Clay bar
 

So I’m wanting to do a light polish and then sealant and I will do a clay bar first.
Currently I have CG yellow (OG) clay bar. The cars finish feels very smooth and I take very good care of it and wash it weekly. Will claying still be necessary and is the clay bar I have good or will it be too abrasive?

For reference here are the steps I have in mind:
1. Wash with CG clean slate.
2. Clay with CG yellow clay and cg clay lube.
3. Rinse (is this step necessary?)
4. Polish with Jescar Finishing polish and white pads on a DA.
5. Wipe down with IPA.
6. Apply Jescar Power lock+. (Wait a couple of hours after)
7. Apply collinite 845.

Do the baggy test. Put your hand in a Ziploc bag and rub it across the finish , if it feels like sandpaper you need to Clay, but it feels smooth you don't need to. I personally think claying is very overrated, I get it smooth in the polish stage…

The clay keeps your pads from getting full of junk.

I agree, do the baggie test and you will know instantly if you need to clay or not.

So I did the bag test and yes I could feel some contaminants. Did the clay bar on the whole car and it probably took out about 75% of the rough feeling with the bag test. I am in the polishing stage now. I started from the rear and working forward. It feels like it’s taking me about 20 minutes per panel. I did the trunk, rear bumper, and both quarters so far. Took about 1.5 hrs to do those. Car looks really glossy but when I wipe the panel I can feel how dry it is. It is night and day dieference verses having a protective coating.

You probably didn’t go over it enough with the clay if it was at 75%. 100% is the standard. In the future, do more passes or use heavier clay.

I could have used the grey clay which is a medium cut, I was just a little leary of adding more marring to the finish. I finished the polish and then applied Jescar powerlock sealant. I’m in love with that stuff. Super easy on and even easier off. Check out the link.
https://youtu.be/fiv6_kUhKcc