lil vette

Which is better & WHY
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Spencez28

I thought they were 2 different processes. Clay bar removes impuritys from the paint, and rubbing compound evens out the surface of the clear coat. Not totally sure though...

rrichar2591

Rubbing compound is a very agressive product mostly to remove oxidized paint etc. It is abrasive and will remove some of the clearcoat or paint. On the other hand a clay bar is used to remove paint imperfections such as overspray, impurities etc. Used properly it will not remove paint or clearcoat. There is a lot of great info in the car care section of the forum that is worth reading. Good luck.

teebee

They are two entirely different processes and accomplish different things. I'd be REAL careful using rubbing compound on your cars, it is very abrasive and can damage your paint in a heartbeat. Clay bar, on the other hand, is relatively safe, as long as you keep it lubricated. As said in the previous reply it is used to remove the impurities on the painted surface. It will increase the clarity of the surface and prep it for wax or polish.

Silverbullet00

DO NOT USE RUBBING COMPOUND ON YOUR CAR UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING

MarkyMarkGTM

I agree with all the others so far. One thing I have to add is that clay will do nothing to remove swirl marks and scratches, it only cleans the surface of contaminants. Buffing on the other hand with either a polish or compound will remove fine scratches and swirls because it is smoothing the paint surface by taking away clear coat.

Really two different steps completely and used to get two very different results. I clay first then follow up with polish/wax.

Jistari

Car care section will serve you better.

But briefly what are you trying to do?

itzza427

Simply put,,,Rubbing compound can easily ruin your paint,,clay bar won't(unless you are a total klutz,,and even then won't do much harm)!!Clay bar is a simple and effective prep for a better wax job!!

txFRC

take heed to the advice above about not using any abrasive polish unless you know what your doing. and especially if a buffer is used!

just clayed my car tonight. best setup is to wash it with a few drops of Dawn kitchen soap or equivalent to help strip any remaining waxes off. then hit it with the clay and make sure you use a lubricant, either water or detailing spray in COPIOUS amounts.

Vetteman Jack

I would be very hesitant about using rubbing compound on the car unless you absolutely know exactly what you are doing.

WvCorvette

stig-zzz

clay baring is a must if your going to machine polish your paint....It removes embedded contamination like rail dust,brake dust, iron partials and others.
A washing will NOT remove embedded impurities
wash
clay
wash again
polish (compound )
protect
machine polishing WITH OUT claying first can lead to marring the $hit out of your clear coat .Just pick up a piece of contamination with your polishing pad and your paint is in for a world of hurt ,I've seen it done and it's not a pretty sight .Many hours will be needed to correct the damage inflicted, and now its far worse then what you started with....

John Stig

mvcrash

Don't agree. I never have used clay and have never marred the paint on any car I have ever worked on.
Compound will remove more than clay bar will and if you don't know what your doing you can burn the paint and cause problems that need a professional to fix. I don't subscribe to "particles" embedding in the paint that can be removed with clay but not polish/compound. I don't subscribe to the "HARD" Corvette clear coat that allows brake dust to embed in the paint that clay will magically remover but compound won't.
Suffice to say that if you don't know what your doing, don't use compound.

over

stig-zzz

mvcrash you have been very lucky imho a small piece of dust on a hand foam pad applying a wax can swirl your paint.

(I don't subscribe to "particles" embedding in the paint that can be removed with clay but not polish/compound.)
I would like you to place your hand in a plastic sandwich bag and run it over your paint.Feel those bumps thats embedded contamination .Now if your polishing pads pulls one loose what do you think it's going to do to your clear coat.
Must new cars are shipped by train (rail dust)very sharp mettle shavings that get embedded in the clear coat....
I hope your vette is contamination free i for one have never seen one.
Clay pulls the partials out, where a compound grinds the shavings down flush with the clear coat there still there, if the polish formulation is harder then the contamination it will cut it down but not out Not something to gamble with claying is fast and easy and well worth the time.
John Stig

mvcrash

We will agree to disagree on this and that is fine. You can use your plastic baggie on my car anytime and you won't feel anything.

My question remains. How do these little particles "embed" in the so called "hard" clear coat of a car?

RaskyR1

Clay bar is used to remove ABOVE surface defects, and will not remove any paint. (Sap, tar, bugs, over spray)


Compound is meant to remove BELOW surface defects and does so be remove small amounts of paint around the defect until it is level with the defect. (swirls, scratches, etching)



Rasky

stig-zzz

just like a dart in a dartboard a corvettes hard clear coat is relative to other cc coatings that are applied to today's auto's gm uses a urethane coating on c5/c6 that is hard by today's standards. The softer the cc the less it takes to marr the paint .Any flying object(wind driven,moving car,train, thrown dart ect) that is sharp and of a harder material then the urethane coating is ether going to scratch or embed in the paint(just like a dart).Like cutting steel with diamonds the diamond is HARDER then the steel it's the same with car finishes a speck of sand IS HARDER THEN YOUR FINISH
When you say hard clear coat its not a coat of armor it's hard compared to others(Honda,ford, Toyota) and can sustain more punishmentwitch in turn makes paint correction more difficult to do but NOT IMPENETRABLE
(You can use your plastic baggie on my car anytime and you won't feel anything)
now that's wishful thinking we agree to disagree you would be amazed at what i could pull out of your paint

RaskyR1

Clay will remove bonded surface defects better than compound. Compounds and polishes will remove most of the above defects, but you will find that they are not as effective as clay...they are both designed to different things after all. Often the compounds and polishes will just smooth or round off the bonded contaminets and not actually remove them from the paint like the clay bar.


Cheers,
Rasky

lil vette

mmmmmmmmmmmmm.........We'll I gues that cleared everything up.
Still in the dark, but it cleared everything up. I don't have compound, but I did buy some rubbing polish. I want the $1500.00 wax job, for the price of polish compound. I guess it's not that simple.
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RaskyR1

PM me if you want some help on claying, polishing or any other detailing related question.