Clay bar
 

Anyone on here ever do the clay bar then a simple coat of wax over it?

Never. Clay bars remove contaminants but usually slightly mar the surface. I never clay unless I am planning on machine polishing afterwards.

I always follow up a clay with a machine polish.

HTH

John

I have yes, I polish afterwards now, before waxing.

So, that's what I was asking. If you clay it then, put a wax job on, is that the best way to go about doing a full detail? What are you guys using instead of clay?

My order of operations is this:

Wash
Clay
Wash
Polish - depending on swirls might need 2 different polishes
Then either finish with a wax or do a sealant
If you did a sealant then finish that with a wax.

Apparently an incredibly controversial opinion (which is hilarious to me) but I only clay areas which require it. Great to remove surface contaminates like tar, not something I would ever do blindly to the whole car. Polishing is better and safer and far, far more worth your time.

Makes sense, 12 years ago I used to clay bar my Camaro and didn't know if there was anything else out that was better. Other than the front bumper which has many many bug spots on it that washing won't get em off, she's fairly clean. What kind of polish and wax you guys using?

This. I only clay when I need to. Because my cars are well-protected and maintained, I rarely need to clay anyway. A simple iron remover pretty much removes anything that washing doesn't remove.

Before I started using ceramic coatings, I'd clay once a year if I felt the roughness of the paint tell me it was needed, then maybe a layer of #7 before a layer of #26 wax. I'd polish panels that needed it.

Sometimes, just iron/tar remover is all that you need, not the clay. Feel the paint.

Now to prep for a coating and the correct prep for a full detail, only the last step changes. Wash, clay, iron/tar removal sprays, machine polish with Jescar Compound and/or Finishing Polish, then you can either wax, seal, or ceramic coat.

Wax every 2-3 months and you may not need the clay done in a year's time. Ceramics last years so I'll go years before I'll do this process over again.