Steps for post-winter decontamination?

[Timbob]

OK, so we are now getting out of the winter season here and I want to do some spring maintenance and cleaning. We have tons of rail dust on our roads and therefore on our vehicles too. In addition to ground up snow plow blades, there is plenty of salt and other nastiness. Although I have attempted to keep it as clean a possible, there is simply no realistic way to keep up.

I am wondering about the best way to approach this. Should I clay first or use the Finish Kare decon first? My thinking is:

1 decon, 2 clay, 3 decon, and 4 clay(mild) again if necessary.

Reasoning is as follows:

1 Decon - removes most above surface and some below surface contamination.
2 Clay - removes remaining above surface contamination.
3 Decon - removes any additional below surface contamination uncovered by claying.
4 Clay(mild) - removes any remaining minor above surface contaminants.

This will be followed up by proper chip repair, correction, sealing and waxing.

Are these steps "too much"? Will this much attention damage the paint more than it will benefit it, or is it simply too obsessive, but go ahead if you want to?

Any and all suggestions, hints, etc will be greatly appreciated!!

[ScottB]

I always follow the wash ---clay -- polish --protect steps but suppose a recon kit could help too.

[BobbyG]

Tim,

After a long winter we all struggle with the same delema.

I usually wet the vehicle so that contaminates begin to soften then spray the car with a wet soapy solution of car wash and water. Once this sets for a 5 minutes or so I hose down the entire car with a high pressure spray.

Mix up a second bucket of soapy solution of car wash and warm water the wash with a microfiber wash pad or mitt. Use plenty of solution, you want the balance of the grime to float away and not rubbing it back onto the finish. Rinse the car thoroughly, I like to dry it with a leaf blower then inspect to see if you've missed anything.

Clay the surface
Paint correction
Polish
Seal
Wax

[Old Tiger]

Seems like one cycle of FK Decon would be enough. You may want to clay before and after. The first thing I would do is run it thru a touchless car wash with an undercarriage wash. I'd run it thru twice.

[tempter927]

The decon kits claim to remove( dissolve with acid or whatever method) the contaminates so I wonder if claying is even necessary.

I have a white car and havent done a decon before I looked into the valugard decon system and watched the instruction video on their site about the process. its a 3 step decon process, 1 & 2nd step are washes to remove the contaminates. Their how-to video mentioned it may be necessary to repeat the steps, no mention of claying tho. 3rd step is a wash to restore ph balance of paint (whatever that means). I'm going to look into finish kare.