Professional Mild Clay Marred my paint

[rsinger23]

I typically use the standard store bought clay kit but went for the Professional Mild clay from Amazon. The clay worked great at removing bonded on contaminants but after I was done, I noticed my paint was marred. My paint is a little on the soft side (2012 G37 pearl white). The marring is on the light side and can only be seen in bright lights at certain angles.

What is the fastest and easiest solution to remove the marring?

Thank you.

[The Guz]

Re: Professional Mild Clay Marred my paint

A cleaner wax or a light polish such as ultimate polish will remove the marring.

Welcome to MOL.

[rsinger23]

Re: Professional Mild Clay Marred my paint

Do you think Ultimate Polish by hand would be good enough?

[The Guz]

Re: Professional Mild Clay Marred my paint

It should take care of it. Give it a shot on an area and see if it works.

[Top Gear]

Re: Professional Mild Clay Marred my paint

Claying is one of those things that's great in theory, but not so much in practice. The reason is conditions have to be perfect for every square inch clayed, and the contaminants themselves or a dry patch of clay or a piece of dust falling from the sky can create circular scratches and smears by hand, and all that has to be cleaned up - very counter-productive. Claying a whole vehicle is something I feel I can safely ignore for the rest of my life. However, I'll sometimes occasionally use clay for spot fixes as a first step, or use it on glass, where it works a slightly better.

Instead, in your case, try a machine polisher with a mild combo, say UP on foam, running slow, and with mild pressure. If you've ever seen a big floor polisher/waxer in use in a store, it's the same idea. Move around a small section as the polish is worked in, and the contaminants are broken down and removed. It's a bit of work, sure, but nothing compared to claying by hand, and the result will be a polished and perfectly smooth surface. This assumes you have already given it a good wash. If this doesn't work for the marring, then step up to a compound instead. If that doesn't do it, then start again with MF pads instead of nerf foam. You really can't do this by hand - or, I should say, you can do it in theory, but in practice you will be hard-pressed to get a consistent result over the whole vehicle in a reasonable time, every time.

So, there's a level of finish work where you just have to move to a machine, and you're probably right on that line. We all were at one time

[rsinger23]

Re: Professional Mild Clay Marred my paint

Thanks for the tips everyone. I ended up applying ultimate polish by hand and the marring is gone along with some swirls.

[Top Gear]

Re: Professional Mild Clay Marred my paint

Glad to hear it was an easy fix

[The Guz]

Re: Professional Mild Clay Marred my paint

Thanks for the tips everyone. I ended up applying ultimate polish by hand and the marring is gone along with some swirls.

Glad to hear that.