[Chip]

Well in spite of a head full of apprehensions I decided to clay my S2000. I’ve owned a good number of vehicles over the years, but I’ve resisted the notion of using clay to remove surface irregularities. I changed that point of view recently as a result of someone getting me to do the “plastic bag drag” on the Honda. As a result of that "test" and the fact that I parked under a tree last week and it sprayed the car with fine sap particles I made the move "To Clay". I took two preparation steps that prepared the car and me for the task at hand. The car was washed and I picked two high energy CD’s (Neil Young’s “Weld” & CSNY’s disc two of “4Way Street”) to get me into the work that would be required. So after reading the instructions a couple of times and looking at a couple of “How To” videos I got into it. I had no idea it would be as easy as it turned out to be! The keys were to keep a small work area of the car wet with the detail spray that came with the” Mothers Clay bar Kit” and continually folding the clay in on itself. I did the trunk lid and the two back fenders in one session followed with a coat of wax and removal on each. I took a short break and did the two doors followed by covering them with wax and hand buffing it off. This morning I did the hood and front & back fascia and the front fenders. I broke each area of work into smaller areas and before I moved on to the next area I pulled a thin walled sandwich bag with my hand inserted into it across the work area. When it felt defect free I moved on. I have to warn you that if you do use high energy music to work by you need to watch how fast your clay filled hands move. I found myself while listening to several songs moving with the speed of an electrical tool, which in no way is needed, but I laughed when I noticed it. Long story short, I am amazed with the results. My car is Silverstone Silver and I have found that Silver does not really pop when it clean and polished, but it sure looked good and the finish is incredibly smooth. Not sure you folks will need to “Clay” your new C-7, but if you feel the need to, it is not a bad way to spend 5 or 6 hrs. I would be interested in knowing from those with new cars if they pass the plastic sandwich bag drag?

 

[Mobilejay]

I'm glad you jumped in and decided to try it out. A lot of people are really scared of doing this, but its really not hard to do. I clay every new vehicle that I encounter. Due to transportation from factory to dealer to you, the car gets contaminated. I did a C7 today and the contamination wasn't *too* bad, but there was still some there. Plus, I used an iron decontamination process and there was quite a bit of iron contamination on the paint.

 

[Wills.WindowsAndWheelsAz]

I agree with Jay completely. Detailing/polishing/coating etc is what we do for a living...and we have done our fair share of new vehicles...and as Jay noted, just from the transport alone it is likely that some contaminates will bond to the car. While it won't take 5-6 hours to clay as in your case (i know tree sap can be a pain to remove), it is still a good idea to have it done. I will note though that it is best to machine polish after claying. Even though claying is about the most delicate process available (other than something like CarPro Iron-x) to remove bonded contaminates, more times than not, it will cause very light marring in the paint (usually only visible under direct sunlight or a properly placed LED light). The lighter the color however, the more difficult it is to see.

Since marring is actually very fine scratches in your clear coat, the only way to remove them is to polish them...which is a completely different task and unless you know what you're doing, you can do more harm than good lol. But even if you just clay and wax as you did, it will not only allow the paint to feel slicker, but it also allows your protection to bond better to the paint

 

[Redc7]

Love the clay been doing it for years to my show vettes.