Clay bar scratches

[UT-Engineer]

No drop in the clay, as it was a new bar. and i would apply a decent amount of detail spray for each section. I did just wash the car however, i did not completely dry the car. I washed the car with plenty of suds and then hosed it down from top to bottom to eliminate dirt or particles staying on the car before i started the claying process. How important is it to have the car completey dry before claying. I thought as long as i spray down some detail spray, water left over from my final rinse shouldnt hurt the clay process? am i wrong? thanks for all the tips and help.

[Iwantone2]

I believe it is fine to leave the water from your final rinse on your car when clay barring. That should not have any effect on claying.

[UT-Engineer]

Originally Posted by Iwantone2

I believe it is fine to leave the water from your final rinse on your car when clay barring. That should not have any effect on claying.

K, I thought this would be fine. The car has 56K miles on it, about 80% of it HWY miles, and this was my first Clay experience. I checked the car out during my lunch break and only noticed the "new scratches" on the hood and not any where else so thats a relief. And TBH you cant see it unless youre at the right angle up close but I know theyre there. So machine polishing will be my next step. Im really hoping they wil come out with the swirl n haze remover.

[midlife]

The 4" Adams pads on a cordless drill with either sever or regular swirl remove should do the trick. My method of swirl and stratch removals goes like this because less is better.

First Machine Polish & PC with a little spray detail. If not happy
PC again with swirl remover. If not happy
PC again with sever swirl remove. Still not happy

4" Adams Pad on the cordless
First regular if not enough then sever swirl remover.

If all of that does not make you happy then it is compound & the big guns which a rarely use.

The key is to work slowly and watch your product work.

[Bond]

Originally Posted by Russell James

I've seen clay used perfectly, no pressure, lots of lube... and cause horrible scratches.... never using the stuff again.

Yep... I'm with ya.
Tried three seperate attempts.
It's another marketing sham.
I can get just as good results without the clay and without the risk of scratches.

[babaron]

Originally Posted by Bond

Yep... I'm with ya.
Tried three seperate attempts.
It's another marketing sham.
I can get just as good results without the clay and without the risk of scratches.

How exactly do you remove the contaminants and get that glass smooth feel without the clay? I'm curious.

[UT-Engineer]

Originally Posted by babaron

How exactly do you remove the contaminants and get that glass smooth feel without the clay? I'm curious.

Well I am assuming I did the clay process correct on the rest of the car beacuse it does feel like glass on the panels, trunk, doors, even the hood. It looks slick as ever. I finished it up with some wax after the clay and it was bright and clean. If youre not going to clay, i would think after your final wash a nice polish then wax would be in order to get it feeling like glass.

BTW i did notice claying the windows all the way around made the glass a whole lot easier to clean and kept water beading up and rolling down.

The scratches are not severe IMO. Theyre close to the swirl marks i already have so Machine polish should do it.

[Camaroshark]

Originally Posted by Iwantone2

I believe it is fine to leave the water from your final rinse on your car when clay barring. That should not have any effect on claying.

Not sure about that. You've rinsed the car to get rid of suds and those suds can have particles suspended as could the water that doesn't run off from the rinse.

[Iwantone2]

Originally Posted by Camaroshark

Not sure about that. You've rinsed the car to get rid of suds and those suds can have particles suspended as could the water that doesn't run off from the rinse.

I don't personally clay bar with the water from the wash. I dry before I start claying. But I saw the article in the link below that talks about claying with wash water:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...lay-paint.html

Although, I think they mention that they use "soapy water" as a lubricant instead of detail spray. Not too sure that I agree with that...

[UT-Engineer]

Originally Posted by Iwantone2

I don't personally clay bar with the water from the wash. I dry before I start claying. But I saw the article in the link below that talks about claying with wash water:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...lay-paint.html

Although, I think they mention that they use "soapy water" as a lubricant instead of detail spray. Not too sure that I agree with that...

I used soapy water for cleaning the car, rinsed the car down and got all the suds off where it was just water (hard water tho) and then used my detail spray for the clay process. im sure the detail spray mixed with some water that was on the car. Any how, Ill probably just clay twice a year.

[Adam's Polishes]

Claying wet is fine and had nothing to do with whats going on here.