Clay question

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Bought the Meguiars clay kit to see if it would lift a blemish I found. It didn't. But the paint feels more smooth, and I wonder if it will lift some rust stains. Question: it say to use the quick finish stuff, as a lubricant, which on the bottle says it is for use in between waxings. I don't have any wax on the vehicles, so if I have enough time I might use some old Turtle wax for fun. Would I need to wash off the quick finish before waxing?
 
Clay isn't really meant to remove stains and blemishes. It's made to remove embedded contaminants. Try using some Ultimate Polish by hand if you don't have a machine, step up to Ultimate Compound if the Ultimate Polish won't cut it. They work pretty well to polish out paint blemishes short of wet sanding.

Using quick finish in between waxings will help clean the paint prolonging the existing wax but if you're using it as a clay lube then you don't need to wax first. Clay the car then apply wax.

I'd get something else besides that old TW Super Hard Shell. It's an AIO which if your cars never got polished might be a good idea to use but that stuff once dried is a total pain to remove and stains black plastic trim like there's no tomorrow.

Meguiars finally solved the durability issues their waxes were known for. They've always had excellent looks but fell short on durability. But now NXT 2.0 and especially Ultimate Wax are real contenders and you really can't beat Ultimate Wax in terms of ease of use. You can even apply it in the sun and it comes off easy.
 
I clayed my wife's Xterra with the Meguiars clay kit. I used the Meguiars Quick Detail as my lubricant. I then waxed it using Meguiars cleaner wax to remove any additional contaminants. Finished up with two coats of Meguiars NXT Generation Tech Wax. I can't describe the finished product. Paint was glassy smooth and the finished was blinding in the sun. Since then, just a normal wax several times a years has maintained the finish. I did this five years ago and still don't feel the need to clay it again.
 
It's because the NXT is actually more an AIO. Not as aggressive as their cleaner wax but Meguiar's OTC waxes have always had just enough abrasives to keep paint clean and remove the lightest of swirling and knock the edges off deeper swirls to reduce their visibility but not remove any really measurable amount of material.

But I usually clay once a year anyways since I like my paint to be feel super smooth and it makes waxing with a paste wax like Collinite 915 just that much easier.
 
Too late, wanted to finish the job today. If I understand correctly, the TW will be gone in a few months anyhow.

Don't think I will ever do this again. Too depressing. I found rock chip after rock chip. I might just stick to washing in the future. Next weekend I will spend some time with touch up paint, once I figure out what removes wax.

But the paint did feel much smoother, I will say that.
 
Oh, another q: how long is a bar good for? I mean, I should be set now for a year, so it is no big deal to toss. Both were pretty brown after a vehicle each.
 
As long as the bar doesn't touch the ground you can use it til it turns visibly brown. I usually split my bars in half or into thirds just in case the bar falls on the ground in which case it's tossed immediately.

I don't knead it like people say to do as that distributes the contaminants throughout the clay. Instead I always fold it to expose the clean side. The clean layer then gets thinner and thinner as the dirty layers get more and more numerous and folded within. When the whole bar is is about the same color as a fresh bar after decontaminating a panel, I toss it.

Depending on how badly contaminated your cars are this could be 3-4 cars per half or third of a bar for heavily contaminated cars or upwards of 10 cars for my own personal vehicles which are never heavily contaminated. So your results may vary. So for me one bar can literally last years.

I will say living with rock chips can be annoying but unless you know how to fill and wet sand sand them level with clear til they are completely invisible. If you just put drops of clear to fill them they become more an eyesore as they'll look like your car has zits in its paint and it only gets more obvious when you polish unlike leaving them alone in which case they get less obvious with polishing. So in terms of looks rock chips are better left alone unless they're down to bare metal then fill them for protection. The base coat and primer will protect the paint plenty. But a bad touch up job will be more an eyesore than leaving them. Also if you have metallic paint you'll never get the metallic to lay right with a touch up and over time unless unless you cleared over the touch up the metallic touch up will wear away its color coat and leave a bright silvery spot on your paint.

Also polishing your car will tend to reduce rock chip visibility as the polish will knock the edge off the chip making it less visible. And also using a non-staining pure wax will further reduce their visibility. The abrasives in an AIO tend to accumulate in those crevices and dry white which highlight them. Collinite 845 is a pure wax with no abrasives so applied thinly will dry clear and won't accumulate in the chips. So you'll be better off in my opinion to just live with the chips.

But if you must strip everything off a rock chip, mineral spirits on a q-tip will clean out any oil and silicone based contaminants and follow that with rubbing alcohol to get anything else left behind. This will leave a pristine surface that will accept paint much more reliably.
 
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The chipped paint seems to quickly turn to rust. The bane of Toyota ownership... But even the Jetta does likewise. Maybe waxing every so often would do the trick? I just need to extend it to ten years, and really that isn't too long. But I don't think the wife will like the rust stains that my car has. I try to dab in touch up paint when I can. It's all about delaying the inevitable.

I like the advice on the clay bar, I'll do that next time.
 
To add to my earlier post, I mentioned I wax several times a year (about every other month) to keep the finish clean and smooth. I don't use a top-of-the line, high dollar wax anymore. I use a simple wax from Armor All called Butter Smooth Wax. I can wax either of my vehicles in 30 minutes. This stuff goes on easy and comes off easy, and best of all, it doesn't stain plastic molding and trim. It leaves a really nice shine with minimal effort. I do keep my cars garaged and I'm sure that helps. I cleaned our local Target out last month of this wax as they were discontinuing this product in their store.
 
Well, the first time I do anything it's an experiment, as it's apt to go wrong. I figure, in a few months this wax will have worn off and/or I should be able to wash it off. Or perhaps I can wax over it with something else. Really, all I want to do is give the paint a bit more help to last longer, and more importantly, seal the metal underneath from rock chip damage. Our Camry is already showing rust bubbling in a few spots, and I'm not sure if waxing would slow that down or not. Whatever I can do to slow down rust is a good thing.

Short of washing. It's a bit cold for 5 months of the year, and I don't really want to turn the driveway into an ice rink.
 
If it's bubbling the damage is already done. Sealing over it with paint might actually makes it worse by sealing in any moisture that can get trapped.

The pinhole rock chips though might still be able to be saved dab rust converting primer in them first before painting over them just to be sure you're not painting over rust.
 
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