is that the abrasive particles will become embedded in the foam pad, which will cause surface scratches / marring by making the foam /polish more abrasive than necessary

 

[bambo2888]

So whats the point of using Dawn if you're going to clay (most of the time) and polish?

He said the car was clayed a month ago... why would you waste your time and clay AGAIN, and then go and polish?? It useless.

PB wheel gel, P21S wheel cleaner, NXT Wash, Gold Class, DP Xtreme, PB wash, all those dont turn them yellow. I find that if you turn the rotors yellow, then the second you hit the brakes it turns up a lot more dust. If I use a harsh wheel cleaner such as PB spray and rinse. Then once Im done using it Ill drive the car up and down the drive way a couple times hitting the brakes to get rid of it, then hit them with the pressure washer for a final cleaning. When I do this, the water that flows off the rim is black even though the rim is clean. Im not sure if this happens because the rotor is yellow or not, Ill have to experiment more with that.

Its interesting you speak of all those cleaners discoloring rotors, because with the PB S&R, P21S Gel and Spray Cleaners, NXT, GC, and DP Extreme Foam that I have in my cabinets right now, THEY ALL TEMPORARILY DISCOLOR EVERY ROTOR THAT I HAVE USED THEM ON. Sure, you can sit there and keep the rotor soaked and immediately go and drive the car while they are wet, then you may be able to prevent it. However, IN EVERY SINGLE EXPERIENCE I have had with all of these products, once the rotor dries (within 10 min), they are yellow and orange.

We could argue about this all night.

This is a forum, where opinions and tips are discussed, no need to take offense to someone else having a different opinion than you.

 

[BILL]

Clay it.........

 

[D]

LOL, Im not arguing about claying with you. So I dont know why you keep bringing that up. And I never said I was taking offense to anything you're saying. I simply said we could argue this all night because there are many reasons on both sides. You read into things wayyyyy too much.

 

[ZoranC]

He said the car was clayed a month ago... why would you waste your time and clay AGAIN, and then go and polish?? It useless.

It all depends on conditions car is being exposed to. Pollution level and type of contaminants where it is being driven and where it is being parked, whether it is parked outside or inside, dew, etc. I can show you cars that are in bad need of claying after just a week or two in what are "normal" conditions. Removing contaminants in some way before starting to polish them is a must unless one hates that paint. Also, polishing will not remove all contaminants.

 

[ltoman]

I noticed you said it was clayed about a month ago. That should be just fine!!! No worries!
Good luck!
~Lauren

 

[bambo2888]

Lauren and I live in the real world.

Hey, a customer came in today and had an all black, on black wheels, c6 making 737 to the rear wheel. I thought of you... hehe AND its his daily driver!