Claying

[kellyinkc]

Hey all, great forum!! How often should i clay? Also I am a little confused by "glaze" and "polish". I get wax. Thanks.
Kelly

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Claying

Originally posted by kellyinkc
Hey all, great forum!! How often should i clay? Also I am a little confused by "glaze" and "polish". I get wax. Thanks.
Kelly

Hi Kellyinkc,

I posted something similar to this thread and have included my reply below the link...

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3772

Originally posted by RedRSXGrrl
Hello I'm a newbie, and I'd like to find out what the difference between the Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner, ScratchX and Clay in terms of using them as Step 1 in the detailing process. I have the Paint Cleaner, and I'm wondering if I still need ScratchX or Clay to clean the paint?

Thanks in advance.

Hi RedRSXGrrl,

Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner offers chemical cleaning only. This is Meguiar's least aggressive, most gentle paint cleaner for very light cleaning needs.

ScratchX is Meguiar's most aggressive hand-applied paint cleaner. This paint cleaner uses both chemical cleaners and microscopic diminishing abrasives to gently clean and abrade the paint in an effort to remove below surface defects like swirls and scratches.

Clay bars like found in Meguiar's Quik Clay System are for removing above above surface bonded contaminants. These would be the little bumps you feel on the horizontal surfaces of your car after you have washed the car and removed the loose dirt and contaminants.

To determine which products you need, you should first wash your car and then evaluate your car's finish with both your sense of touch using the palm of your clean hand and with your eyes.

If after washing, you draw the palm of your clean hand over the horizontal surfaces and you feel little bumps, then this is an indicator that you need to clay your car's finish. These little bumps are called above surface contaminants that washing won’t remove.

If you see swirls, scratches and other visually noticeable defects, then you probably need the extra cleaning ability of ScratchX. If your finish looks very good, with little or no swirls, then you can use the more gentle paint cleaner, the Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner.


The order to detail your car is like this.

1) Wash
2) Evaluate
3) Clay
4) Clean with a paint cleaner
5) Polish (optional, recommended for dark colors)
6) Protect
7) Maintain


Hope this helps...

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

How often do you clay?

You clay whenever you have above surface bonded contaminants on the finish that washing didn't' remove. It's possible to clay your car today, polish and wax it and need to clay it tomorrow if you car sits under a tree dropping tree sap on it, or you neighbor spray paint in his driveway and it drifts over in the air and lands on your car's paint.

It all comes down to what's in the air.

If you clay your car's finish and then park your car in the garage and never drive it again, you shouldn't have to ever clay it again because nothing in the air landed on the car's finish and bonded to it.

It comes down to what's in the air where your park and drive your car. Always feel the horizontal surfaces with the palm of your clean hand after first washing and drying the car. Your car's finish should feel like a piece of brand new glass. If you feel little bumps, then you need to clay your car. There is no set time limit, like every 5 months, it all depends upon what's in the air where you park and drive your car.

[Mike Phillips]

What's a polish and what's a glaze?

They are kind of the same thing... In the Meguiar's line, we make two kinds of polishes, cleaner/polishes for removing fine swirls and scratches, and pure polishes for basically making your paint look good.

Here is a section of the 5-Step Paint Care Cycle that discusses Meguiar's polishes. I would recommend reading the entire article.

Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle
(Posted in the The Information Station)


Step-3 Polishing



Meguiar's offers two types of polishes, Cleaner Polishes and Pure Polishes. Cleaner Polishes are for removing very light or fine defects while restoring a crystal clear, smooth high gloss surface. Pure polishes are for finishes already in excellent condition and are for the purpose or creating brilliant high gloss with deep dark reflections.

If you look in Webster's Dictionary under the word polish, one of the definitions they include reads like this:

"A preparation that is used to produce gloss, and often color for the protection and decoration of a surface."

This definition best describes Meguiar's Pure Polishes. Meguiar's pure polishes are designed to create brilliant high gloss while preparing the surface for the application of a protective coating. Meguiar's pure polishes accomplish this without the use of abrasives.


Another definition found in Webster's Dictionary for polish is,

"To make smooth and glossy by friction."

This definition best describes Meguiar's Cleaner/Polishes. Meguiar's cleaner polishes are formulated to very gently abrade the surface with Meguiar's Diminishing Abrasive TM and Buffered Abrasive TM technology to remove the finest defects and create a perfectly smooth, high gloss finish.

Depending on what type of paint you're working on, traditional paints like lacquers and enamels, or catalyzed clear coats, Meguiar's has the products specifically designed to work on both types of paints, not to mention many other surfaces such as plastics and polyester resins (Fiberglas Gel-coats).


Meguiar's Trade Secret Polishing Oils
The trade secret oils Meguiar's uses in both types of polishes are unique to the industry and to this day have never been surpassed for creating deep, dark reflections and brilliant high gloss by any of our competitors in over 100 years.

The oils Meguiar's uses are also important in maintaining the original condition of the paint by filling in the naturally occurring microscopic pores and surface imperfections thus preventing detrimental substances and elements as simple as water, or worse, acid-rain, from entering into these pores and microscopic surface imperfections thus causing oxidation and chemical etching. These oils act to replace the original resins as they wear away through natural processes.

When paint is new, it is the most impermeable it will ever be, this means it is a very smooth non-porous, continuous film. With age, exposure to the environment and micro-scratching caused by day-in, day-out wear and tear, your paint develops micro-fissures in the surface along with other defects. These micro-fissures and other defects act to make the continuous film or coating of paint more porous. As this happens, your car's finish becomes more vulnerable to corrosive elements that will attack and degrade your finish.


