Mild & Aggressive Clay

[SL1CK]

How do you know when to use either? This past weekend, a friend brought his car to me and the clearcoat was badly ingrained with dirt. He said his car had sat in a junkyard for months. The car's paint literally ripped my "regular" Meguiar's clay apart.

To put into perspective how bad the paint's dirt is, get this: Someone placed some square shaped object on his trunk, and the trunk now has an outline of where the object was place. The outline is because of the dirt. You can hear the HISS of your hand rubbing against the paint.

I went to my local automotive stores, Pep Boys, O'Reilly's, AutoZone, and even Wal-Mart, and none stock the mild/aggressive clay. However, how should I go about picking which one I should get?

Thanks

[Murr1525]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

I would almost cnsider using a paint cleaner on a terry cloth first... then clay.

[SL1CK]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

Cleaning before claying? This paint was horrible (in terms of dirt in the CC). What cleaner would you recommend?

[Detailer420]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

@ Work We use acid on cars to fix cars like that.its called FALLOUT TRANSIT COAT REMOVER you can find this at http://www.stingerchemicals.com/


FALLOUT TRANSIT COAT REMOVER #742
Is an oxalic acid based cleaner for removing industrial fallout, rust, rail dust and transit coating. Is safe for glass, rubber molding, trim, and painted surfaces. Saves time and effort because it is acid based and quickly dissolves metallic fallout. (Contains No Silicone)
Available in 1,5,30 or 55 Gallons • Color: YELLOW • Scent: Neutral

[the other pc]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

Sounds like it could well be a job for aggressive clay.

Keep in mind that it’ll probably need machine buffing after using aggressive clay (which is a good reason why you can’t buy it in consumer stores like the ones you mentioned). Of course, from the sounds of it it’ll probably need machine buffing anyway.

You can get aggressive clay from a paint and body supplier: How to locate Meguiar's Professional and Detailer products in your hometown


PC.

[Murr1525]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

Agressive clay could also work, but it is still the same "surface area", so would load up with dirt and grime just the same, only quicker.

For real bad single stage paint (real real bad) cleaning first can be done, and might be an option here as well. You would want to do a rough cleaning, then clay, then a "proper" cleaning.

So any cleaner would work... The idea is more to pick up the dirt than to really clean properly. I might not bother with ScratchX as you wouldnt be using it properly, so kind of wasting it.

[SL1CK]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

The car is a BC/CC car.

I was planning on going with:

Wash
Aggressive Clay
83
80
Nxt or Gold Class...

thanks for the input yall

[Murr1525]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

Thats cool, try a little of both ways if you have to and see what works best....

[mattaleca]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

I saw a post from Mike Philips that has a red toyota pickup that was horrible. They had to use a cleaner/polish first then hit the clay after so it wouldn't load up the clay bar. Let me see if I can find it.

[SL1CK]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

I saw a post from Mike Philips that has a red toyota pickup that was horrible. They had to use a cleaner/polish first then hit the clay after so it wouldn't load up the clay bar. Let me see if I can find it.

Please post it if you can find it. Thanks!

[roushstage2]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

It is in the extreme makeover section.

[mattaleca]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

Tyler
I can't find it. I PM Mike he thinks its in archive. I just saw it last month...thought it was pictures from a Thursday or Saturday class. Could be wrong.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

Here's the link to the thread, the pictures won't show up till I tweak the code for each image. Been offline sick for 4 days so we're kind of behind in all areas here on the forum but we'll tweak it real quick.

http://forumarchive.meguiars.com/forums/thread/11301.aspx

That won't fix your problem however as the tip for cleaning before claying is for SINGLE STAGE PAINTS THAT ARE HEAVILY OXIDIZED.

The point being, is if you clay dead oxidized paint you'll simply load your clay up with dead paint. Instead, clean of the dead paint and then clay.

No time to go into more detail as we have more typing to do in a zillion other places today and tomorrow to try to catch-up.

For your problem...

The aggressive clay remove remove contaminants faster, that is with less passes. It will still be a lot of work and your clay bar will become loaded up with all the gunk you're removing.

The aggressive clay can also cause what is called, Clay Haze, thats a term for fine scratches instilled into the paint by the clay. Most people get horrified when they learn about this but what they fail to remember is that th AGGRESSIVE CLAY is sold in the PROFESSIONAL LINE not the Consumer Line, and Professionals are supposed to know about this and not be surprised and not ever really care because in most cases after "quickly' removing whatever it is they want to remove quickly they're going to use a ROTARY BUFFER next.

See? If your claying process is achieving your goal, that is you're a PRO trying to remove bonded contaminants QUICKLY, (that's the idea behind aggressive clay), then you're a happy camper because now you can move on to your next process and in the detailing profession it's usually all about speed, that is how fast can you get the job done and then start the next job to make the most money in one day.

So you can if you wish try the aggressive clay just do so with the foreknowledge that it's a clay bar for use by Pro's that understand the ramifications and also know how to do the follow up work to get the job done.

We've had some really NASTY cars come to our Thursday and Saturday classes and we've been able to fix them using our Consumer Clay and just tackling the car with some perspiration and patience. Usually, you have to SHRINK THE SIZE OF YOUR WORK AREA DOWN and use more downward pressure with PLENTY of lubrication. (You need more slip when you press harder)

The car we worked on last weekend had paint that felt like 40 grit sandpaper and we fixed it using our Consumer Clay.

Click here to read more or post your comments!

Haven't had time to post any pictures because we've been offline down and out... will try today or tomorrow.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

Photos are fixed, not sure it helps with your issue about cleaing up the car you're working on?

[mattaleca]

Re: Mild & Aggressive Clay

Thanks Mike. Hope you feel better. After seeing this truck come back from the dead anything is possible.