Clay haze and UP working time question

[Rodents]

I have an '11 Malibu in Red Jewel Tintcoat. It is very regularly washed and not in bad shape. I decided to clean the residue of winter from the paint. I never used clay before, but decided to give it shot based on all the positive reviews I've seen here. I used the Smooth Surface kit. I washed and dried the car the day before claying, Just prior to claying, I misted a MF towel with Gold Class detailer and got the pollen off the car. I used about 3/4 bottle of the Gold Class detailer just claying the car. I felt there was more than adequate lubrication as the clay didn't drag on the paint, if it started to drag, I misted more detailer on before claying more. The paint felt terrific when I was done, but looking at it in artificial light you could pick out what I guess would be called a haze. I was somewhat alarmed but, after a few minutes on this forum, I had seen similar threads with a haze from claying. Next day, I used UP with a clean terry cloth applicator to try to polish out the haze. The working time of UP seemed very short, as in less than one minute before it was too dry to work. I had to remove it using more Gold Class detailer with a clean MF towel. I was doing this in the shade, temp in the upper 60's or so, humidity was pretty low for Pennsylvania, maybe 35 or 40 percent. I even tried a less than 12" diameter area, within 30 seconds I had to use detailer to remove the outer ring of dried UP. The haze seems better but there are very fine 'scratches' now on some of the panels. Not visible in most light except early morning sun and under large artificial lighting at a local DIY carwash. I'm assuming this is from trying to remove the dried UP. My induced defects do not seem to be due to uneven pressure based on other threads I've seen here. Can I mist the UP with water to increase my working time? I understand doing a small section but it dries so fast, it's unworkable in under a minute. Could it be old product? Would I be better off using detailer to wet the product? I know a second coat of UP will make the finish at least as good as it was prior to me messing with it. I did a few small sections that way during the first coat of polish. Those areas look pretty good under the carwash lighting. It felt great today drying it down after washing it. My idea was to mist the panel I'm working on with water, work the polish, then mist a clean MF towel with water and remove the UP. After that next coat of polish, I'll use ULW. My questions are, is a haze normal after claying? Seemed like micro scratches in the clear giving that hazed appearance. Is UP normally that fast to dry? In the future, to mildly clean the paint, what would you recommend? I previously used M06 followed by M26. UP a bit too harsh for once a year use? I get my MF towels from Autogeek, very soft towels so I don't think it the towel. A foam applicator instead of terry cloth maybe? Thanks for any ideas or input on where I went wrong.

[Rodents]

Re: Clay haze and UP working time question

I re-polished the car yesterday. I misted the panel with plain water and applied the polish with a new terry cloth applicator. Working time was now 2-3 minutes, which was sufficient. I then misted the panel again and removed with a MF towel. Now I got the results I was after.

[davey g-force]

Re: Clay haze and UP working time question

Glad it worked out for you.

That's strange about UP's short working time. I've never heard of that before. Its usually very good in that regard since it is rich in polishing oils.

Just be aware that even though UP is a very mild product, using it with a terry applicator could cause some marring of its own. Next time use a foam applicator.