Did you see the improvement from just the claying?
Years ago when I took the plunge and clayed for the first time, it was on a silver car I owned at the time. There was a visible improvement in clarity and gloss from just the clay. Two winters ago I helped a friend with his white car and we experienced the same thing once the claying was done. He was really happy even at that point and would have stopped there if I hadn't convinced him of how much better it would look after polishing.