clay marring

[Marvinj]

First of all I would like to say thanks to everyone for all their posts and the wealth of information that is on this website! It's good to hear that there are other people like me that are absolutely CRAZY about keeping there car looking good!!! I just bought a '06 speedway blue toyota tacoma. I washed (gold class car wash) clayed (mothers, couldnt find meguiars) polished (#7) then finished up with NXT wax, all applyed by hand. now when I look at the finish at certain angles in the sun I see marks that look like scratches from the clay bar!! I used plenty of quik detailer and I know the clay pulled a LOT of stuff off the finish, (I clayed the whole truck) after reading through the forums I realized I should have used a paint cleaner after claying and before I polished. my question is which one should I use??? I've kinda narrowed it down to #9, #82 or deep crystal cleaner but I dont know which!!!
Thanks everyone!!!

[sneek]

i think #9, #82 and DC1 all have diffrent uses. if i was you i would go for DC1 for the whole car and ScratchX on the scratches. also if you cut the clay bar in half and change the clay once the first peice is "loaded up" then you should be free of scratches

[Murr1525]

It seems you are working by hand. For removing swirls, you are going to want ScratchX by hand. DC#1 is too mild, and will not remove any swirls.

What you can do is remove the swirled spots with ScratchX, then go over the car with something like DC#1. Or doing the whole car with ScratchX is swirls everywhere.

Brand new cars are actualy more likely to have raildust from transporting.. which will scratch paint easier than just regular old stuck on dirt.

[Accumulator]

Yeah, the thing to watch out for when claying (besides using enough lube that the clay itself doesn't mar) is the contamination. Once it gets stuck to the clay, the clay becomes sandpaper until you knead it (to move the contamination "inside" where it's away from the paint) or get out another piece (I use small pieces and pitch them when they're contaminated). Sometimes a single stroke against contaminated paint is enough to leave the clay loaded with abrasive contamination.

Noting that I have more experience with Meguiar's Pro line, I'd get a bottle of #80. It works fine by hand as well as by machine. But otherwise, yeah, you'll need something other than DC#1 to remove the marring and ScratchX works well if you put a little elbow grease into it.

[Marvinj]

yeah when I was claying it picked up a LOT of ****....I was kneading but probably not enough, I'll try the #80 and see how it goes. thanks for the help!!!