yes, polishing will cut some clear coat. Imagine the dirt trap between your pad and the car paint, no where to go. Keep rubbing around the paint body until you change a new pad. This trapped dirt will introduce more swirl.

Some dirt get dissolved with the 'cleaner' properties in the polish, then you are fine. But if you are unlucky and picked up something more solid then you will wonder where all the swirl comes from later lol.

Claying is different, you clay and knead the clay which will push the dirt into the clay and renew the contact surface.

btw, how you clay for 3 hours. I clay whole car also less than 30 mins. You using some expired clay or being too kedekut, use a 20 cent coin size clay issit... haha

Hi all,

I'm still in the process of reading through the pages, and believe me, its taking a really long time.

As per TS recommendation, I was looking for Maguire's Scratch X. But all I could find is Swirl X. Im SURE its not the same product, right? Anybody can recommend where I can buy these products in Penang, Malaysia?

I have a new car, but would like to detail it to maintain its new exterior. My car's finish is less than satisfactory - looks like some "holoram" effect, instead of the clear wet finish that your guys have in the pics posted up.

Since its new, im planning to wash, get rid of scratches, apply detailer then wax a couple of coats. I dont think I need to do claying at this point?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

BaconBits, do you have a DA polisher? if you do not, I suggest you pay some professional to remove the scratches and you perform the maintenance from there onwards.

You can buy a polisher, but I do not think you know enough to DIY properly at this time.

If you insist on trying with hand, I hope you have strong arms lol.

Anyway, back to Scratch X. Have you try ACE Hardware in QB and Parkson in Gurney? this is the place that I know which carries Meg product. I bought my scratch x from Parkson in gurney for around RM65 I think.

you sounded quite arrogant toward the end there.

I see - makes sense since I don't have any experience, nor a da polisher nor arm strength. Lol.

Great idea ! I'll head on to ACE at qbay!

Thanks.

junbecks: Read it with a happier mind, helps.

BaconBits: You can try polishing a small section and see how much effort you will need. Take a 6" by 6" section with some swirls and try to polish it off. After you successfully do it, multiply that to the whole car surface area and then you will decide if you need to buy a polisher. Haha.

anyone heard of this Henkel Group's Loctite Extreme Coating Wax?

http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a220o...&id=13243699560

sold here but i can't find a decent english review website

heavy driver. takes only 1month + (or at most 2 months +) for my 5k km OCI
car parks outside all the time, at work also parking at open space car park.
so... yeah.

the idea of claying is to continue until your claying motion is smooth. believe me when it takes some amount of time just to achieve that even on a small panel.
i am using soft 99 clay bar and turtle wax premium gloss platinum QD.
not the best of products, however they get the job done.

and no, im being very generous using half a clay bar at a time. was painful when i dropped it though

Quazacolt: if you have time, please give this a read. http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/de...ting-paint.html

FYI, i use even cheaper clay and lube but I suspect that you might not be tackling the contamination in the most effective manner, which cause you to take so much time. You can these:
1. Use a more abrasive clay.
2. Use a paint cleaner.
3. Use a better sealant or wax that last longer because if the contamination sits on a sealant or wax, it should be fairly easy to remove. I suspect you have already lost your protection layer when those things sticks, thats why it is so hard to remove.

btw, you do not have to do all of the above. You will need to try and error to see which one helps.

...clay cloth.....

At most it'll take me is an hour to clay the whole car.....

ScratchX been discontinued...now is ScratchX 2.0. SwirlX is milder.

You should try looking for a more aggressive clay....

hmm wouldn't more aggressive clay start to cut the clear coat? also, what clay would you recommend?

Just bought a MG Gold class car wash shampoo, MG NXT 2.0 liquid wax, MG Scratch X 2.0 and MG Bug and Tar remover.

Will try it right away this weekend.

Contrary to popular belief (well...at least from what I've been reading here), clay DOES NOT 'cut' the clear coat. And it doesn't make the surface 'glossy' and 'shiny'.

i see, so what aggressive clay would you suggest?

Where to buy Makita 9227C DA with the accompanying sponges??

I can only suggest the few that I've used. Sticking to those that are available locally (though pricing would be another different matter), I'd suggest Meg's Detailing Clay blue or Bilt Hamber Auto Clay Aggressive, the 3M (blue) is also quite decent. I haven't tried any of the OTC clays after some bad experiences with a couple of them (namely PG & can't remember the other one). Maybe somebody else can make a suggestion.

Then again, I'd need to ask, did you really need to go that aggressive avery few months? Cuz I find that I'd need to go aggressive in the beginning only. After a good polishing and protection (wax/sealant), my maintenance claying would normally be using the mild/soft clay only. And this would be anywhere around 4 ~ 6 months and my car also *almost* 24/7 in the open. Which area are you living/working?

First of all, the Makita 9227 is NOT a DA, it's a ROTARY, two very much different machines. The only place that I know where you can buy the machine and also get to buy/choose backing plates of different sizes together with a variety of Lake Country buffing/polishing pads is at Osren. You can also find the same selling at Duragloss Malaysia web site.

pg is that local brand permaglass right?
otc would be...?

im living at KL working at kl sentral mainly, though sometimes travel to kpg industrial area (around sri damansara) and sg besi TPM
havent really went through another claying session yet, however the thought of claying generally the front area for 3 hours just sends shivers down my spine

i guess it'll get better later on as i get better products, and having less contaminants to deal with.

I agree with KrisMas, aggressive claying and heavy cut polishing is usually a once off event during the initial stage where you make everything perfect and then it is maintenance mode after that. That is provided you protect the perfection properly after you fix it. So my question it, what wax or sealant are you using after you clay?

KrisMas: I read from autogeek that aggressive clay doesn't cut but will introduce marring instead. However, I do think it is that visible or maybe my standard of acceptable gloss is lower. Haha..

Usually i only use mild clay because the aggressive clay is very soft and I find it very sticky.

I was using PG clay, so you know my level of acceptance la. haha

Now car detailing become an addiction.

I thought only ICE will make me an addict.

Even clay also have different types, so if I use PG Clay and clay twice, will it clean better??