Clay Horizontal Surfaces Only?

[The Critic]

I read somewhere that you only need to clay the horizontal surfaces of the vehicle as they are the ones with the most contaminants. So, from that statement I think it means you only need to clay the hood, trunklid, roof and pillars, right?

So my questions are--

1) Is it true that you usually only clay the horizontal surfaces of a car?
2) If the paint feels relatively smooth, do you still have to clay the paint, especially the vertical surfaces (e.g. doors and fenders)?

Thanks.

[Setec Astronomy]

Eh, well...there is always tar and stuff that gets thrown up on the lower parts of the sides, so as much as a pain as it is to clay down there, you really should (alternate would be to use a good solvent tar remover). IME even when the car feels smooth, usually some brownish gunk comes up on the clay. Would that stuff be removed by a paint cleaner or polish? Probably. There are a lot of overlapping processes...could you skip claying if the car feels smooth and you are going to polish anyway? Could you skip the polish or paint cleaner if you are going to clay and the car doesn't need any swirl removal? Probably yes to both. As Mike Phillips noted in another thread yesterday, paint cleaning is an important part of the process...can you cheat and still get decent results? Yes, but it all depends what you looking for, decent vs. optimal, etc. Unfortunately lots of ways to skin the beast and lots of variables.

But anyway, yes, you can cheat and only do the horizontal surfaces, I won't tell anybody...

[Mike Phillips]

Here's my take..

If I'm going to detail someone's car.... I'm claying all the painted surfaces.

Gloss comes from smoothness and is a visible characteristic that my customer will notice.

Often times you cannot always feel contaminants on the paint, interestingly, if I clay a panel that I don't feel much contamination on, then turn my clay over, I always see crud the clay could find that I could not.

It doesn't take long, so whether there's anything to be removed or not it's easy procedure, it's a fast procedure and the benefits outweigh any and all other factors i my book.

Each person can do that which they will...


I have this car coming up for a special project and I'm going to clay all the paint, all the chrome, all the stainless steel and all the glass. There's not even a question as to whether it will be all clayed or not...


The Caddy King's Hidden Collection of 1959 Cadillacs! (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/25285-caddy-king-s-hidden-collection-1959-cadillacs.html)


This is Chris's daily driver, a silver Coupe de Ville...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/860/CaddyKing022.jpg


With rocket ship fins and a 390 Cubic Inch Engine, this is a low flying jet...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/860/CaddyKing023.jpg




:)

[Mike Phillips]

Also, different types of air-borne contaminants have more stickiness to them than others...

For example, air-borne dirt and dust isn't very sticky, but on a hot day, Tree Sap Mist is sticky, so if it hits your door panel it has a better chance of sticking than air-borne dirt and dust.

Same goes for overspray paint if your car is close to where the paint is being sprayed.


I always tell people the best place to get overspray paint is in or near a body shop because they're constantly spraying paint and it's not always inside the booth.


:)