Remember, waxes, synthetic or otherwise, are meant to be Sacrificial Barriers with the intended purpose sealing the surface, while blocking those things that would attack your paint, from coming into direct contact with the paint.

"Waxes protect your finish by sacrificing themselves so that your paint doesn't have to"

An analogy is your skin. In the same way you can clean, polish and protect your skin, you can clean, polish and protect your car's finish. Soap can be used to clean your skin and remove dirt from the pores. Skin lotions can be used to moisturize your skin, conditioning it and making it more clear and beautiful. Protection products like lotions used to protect hands from exposure to chemicals and UV protectants can be applied to help protect your skin from the things that would attack your skin if these harmful things could come into direct contact with your skin.

While human skin and automotive paint are very different, the analogy is very similar. With Meguiar's, you can:

* Wash your car's finish to remove unwanted and accumulated dirt contaminants
* Clean your paint with our special paint cleaners and cleaner/polishes
* Polish your paint with our pure polishes to create unequaled beauty
* Protect your paint with our advanced paint protection products
* Maintain your car's finish using our fast and easy to use maintenance products.


The unique thing about Meguiar's highly specialized trade secret oils is their ability to restore and maintain the Optical Clarity of both single stage and clear coat paints in a way that waxes alone cannot match, (both natural and synthetic), the results of which are demonstrated in side-by-side comparisons.

[kellyinkc]

Claying

Thanks Mike!! Now my next question is does claying take off wax?
My ride sits outside so it gets a lot of sun etc. Having black paint is fun to take care of! Also what about "colored waxes" from Turtle Wax? I saw this today at a parts store it was for black paint. Would like your input. Thank you.

Kelly

[Murr1525]

I belive there is a good write-up on colored waxes somewhere in the faq section but to sum it up briefly, "not good". Imagine you have a piece of black cloth (your paint) on the floor, and put a piece of plexiglass (your clearcoat) over it. Now put a deep scratch in the glass. Using a colored wax would be like coloring in that scratch with a Sharpie Marker. They are both obviously black, but you can imagine that with the clearcoat, it is like a black line hovering over the black paint, not really solving the problem, and if anything looking weird when seen from an angle.

If you have scratch/swirl problems and working by hand, you will want ScratchX or ColorX most likely.

Claying will take off your wax, as will the paint cleaner used after it. So it is important to remember that after claying and/or cleaning, your paint is unprotected.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Claying

Originally posted by kellyinkc
Thanks Mike!! Now my next question is does claying take off wax?

Kelly

Murr1525 nailed this one, the answer is "Yes", claying removes wax off the surface because it remove just about everything off the surface as does a paint cleaner.

Anytime you use either a clay bar or a paint cleaner, and especially both, you need to re-wax the paint to add a layer of protection, otherwise the paint will be its most vulnerable to attack and deterioration.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Claying

Originally posted by kellyinkc
Also what about "colored waxes" from Turtle Wax? I saw this today at a parts store it was for black paint. Would like your input. Thank you.

Kelly

Hi Kelly,

We have a question and answer for this topic in our FAQ on Meguiar's.com, but not on the forum, so if you don't mind I'm going to use your question with my reply in our here on the forum as this question comes up once in a while.

Murr1525 is correct on the colored waxes. They are what we call a Gimmick product. 99.9% of all car manufactured today and for the last number of years have a clear coat so you're not working on a colored, or pigmented paint to start with. Trying to dye the clear coat a color is not only not going to work, it's a the wrong approach to fixing the problem in the first place.

Most people that fall for the colored wax idea are working on a car who's finish has been neglected, thus the clear coat has become dull and it is difficult for their eyes or anyone's eyes to see the color coat, or the pigmented paint under the clear coat.

Instead of trying to dye the clear paint the color of the base coat, (the color coat below the clear coat), the correct option is to make the clear paint clear again so that your eye can see the color coat under the clear layer of paint.

The way you fix a neglected clear coat that has become dull, hazy, oxidized, swirled and filled with scratches is to remove these paint defects using either a paint cleaner such as ScratchX by hand, a cleaner/polish such as M80 Speed Glaze using a dual action polisher , or a strong cleaner/wax such strong cleaner/wax such as ColorX by hand or with a dual action polisher.


The cure is not to use a colored wax in an effort to try to dye the clear coat so that it matches the color of the base coat; the cure is to remove the defects from the upper surface of the clear coat and restore clarity to it so that your eyes can once again see the colored, or pigmented basecoat under the clear coat.

Then use the right products and tools to maintain the clear coat so that it doesn't lose it's clarity and gloss again. This is called a maintenance program .

Colored waxes are a gimmick plain and simple. If your car's finish ever becomes dull and hazy and has lost its clarity, gloss and beauty, follow any of the above clickable blue links and they will share with you the correct way to fix the problem with name you can trust.

[silence]

DC#2 polish is more of a glaze?

[kellyinkc]

Claying

I kinda thought it was a gimmick. The nose of my car kinda looks like salt-pepper. Going to try Scratch X.

[Murr1525]

The words Glaze and Polish sort of get interchangeable.. DC#2 will nourish your paint, and add depth and gloss, espeacialy on dark colors.

ScratchX wont be able to colve rock chips out of the paint, but it may reduce some smaller scratches for you.