How often to clay bar?

[Dan320is]

How often would the detailing pro's on here recommend that I clay my car?

[march109]

There is no hard and fast rule, clay barring as it were will not damage or age the paint in any way because if its done properly it is non abbrassive, however it must be done properly and afterwards you have teken off all the protection on the paint so you need to use a sealing compoud, protectant or wax.

Confusingly some modern polishes now are not polishes (since a polish is abbrasive) but in fact protectants, these are very good top layers, and act as a self sacrificing layer between the top coat of the paint and atmosphere (as do waxes and sealing compouds!).

I wash, clay bar and then wax once a month in summer and every 2 months in winter. In winter I think its more important to build up a thick layer of protectants and use it to keep the grit and salt off the paint rather than worry about your car being all shiney.

[d6dph]

Claying can damage the paint, Depends on which one you use.

I use Sonus green which is an ultra fine clay. Never seen it marr the paint. I also have Sonus grey (coarser) which can marr paint, I generally use it on glass now.

The grey left very faint micro-scratches on my dads ovlov which came out with a quick polish. (Lots of lube used when claying too.)

I clay twice a year, and only if needed.

[march109]

surely clay can only marr the paint if you start 'dragging' particles across the paint, clay is only very very very very very (very alot..... ) even microscopicaly abbrassive since the particles that make up clay are so small.

I agree that different clays would have different blends, and thus different sized particles. But withought some sort of non soluble particle present it is not possible to marr the paint. Which is why we lube up because clay is not only soluble, but the lube allows it to glide over the paint picking up contaminents instead of dragging them across it.

[d6dph]

Nope, I needed the clay after every 6" worth.

Lots of folks on D/W say the grey is able to marr paint.

I'm fairly sure it is not soluble either?

[march109]

Heres where I put my scientific hat on.

Clay is solluble: water held in or passing through, geologic deposits of clay or shale or will dissolve or extract from the clay and associated minerals a kinetic solution load charactersitic of the clay deposit, however this only holds (or has only been proved to hold) for natural clay. I am not sure what the clay bars for cars are made from but suspect they are similar in chemical compostion.

If you want test it at home take a bucket of water and drop in some clay bar and leave it for a day or two, all you'll have sooner or later is some 'muddy' water. Same as sugar is soluble in hot water ot your tea.

[d6dph]

But this isn't clay as in pottery clay, It's a synthetic product.

My clay is stored in small tubs that are filled with megs last touch, surely with your explanation it would not be there next time I came to use it?

(Not trying to cause an argument, Just an interesting topic imo)

[march109]

I know what your saying about the megs last touch and the clay being synthetic but in tests natural clay was only soluble to 18.5*10^−6gram (one millionth) per 1 mL (or one thousandth of a litre), so if your particular clay bar had a mass of say 100grams you would need (approximatly cos my phone doesn't do 10 digits!) 540 Litres of water for it to occur naturaly, now if your allowed to aggitate the clay as you do when stirring your sugarI would say you could reduce this by a factor of 10 (as an estimated guess), based on again making tea, dumping sugar in the mug versus stirring the sugar.

Some of the above is pure guess and analogies, the math is proven many times over by science.

However even though the clay is synthetic the point of synthesising a compound or chemical is to give it the natural properties of the compound or chemical that can be easily manufactured in labs or factories. I assume many properties of these synthesised clays are the same as natural clay and the reason for synthesising it is to ensure full stop with no ommisions that there is no grit presant in the clay. If you were to just collect natural clay from the soil this could never be acheived.

I'm not arguing I'm finding it just as interesting as you. I like a reasoned thought out debate.

[march109]

also your megs is not only not pure water, so you allready have the molecules that make up the chemicals in megs taking up the free space in the solution that could be used for the clay to dissolve into, but also the amount is far too small and if tested I would suspect the solution would also be clay heavy.

Also natural clays found in the ground contain undesirable elements other than grit which synthetic production would elimintate such as small particles of heavy metals and chloride.

[sam325is]

sonus green twice a year! thats the way forward!

[grantfk10]

Getting back to the original topic -

How often would the detailing pro's on here recommend that I clay my car?

as sam325is said, twice a year is about right