is claying only like a once and a while kind of thing? or can you clay whenever you want, like i'd probably do it every couple weeks when i do a major detail. does the clay take off layers of the surface? or just the evniromental comtaminates? is it bad to clay frequently?

 

as frequently as needed... physically and emotionally.


minimum is spot claying before each waxing... but i tend to spot clay
now and then and just spot wax areas that see the most wear... ie:
front bumper, side mirrors, rear bumper.

my paint has very little contamination.

 

alrighty then, thanks for a quick response.

 

One thing to note, clay will take off your LSP/ wax. If you use something like zaino, prima epic, etc that is a long lasting product then you're undoing what you've done in applying it. That's what limits me in how often I clay (at least the entire car). Of course spot claying for bugs, tar, etc is good. I wouldn't worry about clay taking too much off as long as you're using over the counter megs, mothers, etc.

 

Like Ken, I spot clay as needed. I also do a full clay before a major detail, about twice a year.

Mark

 

cadfael- not necessarily if you use Griot's mud. that clay is so soft they even
advertise that it will not remove wax.

but i re-wax anyway.

 

I only clay twice a year when I do my major detailing job

 

+1 for 2x

 

I'm never sure just how much of the wax it takes off. I've been using the Meguiar's blue professional stuff which is more aggresive for the twice a year pre-wax details.

 

Same here. That's plenty under most conditions (read: as long as you don't go two months without washing your car)

 

allllllrighty thenn...all good info, thanks.

 

ahahha... i wash my car every week..

 

Me too. At least two of them, anyway.

 

spot claying....hmm i like that idea. I just clayed my entire car about two months ago and the rear hatch and bumper is completely full of contaminates not to mention the front bumper and mirror caps have bugs baked all over them. Guess I better start taking up this idea of spot claying to keep my car nice and smooth! Thanks for the tip!

EDIT: BTW can you clay glass or will that leave permanent scratches in it?? The back window feels like sandpaper even after washing/scrubbing the car.

Steve

 

Not only can you clay glass, I highly recommend it. No, you can't scratch the glass with the clay. Unless you have a diamond embedded in the clay, that is.

In fact, many of us use our older clay, the stuff we may not feel 100% comfortable using on our paint, for our glass.

 

I had to clay both mirror caps last night, to get the road tar off. I used Speed shine with the Griots clay, followed by a dry application of Hydro.

 

Yikes ! If your tires kicked road tar up on the caps, did you check the A-Panel and doors really well ?

Yep, gotta love that detailer's clay.

 

There was a fair amount of tar on the clear bra, doors looked fine, Did not check the Pillars yet. There is some road construction on route 495, it the car in front of you, thorws up a fair amount of crap. Keeping your distance is key.

 

once a week....i didnt know you were allowed to only wash a mini once a week. Are you sure that infrequently is legal?

 

Thanks for the help, much appreciated!