Clay or Not

[mis3]

I was about the do the full 5-step 2 weesk ago but did not because of the low temperature. I just did a wash and wax with Cleaner Wax (Mirror Glaze).

I washed my car today and my car surface is super smooth. Do I need to clay anytime soon? I am asking this because I try to save effort and products.

BTW. I usually do the 5-step once a year, after the winter I wash every 1-2 week and wax every 3-4 weeks. My car is silver Mercedes, 9 years old and well-maintained since new by Meguiars products.

[Murr1525]

Re: Clay or Not

If it is smooth, it isnt really needed.

Can just do it before a wax along the way if you decide it is needed.

[Detailing by M]

Re: Clay or Not

ALWAYS CLAY!
I put this "no clay if it's smooth" to the test on a show car that only sits in the garage and was barley driven.
As I was waxing the minuet contaminates started to show and I stopped and clayed the whole car.

Clay is an awesome product and before we had clay it was so hard to remove contaminates.
Now that we have it people aren't using it?
That makes no sense to me.
Clay, always clay. You never know what is on the paint, never.
So be safe and remove the contaminates before they mess up your detail.

[davey g-force]

Re: Clay or Not

You could try claying a small section and see if the clay picks up any contaminants by looking at the clay bar.

If it is dirty, then clay the whole car. If not and you want to save time/money, then you could skip it.