Claying - How Often?

[Mosca]

When my car was garage kept, it NEVER needed to be clayed after the first time. Now that it's been parked outside, I've clayed it twice this year.


Tom

[OctaneGuy]

One of our c3 members parks his car next to a railroad track at work, so his car is subjected to rail dust daily. His car was professionally detailed a month prior and when I felt his finish it was like sand paper. We claybarred it at our clinic but knew full well that next month its going to be just as bad unless he gets a car cover!

Mike-- ---great pix!!!

Originally posted by Rusty Bumper
Years ago, I knew a family that lived about 40 or 50 yards from the railroad tracks. The train tracks were in a big ditch, but the rail dust was so bad that it kept their flooring dirty all the time when the windows were open.

[bluemoon]

Unfortunately last week the building next to where I work was spray painted, and yes our car needs to be clayed big time. Instead of sniper rifles I was thinking more of my riot gun and 00 buck. But that thought quickly vanished as our car got caught in a hail storm. So now it is nothing more than a test bed for me to play with new products and practice polishing on until I get it into the body shop (probably sometime next year). No fear of burning through to much paint now.

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by OctaneGuy
One of our c3 members parks his car next to a railroad track at work, so his car is subjected to rail dust daily. His car was professionally detailed a month prior and when I felt his finish it was like sand paper. We claybarred it at our clinic but knew full well that next month its going to be just as bad unless he gets a car cover!

Since it has been already detailed, it would be interesting to see how much contamination the car has the next time it's clayed.

I mean, how dirty the clay looks.

[OctaneGuy]

Well in essence, when I detailed it, it was the 2nd time it had been clayed. The first clay was done by the pro detailer a month prior.

Unfortunately because of his work schedule, he has been unable to attend our events so I really don't know the condition it is today, but would assume its similar.

Richard

Originally posted by Rusty Bumper
Since it has been already detailed, it would be interesting to see how much contamination the car has the next time it's clayed.

I mean, how dirty the clay looks.

[RamAirV1]

It may be hard to see the rail dust on the clay because rail dust is so fine. It would be nearly as visible as "tar mist" or road sealant. The life of a daily driver is a tough one, but having the new NXT products and GC accessories makes detailing and maintenance much easier!

RamAirV1

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by RamAirV1
It may be hard to see the rail dust on the clay because rail dust is so fine. It would be nearly as visible as "tar mist" or road sealant. The life of a daily driver is a tough one, but having the new NXT products and GC accessories makes detailing and maintenance much easier!

RamAirV1

After the cars had their initial claying, I couldn't see much in the way of contamination on the clay the next time around, but you could feel it on the paint.

[RamAirV1]

Originally posted by Rusty Bumper
After the cars had their initial claying, I couldn't see much in the way of contamination on the clay the next time around, but you could feel it on the paint.

Exactly! If you have a finish that looks OK but feels like sandpaper, it's probably rail dust. That's especially fun when you have it on a brand new car! The dealer personnel that prep new cars never notice it. Sometimes they put a wax over it and you don't know it is there right away. Was the car a few times, however, and when you dry it off, the rail dust will be apparent!

RamAirV1

[LnkPrkSoldier]

when we repainted our house, i parked my car on the other side of the block. haha

[cydewaze]

Interesting thread. Many years ago, when I worked construction, I had my 86 Mustang parked at a jobsite. One of the other contractors decided to spray some type of coating on the side of the building, inadvertently covering every car in the parking lot with overspray - including mine, which was black.

Since I didn't know anything about detailing (not sure if clay was even around back then) I attempted to remove the overspray with Dupont #7 rubbing compound. I think the only thing I successfully removed was the clearcoat, because the finish was never the same after that. Fortunately, someone with a really nice car complained, and the contractor's insurance company paid for all the cars to be repainted. Talk about luck.

On a side note, I re-clayed my current car this past weekend. NXT protects so well though, that the clay glided over the surface smoothly and picked up almost no contaminants. I ended up quitting after claying the horizontal surfaces and the nose.

Sometimes I just want to clay so that I have an excuse to smell the Meg's Final Inspection that I use to lube the clay.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by cydewaze
Sometimes I just want to clay so that I have an excuse to smell the Meg's Final Inspection that I use to lube the clay.

I can't even begin to count how many times I've heard that comment in my life!


Your experience/story just goes to show you never know when you're going to need to clay again as you don't always know what's floating around in the air.

[zey]

Managed to capture a photo of worker painting the roof of a newly renovated house behind the street of my house. The first thing I did was to check the windscreen on my car for paint overspray. Thank God there wasn't any. Perhaps the paint mist is not very fine.

[Tim Lingor]

Originally posted by zey
Managed to capture a photo of worker painting the roof of a newly renovated house behind the street of my house. The first thing I did was to check the windscreen on my car for paint overspray. Thank God there wasn't any. Perhaps the paint mist is not very fine.

The size of the hose he is using suggests a HVLP paint system which greatly reduces the amount of overspray; but, there is still some.

I know the feeling. I had a neighbor painting something in his house with a spray gun. To make sure he was getting paint through the gun, he tested it by spraying into the air!! I moved my truck to the other side of my house. It just bugs me how people do not seem to realize the damage they can cause!

Tim

[LT22]

Does claying strip off all the wax?

[Jbirk]

It strips most all of the wax. It removes all above surface contaminates including wax if it is above surface though I wouldn't call wax a contaminate.