Negative effects of polishing without claying?

Claying gets debri off the can get stuck in the pad or applicators. If it gets stuck then dragged across your hood with a polisher, you can see what would happen.
 
Actually, I believe the only thing that it does it reduce pad life. Polishing has been around longer than clay bars have. Claying has only been around since the 80s or 90s. Before clay, that's what detailers use to do.
 
Just one example (maybe a little extreme). I am currently working on a suburban that has a lot of paint overspray and by not claying first it will make the compounding and/or polishing process a little tougher due to the added friction created by the contaminated surface. I think that by not claying first, you may end up having to compound and/or polish the paint surface more than you would have had to if you would have just clayed the surface first.

So I guess what I am trying to say is in certain cases you could end up removing more paint than necessary trying to get the finish where you want it to be because you are not only polishing the paint, but you are also trying to polish off contaminates at the same time because you did not clay first. Obviously some cases (like the paint overspray example) would be more extreme than others. That's my 2 cents worth.
 
Swirls, Scractches, Pigtails, just to name a few, been there, Ill never polish with out claying again, so just do it.
 
i guess it depends on the car though..Like my car..I never clay it before I run my buffer over it..because its a garage queen..never sees any weather but sun and hardly moves..So just a quick wash and its good. but if it was a daily driver..I would def clay the paint.
 
05xrunner said:
i guess it depends on the car though..Like my car..I never clay it before I run my buffer over it..because its a garage queen..never sees any weather but sun and hardly moves..So just a quick wash and its good. but if it was a daily driver..I would def clay the paint.
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That's true. Not all cars would need to be clayed.

That is why you need to evaluate the finish first, as Mike always says before you start working on a particular vehicle. :)
 
Nothing like working all day polishing on something just to realize that you missed a spot while claying and end up with a circular scratch half way across the panel. I have had this happen a few times and it is a real killer of time and a waste of good clear coat. Some contaminates are harder than paint so claying is really important before rotary polishing.
 
Claying seems to shorten the time necessary to clean (paint cleanr) and polish (remove swirls/defects) the paint to baby butt smooth with paint clarity.

I can also feel the difference when polishing between claying and missing spots.
 
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