Quote:
Originally Posted by indyz
I use meguiar's gold class soap.
The reason I ask is I've been using meguiars gold class soap & ultimate wax on my honda, since I bought it new. I did have it "paint corrected" by a pro, prior to this regimen.
I dont have any swirls or anything but I was claying the car today after washing it clean. There was a ton of crap embedded in the paint/remaining wax, that appeared on the clay bar. I really keep this car super clean. Its always spotless and waxed regularly.
For being a bit OCD in keeping the honda so clean, I am shocked at how much grime has accumulated while using a reputed pH neutral soap and a decent wax (IMHO).
EDIT: The maximum I have gone without re-waxing this car has been about 7-8 weeks.
So, should I be claying more than once in 6-8 months? Because pH neutral doesnt seem to clean away all the grime the car collects. And this is not the daily driver, mostly sits in a garage. Its only been driven about 5500 miles.
I am not looking forward to claying the camaro. That car has seen 10k miles in the past year and sits outside a lot more than the honda.
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Everything has its purpose, and everything has its limit. Soap is for adhered dirt and soap with mild agitation for light amounts of oils and greases (example: fingerprints). Clay is for getting embedded particles out of the paint that regular washing cannot remove, regardless of choice or pH of soap. For tar and visible heavy grease and oils: tar remover. For iron: some folks prefer the better-living-through-chemistry approach with iron-x, etc. instead of clay.
6-8 months between clays seems entirely reasonable for an outdoor car. Not sure where you are in FL, but if you live downwind from the Big Bend power station in Apollo Beach every 6-8 weeks (or 6-8 days!) may be more the reality
Yes a high pH soap may have more chemical grease and oil-dissolving capability. And while you could use Dawn detergent or one of those super-harsh drive-thru-carwash soaps on the car that is not recommended (obligatory thread topic content), you would still need clay to get out the embedded stuff and tar-remover for the tar.