Clay first timer - how much pressure?

J

jdthompson

New member
Just got a Meguiars Quik Clay kit to try on my 02 Golf (Anthracite metallic).



Instructions seem pretty clear, wash, dry, lube well, clay.



My question is how much pressure to use? I believe little is needed but does that mean literally just "push" it once across the surface, or should it be worked back and forth like sandpaper?



I've been reading on here and I've read a few reports of marring, which I guess is due to too much pressure - I guess there's a bit of paranoia about damaging my paint.



cheers,

Paul
 
If you're going to polish afterwards, I would not worry about marring. TO answer your question though, simply lube and rub it over the paint. No pressure is needed on "most" surfaces. Some bugs, poop, and tar may need some elbow greese, but Don't turn it into a science project.



JJ
 
When I clay I don't use any pressure at all- I just slide the clay across the lube a few times. For stubborn spots I usually just slide a few _more_ times. (first I check to make sure the 'spot' is not a piece of debris in the clay, though).



With proper lube I don't think you should have any problems with marring, at least I've never seen it on my cars...



-Adam
 
I'd say to use no more pressure than required to keep the clay in contact with the paint. With plenty of lube that approach should not result in any marring and should clean OK (multiple passes may be required). Having said that, there are situations where more pressure *is* required and sometimes this can result in marring. Before resorting to this "aggressive claying", you might want to consider other options, such as paint cleaners or decontamination systems, but I bet most people will just press a bit more on the clay and polish out any marring.
 
Accumulator: By saying "Multiple passes may be required", are you saying that when you clay, the clay bar only passes over any given area of paint once? With the standard yellow clay, I've tackled contamination that required dozens of passes to remove, so I've never understood how a single pass can do the job. Perhaps I'm misinterpretting what you are saying.
 
treebiter- Sorry, I wasn't very clear on that one :o What I meant is that sometimes you'll have to go over an area (a few back/forth passes), inspect things, fold/knead/replace the clay, and do it again (and perhaps again and again).



So a "pass" for me in this context is more than a single contact between the clay and the panel.



With some kinds of contamination I *will* fold/knead/replace after a single contact, but that's pretty rare. And yeah, it's also rare for a single contact to do a thorough cleaning.
 
Tried the clay yesterday. My god :)



I've no idea if I was doing it right but I used lots of lube to stop it sticking, needed/turned it often and the amount of gunk that showed up from what I thought was a pretty damned clean car beforehand was incredible. Plus you can really feel where the paint is now "smooth as glass" vs the smooth but very slightly grainy/gritty texture it was before, even after polishing.



Twelve quid well spent I think :)



Paul
 
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