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Question - Definitely Clay before Polish?

E

Ed Doe

Senior member
Ashbourne or Frimley
Hi All,

I'll hold my hands up and say I've had a past interest in detailing but simply have not had the time to continue to keep abreast of things, so I now feel a bit left behind when it comes to products and processes.

Following on from some previous posts, my intention is to use a Graphene Sealant on the M - my rationale being that I have precious little time to properly clean it these days so having a hydrophobic sealant on it should make it easier/quicker to get across the car more efficiently!

My plan is:

Snowfoam
Wash with 2 buckets
Dry
Claybar*
Single Pass (hopefully) with Scholl S20 Black to correct paint
Graphene Sealant

Hopefully I've not rambled too much at this point;

I did clay the car about March last year, and haven't done loads of miles (probably 3k, plus one track evening at Donington, and a weekend at the ring). The car did live outside a lot of last year so does have a few spots of tree fallout on it which need pulling out.

MAIN QUESTIONS:

1. based on the above statement, do I need to clay the car, or will the Scholl S20 black actually take the shite off the paint at the same time? If I can remove a stage (ie. an hour to clay and rinse the car off) it would help, but if it's worth it then I'll make the time!)

2. Any advice on applying the Graphene Sealant - this is definitely a new thing to me...! Do I need gloves (ie. is it not a good idea to get it on your skin?)? How much do I need to apply - is it visible when you first apply and does it haze like a wax?

Apologies if all this sounds a bit stupid, as I say I feel properly out of the loop on some of the new detailing products, and that combined with having very little time these days means I just want to achieve the best finish first time round, rather than having to redo stuff cause I've cocked it up!!

Thanks in advance!!

Ed
 
Try turning your hand over, palm up facing away from the car and lightly drag your finger nails over the paintwork, best way to check!
If you feel the bumps there, you know you have stuff siting on the paint that will not help with the paint correction, it will if it moves, just get dragged about on the paint.

If its only light in terms of the bumps, you could always use a clay mitt, they are about £10-£15 and much easier and quicker to use than a bar. Also I wouldnt worry too much about using expensive 'lube' products they try selling you with clay, just soak the car and the water works just as well with the mitt.
 
A clay bar is always a good idea but put plenty of newspaper under the car. You will drop it onto the ground! You also need a lubricant liquid
 
Thanks guys. I'm no stranger to claying (and yes have dropped them before and sworn and binned the clay and started again, and then dropped it again... :lol:

My question was just whether the general consensus is definitely to clay before polishing/correcting the paint?


I have used a clay mitt before, and tbh I was rather impressed - certainly made the job heaps faster, and reduced the risk of dropping it on the floor! I haven't got one currently but worth buying at some point (on the long list of things! lol)

Cheers :)
 
I think it’s 'best practice' to clay. The idea being that you are polishing a clean surface.

There are different abrasive levels of clay too... for more complexity.

I would say there isnt much point in drying the car and then claying it. Maybe clay it whilst wet but add some more soap to the car as a lubricant. I put some in a spray bottle.

As you say it’s very time intensive, I recently had a go at paint correcting just the bonnet and that took about two hours.

You can always clay one panel and polish, and move around the car, rather than committing to the whole thing at once.
 
I'd say that if you're going to go to the trouble of doing paint correction and seal (15-30 hours to do properly) then might as well invest the extra 2-3 hours to clay first.
 
If you’re using a machine to polish I’d definitely give it a clay first. If you’re doing it by hand it’s probably still best practice but perhaps not so critical.

I’ve found removing polish/wax is far more difficult on unclayed panels, almost to the point that I question whether not claying actually saved any time.

I find claying is only a pain when the car is particularly rough. As yours is probably still pretty clean it shouldn’t take too long and will most likely be the upwards facing surfaces that need any real attention. The lower doors will have a bit of pickup/tar/iron especially if it’s been tracked but you can probably get rid of a decent amount of that with iron-x and decontamination products.
 
