Claying...what am I doing wrong?

[Mike Phillips]

Sorry but if you clay paint you are going to get some type of marring.

I guess that means everyone?

Regardless, most people are going to do some kind of cleaning or polishing process after claying so if there is any marring then it will be or should be removed by the next step.

One thing for sure, claying works great for a majority of people and until something better comes along I predict it will remain a very popular way to remove above surface bonded contaminants.

[Grizzly]

Even when the surface is very well lubricated with a decent spray detailer?

I know some of the more aggressive clay bars like Meguiars red clay can leave some marring behind but I dont know if mild basic consumer clay like the ones from Mothers and Meguiars leave behind marring.

I have a car I am claying tomorrow, will try and see if I can pinpoint it with my Swirlfinder.

[C. Charles Hahn]

The new Camaros have notoriously soft paint.

Indeed they do! It's a blessing and a curse all in one.

[ASPHALT ROCKET]

I guess that means everyone?

Regardless, most people are going to do some kind of cleaning or polishing process after claying so if there is any marring then it will be or should be removed by the next step.

One thing for sure, claying works great for a majority of people and until something better comes along I predict it will remain a very popular way to remove above surface bonded contaminants.

That would be correct, everyone. I agree, clay works great to remove contaminants, never said it wasn't a good thing, just said it will induce some type of marring. I would also agree if you are claying then you would be doing some type of polishing after wards.

[Mike Phillips]

Indeed they do! It's a blessing and a curse all in one.

This shows why it's never a good idea to say "All" clear coat paints are hard.

The best way to find out if a paint system is hard or soft is to go out into your garage and test it first hand.

All too often I see people make blanket statements about paint hardness as it relates to a specific company and while there can be trends for sure, for example I can't think of a single time I worked on a modern Corvette that didn't have really hard paint, car manufactures can change paint systems and the new paint system can be very different from the previous paint system.

I always phrase it like this,


generally speaking modern clear coat paints tend to be harder than traditional single stage paints



Taken from this article,

The practical differences between single stage paints and a clear coat paints


The above is a true statement but it doesn't mean all clear coat paints are hard a and it doesn't mean all clear coat paints are harder than all single stage paints.


It's just not a good idea in most cases to make very sweeping, or generalized statements about paint hardness, it's better to go out into your garage and find out by working on the car.

[C. Charles Hahn]

All too often I see people make blanket statements about paint hardness as it relates to a specific company and while there can be trends for sure, for example I can't think of a single time I worked on a modern Corvette that didn't have really hard paint, car manufactures can change paint systems and the new paint system can be very different from the previous paint system.

This is also why it's a bad idea to get into the mode of thinking that one product or set of products is always going to work regardless of the paint system or particular vehicle you're dealing with.

For example some folks I've seen have been basically tossing aside the old DAT polishes from Meguiar's in favor of the newer generation of SMAT products; I don't know about you, Mike, but I've still come across situations where the old stand by products M80/M83/M85 actually give better results than M105/M205.

Part of this is due to the different technique used when working with the different technology, and part of it is due to the way the paint itself reacts to a different type of abrasive.

It's that very reason why my shelves are so full of different products all for use in paint defect correction. I can't justify reducing my inventory to one or two things because I never know what I'm going to run into!

[mcpp66]

I certainly believe that my Camaro's paint is rather soft. Like I said in an earlier post, if I simply brush up against it ever so softly I have to go back and polish it to remove the marks. I'm worried that one day I'm going to polish the clear right off.

[Old Tiger]

I certainly believe that my Camaro's paint is rather soft. Like I said in an earlier post, if I simply brush up against it ever so softly I have to go back and polish it to remove the marks. I'm worried that one day I'm going to polish the clear right off.

Sounds like you need a coating like Opti Coat.

[mcpp66]

What's opti coat? If it will strengthen my clear and make marring much harder to occur then I'm definitely interested, regardless of cost.

Sounds like you need a coating like Opti Coat.

[5.4 Shelby]

I certainly believe that my Camaro's paint is rather soft. Like I said in an earlier post, if I simply brush up against it ever so softly I have to go back and polish it to remove the marks. I'm worried that one day I'm going to polish the clear right off.

That would drive me crazy. I wipe my car down after every 2nd or 3rd drive to keep it clean. There's no way I could do that if the paint swirled that easily.