Using Clay Bar

[vicerman]

Hello,

I wanted to ask how often should i use clay bar, do i need to clay every time before waxing?

Thank's!

[The Guz]

Re: Using Clay Bar

Google baggie test and clay. That's a good way to tell if you need to clay or not.

[gmitch23]

Re: Using Clay Bar

How often you need to clay depends on many conditions. Mainly, is the car garage kept? Parked under trees often, live in a dusty area etc, all of those make claying needed more often. The baggy test is a sure way to tell.

[TFTADetail]

Re: Using Clay Bar

100% agree ^^^

[Top Gear]

Re: Using Clay Bar

If you use a machine regularly, and wipe regularly with waterless washing and quik waxing, you may never need to clay again after that first major time (other than occasional spot claying). Given this, whatever minor contaminants seem to be there based on a baggie before you re-wax will easily be gone with a good wash, followed by a cleaner-wax, or a polish, or a compound. Save yourself a ton of time and energy when you don't actually need it. However, if you're just hand-waxing with a regular wax/sealant, and don't actually correct very often, and if you don't regularly detail either, then more frequent claying might be needed. Thus, the baggie test doesn't tell the whole story at all.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Using Clay Bar

If you use a machine regularly, and wipe regularly with waterless washing and quik waxing, you may never need to clay again after that first major time (other than occasional spot claying). Given this, whatever minor contaminants seem to be there based on a baggie before you re-wax will easily be gone with a good wash, followed by a cleaner-wax, or a polish, or a compound. Save yourself a ton of time and energy when you don't actually need it. However, if you're just hand-waxing with a regular wax/sealant, and don't actually correct very often, and if you don't regularly detail either, then more frequent claying might be needed. Thus, the baggie test doesn't tell the whole story at all.

Well, yes (mostly) and no (just a little).

It is indeed very true that frequent removal of loose contaminants via washing, use of quick detail sprays to remove light dust, etc will greatly reduce the chance of surface contaminants bonding to the paint. Keeping a good coat of wax/sealant on the paint will help as well. Basically, if you stay on top of things (and preventative maintenance is always easier than corrective work) you can indeed go a very, very long time without the need to clay.

It's also true, although many don't like to hear this, that extremely light bonded contaminants will be removed with a light compounding step, especially if you're doing that work with a DA polisher. Heck, before clay came along that was basically how we removed these contaminants. But where do you draw the line between acceptable to compound and not? Compounding away some contaminants is extremely difficult (think paint overspray) while with other contaminants you can start pulling too much material into your pad, creating a very uncontrolled abrasive that will actually slow down your ability to create the mirror finish you're after. And the softer or more touch sensitive the paint, the worse this gets.

As for the baggie test itself, there is no doubt that using that very thin film between your fingers and the paint will dramatically heighten your sensitivity to bonded contaminants. In some cases the paint may feel almost flawless with your bare hand, but use a baggie and things change. Does that mean you absolutely must clay before doing anything else? To some, yes it does. To others, not so much. We don't all want the exact same thing from our paint; we don't all have the same amount of time to give (or simply don't want to give) to our paint.

There's really no dead set, never deviate from, you must do it this way, hard and fast rules here. There are strong recommendations, of course, and we always recommend that you remove above surface bonded contaminants with a clay bar before waxing or compounding. But does that mean that on a daily driver that sits outside all the time you absolutely must make the paint completely flawless before waxing? Of course not. But waxes and sealants are designed to bond to paint, not dirt. Waxing alone won't remove contaminants (unless it's a fairly aggressive application of a cleaner wax and the contaminants are very mild) so it's kind of your call. How you're maintaining the paint will play a huge role, and you have total control over that. What the car is exposed to plays perhaps the biggest role, but you sometimes have zero control over that.

So, ask yourself this: what do I want from my paint finish? how much time am I willing to devote to obtain that finish?

Lastly, to sum up and very directly answer the original two questions posted:

I wanted to ask how often should i use clay bar,

As needed

do i need to clay every time before waxing?

No, you don't need to every time before waxing

[Top Gear]

Re: Using Clay Bar

^^ Clearly, we were saying the same thing No doubt claying is essential for overspray and many other spots, as I indicated in reference to spot claying.

For me, though, the question is not, "what do I want from my finish?", which to me seems to imply a bit of self-defeat for the daily driver driveway warrior, but rather, "what is necessary today, or for the next couple of days, to maintain, or get back to, my corrected finish"? That question, at least for me, implies a more approachable daily routine/therapy

Oh, and I again have to rave about UWWA, which has made this even more true for me! Thank you!! I'm using it almost every day, with just a mist and a wipe, usually, so contaminants never (or very rarely and in a spot-based way) have a chance to bond.

So, without my daily maintenance and monthly DA work, I'd sing a different tune with claying.

[spencers94]

Re: Using Clay Bar

Just make sure you wash your car BEFORE the baggie test.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Using Clay Bar

Oh, and I again have to rave about UWWA, which has made this even more true for me! Thank you!! I'm using it almost every day, with just a mist and a wipe, usually, so contaminants never (or very rarely and in a spot-based way) have a chance to bond.

It is great stuff, isn't it?! And with regular use you're not only removing fresh contaminants but keeping a super slick coating on the paint that helps prevent new material from bonding. Keep up that very regular use and you may not have to clay your car for a few years.