Clay Strength

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Clay Strength

It almost feels/looks like while the paint was still wet it was exposed to a lot of dirt/dust/debris.

M105 with a wool pad

[3Fitty]

Re: Clay Strength

It almost feels/looks like while the paint was still wet it was exposed to a lot of dirt/dust/debris.

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Clay Strength

I think it's not the clay but the contaminates embedded into the paint.
Maybe you need to compound it to remove contaminates and paint.

[Heatgain]

Re: Clay Strength

I agree, start with a paint cleaner. It's prolly single stage paint and you were removing oxidation.

[Murr1525]

Re: Clay Strength

Would seem hard to get that much dirt on it that quickly, unless they literally sprayed it with black paint after they were done. But you cant see overspray dots or anything?

[3Fitty]

Re: Clay Strength

Well, after I clayed, I went over the car with SwirlX by hand and that was still pulling dirt out of the paint.

I feel like clay was doing the job, just not fast enough. Plus, in the back of my head, I knew I didn't have my G110 or M205 or M105 or most of my other goodies, so I had to do the best with what I had.

[G Force]

Re: Clay Strength

Perhaps a start with a paint cleaner such as DC 1 would have helped

[3Fitty]

So, I got an opportunity to work on my father-in-law's 1981 Chevy Monte Carlo (light blue), this weekend, only I didn't have ANY of my products with me.

A quick run over to the local Autozone and I got a few things I needed and went to work.

The car was repainted about a year ago (maybe a bit more) with a cheapy paint job at Maaco. When touching the paint, the car felt like it had sand grains imbedded in the paint.

I had purchased the Meg's clay kit with the consumer clay inside and got to work. I split the clay in half because I knew this car was going to be trouble. So, I started claying the hood and my clay went black INSTANTLY. I started working the clay and hit the same spot. Black again. I kept working the same spot and it just kept coming back dirty. I quickly realized that if I kept up this pace, the car would take me 4 days to just clay, so I figured I'd just do the best I could.

Long story short is that I improved the feel of the car but not NEARLY as good as clay normally leaves the car feeling. It is like there was no end to the dirt in the paint.

So, would this be an example of when I should be using a more aggressive clay? If so, what does it do differently? Does it pick up more crud off the paint?

Also, suppose I kept working my mild clay in the same spot, would the mild clay eventually yield the same result as the stronger clay, just needing more passes?

I'm just trying to figure out what I need to do to get this finish glass smooth. The next time I get a crack at this car, I want to be better prepared.