How often do I need to clay my car?

[Mike Phillips]

How often do I need to clay my car's finish? (http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7494)

The question is often asked,

"How often do I need to clay my car's finish?"


The answer is,

"It depends on where you park your car and what's floating in the air"



If you spent one day detailing your car including claying it and applying a coating of wax, and the next day your car was parked in a parking lot like this,

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2TheCarinTheParkingLot.jpg

And about 100 yards away is a painter elevated into the sky spraying paint onto a building like this...

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayInAir002c.jpg

Then because the wind will tend to carry the overspray through the air until it finds a place to touch down and come to rest, you may very well need to clay your car the next day.

"How often you need to clay your car's finish depends on what's floating in the air where you park your car"


As I drove down the road from where this building is being sprayed, I stopped to take a photograph of this Corvette sitting behind a fence in the owners front yard while he was doing some upgrades to the house that required access to the garage.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2TheCorvetteParkedOutside.jpg


It's completely possible the paint overspray being sprayed into the air just a few blocks down the road could come to rest on this Corvette's finish as well as everything else, including the window glass and the convertible top.


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2ThePaint.jpg



What Meguiar's teaches is that in order to know whether or not you need to clay, or re-clay your car's finish, you need to evaluate the condition of the finish, with both your eyes and your sense of touch.


So the answer to,

"How often do I need to clay my car's finish?"

Is as often as necessary and the way you determine if claying is necessary is to evaluate the condition of the finish, with both your eyes and your sense of touch.


Click here to make comments on this article (http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7495)

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Note: The above photos were all taken on August 2nd, at approximately noon at a nearby establishment.

[rammsteinmatt]

I was reading about claybars possible taking off a layer of clear (whether it be .01mils or.05 mils). places (not here, that i can tell) recommend claying only 1-2 tiomes a year to ensure continued clear coat life.

how much validity does this statement hold. namely how often could i claybar my car and not suffer paint damage (obviously assuming i know to keep the bar lubricateded and such)?

on another post in this forum, you clayed the MBZ hood and noted no change in thinkness. however the gauge only seems to go to .1mil resolution. so say it took off an unmeasurable amount (.04mil, .5 would induce a rounding), if you did this every month for a year (.04 * 12) thats about .5mil gone. but this seems a little extreme, unless you live next to a switching yard. so say you clay 3x / year. in 4 years of just claying you could be risking clear coat failure, right?

is this something that i should really worry about, or not?

[sneek]

you clay when QD becomes slow to wipe off

[rammsteinmatt]

but that wasnt my question.

that answered: "when do i clay my car?"

im looking to find: "how often can i clay my car without damage?"

[Mike Phillips]

For the most part, you can clay as often as you like as claying is non-abrasiveto the finish.

[sneek]

lol sry i have really bad adhd and im not even joking

[Accumulator]

Originally posted by rammsteinmatt
im looking to find: "how often can i clay my car without damage?"

Originally posted by Mike Phillips
For the most part, you can clay as often as you like as claying is non-abrasiveto the finish.

Well, *properly done* claying is nonabrasive to the finish ;) Some people do manage to mar their paint when they clay so they're presumably taking off some clear on a b/c car.

Heh heh, but then we've debated whether clay will (necessarily) even cut through LSPs, so it's sure nothing to worry about as far as wearing down the clearcoat. I don't even get significant paint transfer from most single stage cars I clay, though they *are* pretty well-maintained paintjobs.

[rammsteinmatt]

thanks for all the help everyone

[jchetty]

i have a white car and clay once a month to prepare for wax...i have not noticed any clearcoat failure and have had the car for almost 3 years..imo using a mild clay does no damage...i would rather clay than leave the bonded surface contaminants to etch the paint

[Mike Phillips]

***Bump***

[RacerX88]

FWIW: When you run the back of your hand across and horizontal panel (e.g. hood, roof, trunk or the window pillars) and it feels rough.