My Black 2004 F150 has taken a beating over the winter. I just got around to washing it by hand last night and boy does it have swirls, marks and crap all over it. My first thought is that it needs to be clayed and then polished to remove the swirls and marks.

Here's my question. If I skip the clay and just polish it will the polish do the same thing as the clay. It seems that the polish would remove any surface suff but i'm not sure.

Any advice?

Thanks

 

clay it. i just clay bared my 00 harley truck and it looks as black as my dads new 07 fx2. it is worth all the time and effort

 

Clay first, then polish. Avoid adding more swirls.

 

Clay won't do anything for swirls, but it is a good idea to do before you polish anyway. Clay it well, and then get busy with the polishing action. when you're done, seal 'er up with your wax of choice

 

clay wont get rid of swirls but its needed before polishing, polishing if refering to something like zaino wont get rid of swirls it will just make the paint shiney, you need to put a swirl and scratch remover on it, then polish, then wax

 

The paint feels "rough" to the touch in places. I'll stop trying to be lazy and go ahead and clay then polish followed by a good wax.

Thanks for the info. It looks like i've got some work to do.

 

The results will make it all worthwhile.

 

Claying your paint will remove those contaminants that makes your paint feel "rough". I always notice the most drastic results on the hood, the front of the truck (which is usually caked with bugs), and along the bottom of the truck where road tar and other crap cling to the paint. I am always amazed at the results I get from claying. I then follow up with Tropi-Care TC-8 Swirl Cutter (if needed), TC-3 polish, and coat of good wax (the brand I use depends on the color of the car). Give it a shot and it will most likely become a part of your regular detailing.

 

what i just did was Clay(Meguairs), Cleaner Wax(Meguairs), 2 coats of Gold Class...check out my gallery to see the after results...it looks and feels like brand new...

 

Seemed like when I clayed my truck it was a lot easier to get the wax off when I waxed it afterwards. And the paint was and still is very smooth

 

Clay will remove a lot of the bonded contaminants, but if you've got lots of tiny little orange spots (industrial fallout, etc) that are very difficult to remove with clay, then you may want to first consider using a decontamination wash system that includes an Acid Neutralizer, an Alkaline Neutralizer and a pH Neutral Wash. Most car manufactures sell decontamination kits through their dealers and they can also be found through oneline stores such as Autoint and FinishKare. Rustyzipper recently posted a Ford TSB somewhere in this forum with the Ford PN#'s for their chemicals along with how to use them, how to identify industrial fallout, etc.

It just depends on what's causing the roughness and the severity of it. If you don't have a lot of the tiny little orange specs bonded to your surface, then I'd simply follow all the advice above (wash, clay, polish, lsp).

 

Ya know I ended up using that Finishcare system. It was much easier to use VS. the Ford acid nutralizer and it worked excellent nutralizing the acid rain etching problem. It didn't get rid of it completely but almost. It made a nice surface setup for polishing.

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In addition to all of that... remember that claying the paint will aid in helping the paint become more optically precise.

While I know that sounds goofy to some, the fact of the matter is that a bunch of 'crud' stuck to your paint will give a dull and hazy effect to the paint. Removing this is and should be a part of EVERY propr detailing job.... trust me, if your paint has never been clayed, you'll want to seriously consider doing it.

Here's the claybar from a very small portion of a body panel on a recent detail that I performed:



This was a 2005 (2nd or 3rd Job based on build date)... so, basically a couple of years old. According to the owner, it had never been clayed. She works at a machine shop (and that's likely a LARGE contribution to this problem) but, the bottom line is that if I would've left that on the paint, I would've struggled to bring it up to 'below par' for the course from a shine standpoint. Additionally, stuck-in particles will have a tendency to oxidize and potentially etch the paint on a small basis.

As simple as it is to clay... as quick as it is... as cheap as the kits are to buy...

Why wouldn't you take 30 minutes and $10 and do it?

-RP-