- My model of MX-5 is: __ND4
- I’m based near: __Cheshire
- I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __Detailing/cleaning
After a vehicle has been ceramically coated for a period of time, would a clay bar clean do any harm to the paintwork?
I really don’t see how it could. Just make sure you use plenty of lubrication (I favour Meguiars Quick Detailer). Keep your clay clean and if you are picking up contamination from the paint fold the clay over to keep it away from the paintwork.
2 Likes
It depends whether the ceramic coating was any good. If the clay doesn’t take it off, it was good. If it does takes it off, it was obviously snake oil in the first place. A lot of car detailing products are like beauty products, but aimed at men.
3 Likes
TLDR: Don’t clay unless you’re intending to polish and reapply LSP (ceramic etc) immediately afterwards.
It would depend on the lifespan of the coating; for a 6-12 month product it’s not a big issue, but I wouldn’t go claying something that’s suppose to last 3+ years until you intend to repply the coating.
Because claying is an abrasive process, it imparts many fine scratches (marring etc) so you should always polish after claying. However, a professional long life ceramic coat is very difficult to polish as it’s so hard, so claying might dull the finish and then it’s tough to get the shine back. If the coating is decent shouldn’t be too much in the way of embedded contaminants anyway, and you could always use a chemical iron fallout remover instead.
1 Like
We would need more details on the ceramic coating before being able to make a more reasoned response. As Ckyliu said clay barring does cause micro marring so ideally you would polish after claying. I would go with chemical decontamination (iron and tar) to begin with to see if that improves your situation.
1 Like