I've never used clay and have been reading the various threads with great interest. I haven't seen this question answered directly -- can clay be used directly on the vinyl racing strips on my hood? Is there any special precaution I should take on using clay on vinyl vs painted area? All help appreciated -- naturally, that's where I have the most "stuff" adhering!

 

You can wash, clay, wax the strips just like your painted surfaces. You do need to be careful if you are using a RO buffer not to lift any edges.

Mark

 

if it's a true vinyl stripe clay should be no problem. i'd be very careful if it's
one of those printed stripes though...especially running polish over them.

 

You should be careful about one thing with vinyl stripes and clay however. When claying you should work from the vinyl out to the painted surface and not the other direction. I did have the misfortune of having a tiny bit of clay get caught under one of my stripes. It was a very tiny amount and I was able to work all the clay out without the stripe looking any different in the end.

Additionally the stripes on my Mini have a 1" gap between them, so I carefully work the clay in a up / down motion along the stripe while working out to the little bit of paint in between.

Guess the point is to be careful. As far as the durability of the vinyl, I use clay on them all the time, with no problems.

 

if anyone needs a drivers side cooperflags black stripe for the MCS
let me know. i have one in my basement... we only used the
passenger side to replace my buddy's stripe that got damaged only
on that side.

 

Thanks to all of you for your response! I wanted to make sure I didn't make something much worse!