acid rain

[sonicblue02]

Does clay barring remove acid rain/ hard water spots from your paint? Or should I use some sort of paint cleaner. I have #9 swirl remover will that remove it or no? Thanks

[Mike Phillips]

Clay bars are for removing above surface defects.

Cleaner/polishes, Paint cleaners, and Compounds are for removing below surface defects

If claying doesn't remove the defect, and M-09 Swirl Revover 2.0 doesn't remove the defect then you will have to substitute a more aggresssive product.

Mike

[sonicblue02]

If clay bars are for above surface defects and paint cleaners are for below surface defects then what is the purpose of clay barring? Won't paint cleaners remove everything that a clay bar would remove? Now that being said I do understand that clay bars are much less aggressive and are "safer" on the paint, is this the reason why they are used over paint cleaners when only above the surface defects need to be removed? I hope you understand what i'm trying to get at. So if I plan on using a paint cleaner this spring on my car, would i need to clay bar it also? Thanks.

[ebpcivicsi]

I would definitely clay it anyway. IMO a clay bar will make a paint cleaner more efficient and will also ensure that suface is REALLY clean. Once you get the hang of claying, you will be glad that you did.

A word about acid rain spotting... the spots can get VERY deep VERY quickly. From time to time you will see them that are just too deep to go after. Polishing them out with a rotary maybe possible, but at the expense of too much clear. In other words, be careful.

FWIW, I got my car off of the transporter, no prep, no touching, I watched them unload it. When I got home and detailed it for the first time, there was a spot just behind the sunroof that was etched very deep. I would suspect that it occured sometime during transport and etched that deeply in a very short period of time. I looked at the paint under a 500 watt halogen and a maginfying glass(I wouldn't recommend this) and it was just too deep to go after, it is still there :(

[Beercan31]

http://store.yahoo.com/autopia/inf-clay.html