How often do I need to clay my car?
I taught my first detailing class in 1988, and sometime in the early 1990's, detailing clay was introduced to the U.S. market. Ever since then, one of the most common questions that comes up in all of the detailing classes I've taught goes like this,
Questions: How often do I need to clay my car?
Most people think of claying like an oil change, you know, every 3000 miles you change your oil and in the claying world that might go like this,
Clay your car's paint every 6 months Here's the skinny.... How often you need to clay your car's paint depends upon what's in the air where you park your car.
Make sense? Pretty simple really.
If you car never leaves the garage except to show-off at the local Cars & Coffee event on a sunny Saturday morning then you probably don't need to clay your car very often because you car is not exposed to the
w-o-r-l-d.
If your like 99.9% of the rest of us working class dogs, then your car is a
Daily Driver that you drive every day and that means it's parked outside at least while you're at work and possibly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
What this means if there's any kind of contaminants in the air over your car and they land on your car then some of them are going to bond to the paint if you don't wash your car every day. I actually don't know anyone that washes their car every day so chances are good if you park your car outside for a portion of each day, for example Monday through Friday while you're
working for the man, then chances are good your car's paint is getting a build-up of air-borne contaminants and this means periodically you need to use some detailing clay to clay your car's paint.
Now back to the question,
Question: How often do I need to clay my car? Answer: As often as needed as dictated by your hands-on inspection.
By
hands-on inspection here's what I mean.
Feel the paint with the fingertips of your clean hand 1. First, wash and dry your car.
2. Now take your clean hand and feel the paint.
Does the paint finish feel smooth and glassy? If the answer is yes you don't need to clay your car's paint.
Does the paint feel rough or textured? If you feel little bumps or any kind of roughness or surface imperfections, this is a strong indicator that you need to clay your car's paint.
Feel the horizontal surfaces of your car's paint with your clean hand after you wash and dry the car.
Here's a tip, to increase your sensitivity when inspecting, place your hand inside a plastic baggie like a sandwich baggie.
It's not a matter of time but a matter of concentration of air-borne pollution
It doesn't matter if you clayed the paint 2 days ago or 2 years ago, if after washing and drying your car and then feeling the paint it DOES NOT feel smooth and glassy, then you need to clay the paint.j
It's not a matter of time intervals for example, some might say, "we recommend that you clay your paint every 6 months". While that might work for some people that's not an accurate way to maintain a nice finish, an accurate way to maintain a nice finish is to be pro-active by simply feeling the horizontal panels on your car and check to see if there are any above surface bonded contaminants like,
- Tree Sap Mist
- Paint Overspray
- Industrial Pollution
- Jet Fuel Exhaust - (If you live close to an airport)
- Car and Truck Pollution
- Brake Dust
- Road Grime
- Dirt and dust in the air
How often you need to clay your car's paint is a matter of what's in the air where your car is parked day-in and day-out.
Make sense?
Further Resources Tips and Tricks for using detailing clay Wolfgang Elastic Poly Clay Bar - Review and How-to 
Sign-up for Mike Phillips's Detailing Boot Camp September 29th & 30th 
Linear Mode
