Rav4 with a side decal - compounding?

[dbssoccer]

The white paint on my Rav4 needs some work. I plan to use UC, UP followed with Liquid UW. Will explore clay but have not yet investigated when clay is a viable step or not.

My question is how do I deal with the decals. I would assume either the DA pad would rip them up or they would rip up the DA pad.

I tried to post a picture but I guess I'm not yet allowed to post pictures. The decal in question is factory applied and runs along the rear fender area on both sides. It is probably vinyl and contains graphics and color.

[The Guz]

Re: Rav4 with a side decal - compounding?

Google the baggie test. That will tell you if you need to clay or not. If you have never clayed then I recommend you do it.

Tape off the decal or don't go over the area.

You can put the photo in your gallery and then post it here. You will have to compress the size a little.

[The Guz]

Re: Rav4 with a side decal - compounding?

I got it for you. I would mask the decal off and polish around it. You could get to some areas by hand or with a small pad on a DA.

[dbssoccer]

Re: Rav4 with a side decal - compounding?

Wow, I didn't need a baggie. I bet I can scratch myself on the small bumps on the hood. I, like a lot of people I bet, figured the UC would clean this off. Guess not.
Just when I think I have all what I need I need more. I was going to place an order for a backing plate and pads and now it looks like I need to include some clay as well.
Thanks Gus for finding a posting this picture. I have another one queued up from a shot of the wheels on this same car. You can see the wheel corrosions in the picture above. I'll post the wheel on another thread.

[Jarhead0754]

Instead of clay look into nanoskins autosrubber. Will save u a lot of time!

[The Guz]

Re: Rav4 with a side decal - compounding?

Nanoskins work good. I would still recommend clay over them. The reason being is that I have used a fine grade nanoskin sponge on a panel and it felt smooth. But I could still feel a little something with the baggie test. I went over the area with clay and the clay picked up more contaminants. In a production world the nanoskin would be my choice. For my own personal cars, clay works just fine.