Claying experiences?

[DBAILEY]

That's the idea. If you are taking good care of the car you shouldn't have much to clay bar. If you waited until you could see the dirt accumulate on the clay bar then you waited too long.

[Desertnate]

I freely admit I don't do a baggie test on my own vehicles when I clay them annually. However, I do notice a difference with my bare hands when claying. The surface is much smoother afterwards. I can often also tell the clay is doing it's job by how it slides across the paint. Even with the best lube you'll be able to feel the resistance lessen as the contiminates are pulled from the paint to the point where your last pass should be frictionless. Seeing embedded grime in the claybar for me depends on the location of the pannel. The roof and hood might see a little. Lower doors will see more grime and the rear hatch is always the worst.

When I Clay...(and even if the Claying
process doesn’t result in getting more
than one pull per panel; not gather much
dirt/contaminants; getting almost nothing
off)...the other result from Claying that I
look for is the highly anticipated increase
in the amount of gloss of the paint surface.


After all:
•Gloss comes from a smooth surface.
-One way to create a smooth surface
is via the Claying process.


Bob

Very true. I think this change in apperance is more noticable with lighter colored cars. My darker vehicles will always look glossier after a good session with a claybar, but I've seen white and silver cars have a dramatic difference. When I first clayed a silver car I owned years ago, the color change was quite dramatic. That one instance alone sold me on using clay.

[acuRAS82]

I can vouch. My silver Acura definitely looks glossier and feels smoother after claying Friday night... even with barely any rough patches during the process, the clay obviously improved the overall paint look/feel.

[LSNAutoDetailing]

I respectfully disagree. I sometimes find the opposite to be true, meaning I’ve had numerous vehicles that actually pass the baggie test, but when I went ahead and did a test spot it turned out to have a bunch of crud coming off onto the claybar.



Not all contaminants are created equal, generally they’re able to be felt on the surface when doing a baggie test, but sometimes they’re not yet the paint is still in desperate need of a claying. IME this is sometimes the case when I run into a vehicle that somehow passes the baggie test yet I know it’s too good to be true because it’s probably never been clayed in its life.

Page 30 of Complete Guide To a Showcar Shine ~ Mike Phillips This is why I stated "Just because your claybar doesn't look dirty doesn't mean it's not grabbing above bonded contaminants and removing them from the surface."




True, which is why I stated, "removing most of the above bonded contaminants using clay increases smoothness, and leaves less "gunk" for your polishing pads to pickup" I think the point is the OP is looking at his clay wondering why it's not dirty. That will not always be the case. I don't do baggie tests, and if I do it's really for the customer. When I get a car in, it's going to get Bug/Tar decon, Iron-X, Wash, Clay, Polish, LSP regardless. For my own vehicles, I don't clay unless I'm going to polish.

I hear what you're saying...

[Eldorado2k]

Page 30 of Complete Guide To a Showcar Shine ~ Mike Phillips This is why I stated "Just because your claybar doesn't look dirty doesn't mean it's not grabbing above bonded contaminants and removing them from the surface."




True, which is why I stated, "removing most of the above bonded contaminants using clay increases smoothness, and leaves less "gunk" for your polishing pads to pickup" I think the point is the OP is looking at his clay wondering why it's not dirty. That will not always be the case. I don't do baggie tests, and if I do it's really for the customer. When I get a car in, it's going to get Bug/Tar decon, Iron-X, Wash, Clay, Polish, LSP regardless. For my own vehicles, I don't clay unless I'm going to polish.

I hear what you're saying...

Ok, but I’ve never had paint that failed the baggie test, and after I clayed it the claybar was clean as a whistle...



...Yet afterwards the paint suddenly passed the baggie test. [meaning that contaminants were removed even though they weren’t visible on the claybar] I’ve never seen that happen.

[I also don’t see where it says that’s possible on those pages from Mikes’ book]

I have however had paint that passed the baggie test, yet when clayed there was tons of contaminants visible on the claybar...

[SWETM]

I don't either think that you feel all bonded contaminants on the paint even with a baggie test. If you get to a new customer and would explain for them the baggie test is a good way for them to test it. But for you own cars or customers cars you have maintance of you don't always feel the contaminants even with the baggie test. Cause you hold down the amount of contaminants on a well maintained car. But it's still gets them on the paint. Then it's up to you to decide if you benefit to clay or not. And a test spot with claying is a good way to see how the is. Then it's much of the environment you live in which and how much contaminants you get on the paint too. And the level of maintance and the LSP and other things that makes the difference.

[acuRAS82]

Ok, but I’ve never had paint that failed the baggie test, and after I clayed it the claybar was clean as a whistle...



...Yet afterwards the paint suddenly passed the baggie test. [meaning that contaminants were removed even though they weren’t visible on the claybar] I’ve never seen that happen.

[I also don’t see where it says that’s possible on those pages from Mikes’ book]

I have however had paint that passed the baggie test, yet when clayed there was tons of contaminants visible on the claybar...

Just to clarify where I’m at now: my clay wasn’t super clean after claying Friday, but just not as dirty as I expected. Maybe I didn’t know what to expect but I’m back on the clay train now. It’s good to do and I do believe it has lots of benefits, whether the baggie test reveals a lot of roughness or not.

I should note that on my hood the baggie test is tough because there are so many tiny paint chips that get felt but obviously are going to remain during the clay process.

[Desertnate]

I should note that on my hood the baggie test is tough because there are so many tiny paint chips that get felt but obviously are going to remain during the clay process.

I think too many people are getting hung up on the baggie test. I don't question it's validity, and when you're a pro being paid good money by a customer for absolute perfection of their vehicle, it has it's place. However, for those of us doing lesser jobs or simply keeping up our own fleet of non-show car vehicles, I feel simply performing the act of claying a vehicle is far more important than passing the baggie test or how much grime is visible on the clay. If you are claying the vehicle properly, the paint will benifit, and hopefully it will be measurable either by touch and/or visually.

Maybe I'm a simple knuckle-dragger, but I've got several cars in the 6~10 years old which look as good/better than new. I always clay before re-applying an LSP, but I'm pretty sure some area's which feel perfect to my "naked" touch would fail the baggie test. I'm OK with that.

[Belo]

I can vouch. My silver Acura definitely looks glossier and feels smoother after claying Friday night... even with barely any rough patches during the process, the clay obviously improved the overall paint look/feel.

there's no debate that claying is good for any car... I think the question is more along the lines of how often is it worth the time to clay? What's the ROI on clay once a year or once a month etc.

[acuRAS82]

there's no debate that claying is good for any car... I think the question is more along the lines of how often is it worth the time to clay? What's the ROI on clay once a year or once a month etc.

I think in my environment with my 2 cars, once a year seems adequate. It had been 14 months since my last clay and I’m writing threads to convince myself it was worth it... and the outcome is that it was worth it. Less time than 12 months inbetween and I’m not sure I would arrive at the same outcome, in my environment.