Problems...

[MRCLEAN]

Re: Problems...

i watched mike's video but after you do certain areas of the car, and want to do another is the clay resuable or do you have to throw it out. the reason i ask is because if you do a certain area and you get all the contaminants, it is still on the clay would you want to reuse it on another part of the car

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Problems...

i watched mike's video but after you do certain areas of the car, and want to do another is the clay resuable or do you have to throw it out.

In most cases the answer is "No", you knead the clay folding the clay into itself and then re-form the clay back into a circular patty about 4" in diameter and continue claying.

If you are ever working on a car where when you fell the paint the surface feels like #40 Grit Sandpaper, then you're going to want to have more clay on hand as it's gong to load up with contaminants faster.

Our guess is that because this is a brand new car you're working on, it really shouldn't be super bad as far as bonded contaminants go, but you never know.

So clay a section, then knead you clay to expose fresh clay and continue around the car. Most people clay a few cars with their clay before throwing it away.

If you want to be super careful, and the owner of the Jag doesn't mind paying for it, you can use as much clay as you want, break out a new clay bar, clay a little area and then throw the clay away and use another brand new clay bar. Do this for as much clay as you feel like spending money on.

Again, most people try to get as much use out of their clay as they can before throwing it away by kneading it and using it over and over again, but if you're worried about using clay over again then that's your choice and you can buy lots of clay and only use each clay bar for a few passes and pitch it and start again with fresh clay, guess it depends on how much money you want to spend and have to spend.

the reason i ask is because if you do a certain area and you get all the contaminants, it is still on the clay would you want to reuse it on another part of the car

You have to use some common sense and BALANCE when working on your car or anyone's car.

In a perfect world, you could buy clay cheaply and make a pass or two and throw the clay away and grab a new bar to continue, but most people consider clay to be on the expensive side for how it's used, again... that's why most people knead there clay and continue to use it until it is visually too dirty to continue to use, (that's the common sense part).


Again, you're claying a brand new car, how bad can it be?

It's not like a car that is parked at the end of the Los Angeles Airport every day and has jet exhaust plus all the dirt in the air landing on it and then bonding to the paint. (We've had cars here at Meguiar's that are parked like this because the owners work at the airport and the amount of bonded contaminants on their paint is unbelievable).

So you decide if you want to knead your clay and continue using it or you can decide to buy a couple cases of clay and go through it like paper towels, that's your choice.

Just use some common sense and balance in your approach and don't make claying harder than it has to be, it's really a simple process.

Hope that helps...

[MRCLEAN]

Re: Problems...

thanks mike for all the help you are the man

[Jokeman]

Re: Problems...

It's not like a car that is parked at the end of the Los Angeles Airport every day and has jet exhaust plus all the dirt in the air landing on it and then bonding to the paint. (We've had cars here at Meguiar's that are parked like this because the owners work at the airport and the amount of bonded contaminants on their paint is unbelievable).

Your not kidding about jet exhaust! My girlfriends house is right in the take-off path of logan airport in Boston. I clayed her car for the first time last week, I was shocked at the amount of contaminants in the paint. The car also had the DISO.....those are on next weekends list of things to take care of.