Clay without immediate polishing

[TexasDave]

I have searched for an answer but having no luck.

Its almost time for my annual Thanksgiving detail festival in my garage. My car is in need of claying as it fails the baggie test AND the visual test. Not sure what's all over it! I did 2 test spots last weekend. 1 with a Megs clay bar and 1 with a Griot's prep mitt. The clay bar was considerably better at removing the contamination, so it looks like I'm busting out the clay on this one.


My question is, as I'm trying to save some time ( I have 2 cars to do). Would it hurt anything to just clay the areas that fail and not the whole car? And would it be ill-advised to clay the car on Saturday but wait to polish and wax till Wednesday? (of course getting a wash again beforehand) The car will be driven 2 days unprotected and naked before its spa day.

Thoughts?

[Desertnate]

Here are my thoughts:

- You might as well clay the entire car. While some areas might be worse than others, the entire car could probably benefit from a good decontamination. Hoods, roofs, rear hatch/trunks, and lower doors always take a beating. Once you clay those areas, you might as well finish off the entire thing!

- The car won't suffer from a couple days of being naked. It sounds like you're prepared to give it a good wash before you start correcting/protecting, so you should be fine.

[TexasDave]

That's the plan then! Thank you for the input. Much appreciated!

[DBAILEY]

You could always wipe it down with a detail spray that offers a week or so of protection to ease your mind. Something that would be removed easily with a strong wash solution just prior to the start of polishing.