Zedebee said:
Ed Doe said:
Single Pass (hopefully) with Scholl S20 Black to correct paint
Click to expand...
Sorry, my turn to be ignorant. What does this mean?
Click to expand...

Basically one application of Polish with a mop. (at least that's my understanding - you've got me questioning myself now! :lol: )
 
No need for any special lubricant with a clay mitt. After a quick wash I just use my regular Liquid Gold shampoo and use the mitt instead of a sponge.
 
Ed Doe said:
Zedebee said:
Ed Doe said:
Single Pass (hopefully) with Scholl S20 Black to correct paint
Click to expand...
Sorry, my turn to be ignorant. What does this mean?
Click to expand...

Basically one application of Polish with a mop. (at least that's my understanding - you've got me questioning myself now! :lol: )
Click to expand...
Ah, makes sense. I thought I might be missing out on some magic paint corrector that I wasn’t aware of. As [ref]plenty[/ref] says, below, the paint (or rather the clear coat) on e85/e86 is pigging hard and a quick once over with a polishing machine won’t make much of an impression.
 
Thanks gents

I was hoping the scholl stuff will be more abrasive and therefore not need me to go bonkers with it. I've used meguiars ultimate compound before with the machine polisher but that seemed to require a lot of passes to get anywhere!
 
Ed Doe said:
Thanks gents

I was hoping the scholl stuff will be more abrasive and therefore not need me to go bonkers with it. I've used meguiars ultimate compound before with the machine polisher but that seemed to require a lot of passes to get anywhere!
Click to expand...

It really depends on what machine you’re using, what cutting pads and what compounds.

I’ve just done some work on my Mrs E89 that was very swirled. I’ve done the Bonnet, roof and boot lid so far. I did a single pass with Sonax cutmax on Rupes wool Pads and a single pass with sonax 4-6 on Rupes yellow pads. Apart from one or two deeper scratches which required a bit more work, this was enough. My machine is a Flex Forced-drive DA which doesn’t stall and which you can apply pressure to, so it cuts really well with the right pad-compound combo.

Dual Action machines can cut fast, especially those with a bigger orbit, 12mm, 15mm, 21mm - but they can stall if not completely flat or if too much pressure applied. Something like a das6 pro (the original ones) had a 6mm orbit so finished down really well but took many passes - something like a microfibre pad and Megs 101 work well on BMW paint on a less powerful dual action… just watch for pad stall, especially on curved panels :thumbsup:

Definitely clay first, you don’t want your polishing machine dragging fallout all over your paintwork :cry:

Which graphene product are you going to apply?
 
enuff_zed said:
Try using a clay mitt. I find them much easier.
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Definitely a clay mitt. So much easier to use. £15 from Halfords. Make sure you keep the bodywork wet or the clay sticks to the car not the mitt! (And that’s bad).

Plus, wash with G3 instead of usual wash/wax, as you’re trying to remove the existing film and contaminates.

Most importantly, enjoy it. Don’t rush. Plenty of coffee & biscuits. Then post pictures!
 
Definitely use a clay mitt before polishing. I used to use snow foam but found it did not do a lot, except it is great as a lubricant for the clay mitt. After washing the car, spray on the foam then get to work with the mitt. Don't use too much foam just a little as a lubricant. The clay bar is a bit prehistoric these days.
 
BeeEmm said:
The clay bar is a bit prehistoric these days.
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Although a used lump of clay with a squirt of rapid detailer is excellent at removing baked-on insect remains from the windscreen.
 
I personally wouldnt waste money on any detailer products, a squirty bottle with water in does the job equally well. I actually clay after washing the car and hosing it down, just keep spraying the hose onto it and a clay mitt will run across it no problem.

Polish after that then absolutely use a panel wipe, you want all the products removed from the paint before trying to seal it with an LSP.
 
Thanks all, much appreciated!

At this point, I've given up on the plan to detail before the summer season. It's relatively well kept since winter 2022's hibernation detail (not done that many miles since due to house move etc).

I'll be planning to sort out the paint when I have more time over winter this year, so should have plenty of time to do it over the course of a few weeks :)
 
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