Scratched My Car with Claybar

[SolemnWishes]

Hi all,

I did a bunch of reading and youtubing on detailing before working on my new car. Unfortunately, I did not use enough lubricant while claybarring, leading to some very light marring.

Naturally, I'm going to use more lubricant next time and knead more often. But I also want to know if a pure polish might be able to fill in the marring on a short-term basis. I don't really want to use an abrasive polish, because the car is a daily driver and there's only so much clearcoat.

The car is yellow. I don't know if I can achieve a mirror finish without an abrasive polish, but I'd like to try.

Thank you for listening!

[NLS8520]

Sorry to hear that, I have done this in my past as well. The thing about clay that some people don't know is that it is impossible to clay a car without leaving some form of marring. Think about it your are attempting to remove bonded surface contamination but your technically using the detailing clay to "sheer" the contamination off. Then you drag the contamination all over the paint until you fold the clay. So clay is great but it has a time and place and that place is prior to polishing, as the polish stage will remove and defects made with the clay. Also what brand of clay? make sure to use a TON of lubrication and a very mild clay in the future.

Now onto the polish question. Polish in its nature is abrasive but to an extent. Some polish is mild some is more of a medium cut. Its the pad combination that could also make it more or less aggressive. Compound is the most aggressive form of polish. My question to you would be how do you intend to apply the polish, Machine?, Hand? I respect the fact you don't want to start removing a ton of your clear coat. I don't blame you, but don't be too scared of the thought of correcting the paint, but do it one time. A polish job is to repair the issue, then I would highly recommend a wash system that would enable you to not install swirl marks in the future. A proper two bucket system, with grit guards, multiple multi-colored microfiber sponges for washing, microfiber drying towels, good shampoo, and of course long lasting protection in the form of a sealant or coating.

I have a PC 7424 and its more than enough to correct paint with a white pad and a decent polish you can perfect your paint then be very careful in the future.

Now if you want to hide the damage for a small amount of time then a glaze is something you would want. Most people use for a car show to hide scratches for a week or two lets say. It is by NO MEANS a permanent solution. Feel free to ask any questions or PM me.

[SolemnWishes]

Hey NBLS8520,

First of all, thanks for reading and taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it.

Secondly, my research told me the same things before I started. But I guess sometimes you just don't know until you try.

Third, I'd like to answer some questions you asked:
Wolfgang's Elastic Poly Clay and accompanying clay lubricant.
Wolfgang's Autobathe
Wolfgang's Deep Gloss Paint Sealant
Two bucket system with grit guards in both
Weird microfiber short tentacle sponge?
Microfiber drying towels
Separate microfiber towels to wipe lubricant
Separate microfiber towels to wipe sealant

Since I'm a newb and clumsy as hell, I wanted to stick with lower-risk detailing processes. Along with a lack of machinery, I want to avoid abrasive polishing. I don't mind putting some hard work to be safe for now. I haven't even touched the wheels so far, for fear of mixing up towels and mixing buckets. Online warnings about brake dust terrorizes me. It's my first car, my daily driver, and my mistress (per girlfriend).

For now, I'm thinking about leaving polishing to the professionals every year or two. I'll probably try the wheels after I finish putting sealant on the car.

All of that said, I have some clay bar residue stuck on my clearcoat too. Any tips on getting that off? Extensive gentle highly-lubricanted claybarring?

THANKS!

[NLS8520]

Well your on the right track with those products. So when you say you have residue, that is a sign of not enough lubrication. What I generally do when claying a car is in my mind divide a section into portions. So the hood would be 4-6 portions lets say. Spray liberally with lubrication, then spray the clay after forming a thin patty, I then hold the spray lubrication and spray every few seconds while making gentle back and forth motions until the clay bar glides smoothly.

Now to get rid of the residue after the fact, I have never personally had this issue, but if I did I would do the following. Make sure the car is freshly clean. Take some detail spray and a fresh microfiber and spray the residue and use one side on the towel to wipe and then flip to a clean side and continue to spray and wipe until the residue is gone.

For the wheels, I like a dedicated wheel bucket. You would need the following:

-Cheap car wash bucket from auto parts store, or purchase a black wash bucket from Autogeek. Dedicated to only wheels.

-Black microfiber wash mitt, use black so you never cross contaminate and use it for paint. Purchase at Autogeek.

-Daytona Speed Master JR. wheel brush , for wheel barrels, also from Autogeek.

-Either a boars hair brush or wheel woolie for the cracks and lug nuts, again only for the wheels. Autogeek.

-A tire brush to clean the tires, they are hard so use only on the tires, Autogeek.


Use car shampoo and water if the wheels are not that dirty. If they are very dirty first apply a ph neutral wheel cleaner. I like Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner. It dissolves the break dust and turns it purple, very cool stuff.


It sounds like you would rather have the car corrected by a pro if needed in the future. So what I would so is apply a sealant like you have and just maintain that and the two bucket wash. IF you want ideas how to correct the paint let me know, there are polishes out there that are quite mild, that can still correct minor swirls or marring. Compounds are the aggressive type of polish. Well contact me if you have any other questions. Take care.

[phrosty]

This is why you maintain a wax -- keep as many of those contaminants out of your paint and in the wax instead, so you don't need to go crazy with a clay bar to keep it clean. It's not just for making things shiny

[M23]

I recently clayed my pop's 10 year old Lexus (garaged) with a Nanoskin Autoscrub Fine Sponge. I've never clayed a car before and also his car has never been clayed before; but the Nanoskin made it easy. Result was also really fantastic (it's my first experience using clay). Sht really works - paint feels smooth as butter and like new and shines like crazy!

I also got the medium grade sponge. Planning to use that soon on my super, heavily contaminated, 24/7 outdoors, 10 year old Tacoma. The hood, roof and tailgate is pretty bad that it feels super gritty with almost 10 years of outdoor contaminants collected on them. The fenders, doors and quarter panels don't feel that bad though. Hoping the medium grade will work wonders on my old truck too