I see that Meguiar's makes a paint cleaner that can be used before polishing, to remove contaminants & swirls.

My understanding is that a claying process also removes contaminants before polishing, but it will not remove swirls.

Do any of you use these paint cleaner products in addition to, or instead of a claying process, before polishing?

If so, why?

Thanks.

 

Be careful if you clay. I am having some paint issues with my car and the dealer wanted to clay it to see how deep the problem was. When I got the car back it looked like a spider had laid a web over the entire car. They really srewed it up.

 

I have clayed my car once before & it worked extremely well.

The key to claying is to keep the surface well lubricated & to apply only very light pressure with the clay so it glides smoothly over the surface.

It sounds like they really messed up with your paint. Sorry to hear!

 

Sorry to bump my own topic, but recently there seems to have been some consensus about the claying process in other threads.

So my original question still remains:
On a newish car does anyone use any type of paint cleaner in addition to the claying process?


Stream - your expert advice as always would be appreciated .
thanks,

 

Clay removes topical and embedded contaminants. It is not capable of removing scratches or swirls. As obvious, when one is not careful, it can induce marring, which is easily removable (and advisable anyway as clay removes surface protection also) with a light grade polish.
Cleaners are just that, paint surface cleaners. They remove topical contaminants (not embedded) with a chemical process and the physical process via a foam pad or PC. Cleaners in and of themself, will not remove scratches or swirls either, as they dont contain any abrasives.
I think you would be better suited using a polish to remove any more then likely marring (Especially on dark) on your car, as opossed to a cleaner. A polish will clean also, but it does it via abrasives, which are totally safe, when used respectfully.

 

Thanks excel!
I always polish after claying. But this time was planning to use Meguiar's Deep Crystal pure polish.

 

Clay removes topical and embedded contaminants. It is not capable of removing scratches or swirls. As obvious, when one is not careful, it can induce marring, which is easily removable (and advisable anyway as clay removes surface protection also) with a light grade polish.
Cleaners are just that, paint surface cleaners. They remove topical contaminants (not embedded) with a chemical process and the physical process via a foam pad or PC. Cleaners in and of themself, will not remove scratches or swirls either, as they dont contain any abrasives.
I think you would be better suited using a polish to remove any more then likely marring (Especially on dark) on your car, as opossed to a cleaner. A polish will clean also, but it does it via abrasives, which are totally safe, when used respectfully.
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Well said!