Washing with a clay towel?

[Hal1]

On a mostly clean car, given enough lubricant or plenty of Meguairs Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo, is it okay to use a clay towel to actually wash the car, or is that too agressive?

[2black1s]

I've never used a clay towel but if I were to do as you propose, I'd do it in a two-step manner. First do a traditional wash and then follow with the clay towel, all in a singular process... Panel by panel, or as a whole.

[Hal1]

I guess that makes sense, maybe panel-by-panel, to get the surface layer of stuff off 1st.

[gorillapr]

Basically that is the purpose of clay mitts.
First wash mitt side to clean then flip to clay.

Your case that have a towel just use a separate mitt, one on eash hand and basically you do everything together

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[Hal1]

To expand on my OP, I'm not really referring to an actual clay process, more just a light decontamination with each wash, hence the clay towel as my wash medium, and not a true claying process.

[2black1s]

To expand on my OP, I'm not really referring to an actual clay process, more just a light decontamination with each wash, hence the clay towel as my wash medium, and not a true claying process.

Regardless, you still want the car to be clean before dragging the clay towel across it.

[PaulMys]

To expand on my OP, I'm not really referring to an actual clay process, more just a light decontamination with each wash, hence the clay towel as my wash medium, and not a true claying process.

Using the clay towel for decontamination on every wash is overkill. And remember............ You will be stripping off all of your LSP on each wash.

[psnt1ol]

Regardless, you still want the car to be clean before dragging the clay towel across it.

Totally agree. If it is a maintenance wash and you have no plan to polish afterward... I would take all precautions not to mar the paint. The possibility of marring from any mechanical decontamination process is high. Regardless of all claying medias on the market, not many paint system these days dont get mar. Be very careful especially if you have dark paint...

Using the clay towel for decontamination on every wash is overkill. And remember............ You will be stripping off all of your LSP on each wash.

Clay only when there is a need. I wouldn't clay every time I do a maintenance wash. Try using CarPro Iron X Snow Soap once in a while would help keep the contamination at bay.

[dgage]

As Mike likes to say, paint is thin, thinner than a Post-It note, and this includes the paint and clear coat. And your paint is under attack every time it is outside so you don’t want to do any more to your paint than you need to. So wash your car using best practices such as 2 bucket method or similar. And don’t polish or clay any more than is needed. And regarding clay, since most clays may leave minor scratches, I consider it to be the second step before a polishing with the first step being an iron decontamination.

[stagbucarpruspe]

You need to be treated with the same trepidation as yourself.