Purpose: To clean and prep the paint for polishing/waxing
Pro: Gets paint super clean and baby-*** smooth
Con: Again, if done carelessly can scratch
Frequency: Depends...about every 6 months

Products Needed:
1- Jar of "Paint Cleaning Clay" (Griots Garage, Mothers makes a nice kit...Meguiars not recomended)
-or-
1- Auto International's "ABC system" (Autoint.com)

2- 100% cotton or "MicroFiber Towels
3- marked cotton wash mits (ABC system)
1-Bottle of "Quick Detail Spray" (Meguiars Final Inspection, Eagle One, Mothers ect.)

Procedure: OK, as you may know allready, there are two ways to go about doing this, "clay" or the "ABC system" Both are designed to deep clean the paint after washing and to prepare it for polishing. Clay is a silly-putty like material, that you gently rub along the body panel and it picks up the tiny specs of dirt and polution or "IFO" (Industrial Fallout as its known). These mostly invisible contaminates are why older cars feel gritty, and new cars feel smoother than glass. The ABC system uses 3 very safe chemicals to clean the paint all the way down to the pores (yup, paint has pores) Its main purpose is to neutralize the pH of the paint...ie when a bird craps on your Z, its acidic chemicals seep into your paint, and stay there even after you clean the crap residue away. Over time, combined with sunlight and water, they will etch into the clear coat, leaving an ugly outline of the bird bomb in the paint. Clay DOESN'T neutralize the paint, thats why I recomend the ABC system. But there are times, like for paint overspray and stubborn sap, when you need clay, so having both is a good idea...if costs permit.

CLAY: After washing the car, feel the paint with your finger tips. Is it slightly rough. If so you need to clay it. Spray the clean, dry panel with the "quick detailer". This acts as a lubricant for the clay. Now pull a peice of clay off of the bar, and knead it into a small patty, and GENTLY run it over the wet panel, until the dulcet sound of of the clay picking up dirt vanishes. Dry the panel, and repeat. After every section, pull, fold over, and knead the clay to expose a nice clean peice again. If the clay leaves sticky residue on the paint, then your not using enough lube.

ABC System: There is no need to wash the car first , and then use the system, (like you do with clay) you start out right away with it on a dirty car. The procedure is similar to washing your car three times in a row (same rules for washing follow here, use two buckets ect). The included directions are in depth so I will just breifly outline it here. Mix up "A" with correct proportions in bucket, covor entire car with suds. Let the suds dwell for 5-7 min, no more and no less. Rinse Car and quickly dry. B needs no mixing, so I just put it into a Ketchup bottle, squirt it onto a mostly dry car, and sread it with the cotton mitt. Let dwell 5-7 min. Rinse. C is just a regular, pH balanced car wash, used to wash away any chemical resudues. The C is great to use regularly to wash the car without stripping wax. The whole procedure takes about 25-30 min.*

*If you are dealinng with gritty contaminates more than a year old, clay is recomended since ABC system wont remove contaminates that have really imbeded themselves in the paint.

Which ever procedure you use, you should be really happy with the results. Not only will the car look great, it will feel nice and smooth and make polishing and waxing MUCH easier.

Next: Polishing

 

When my Z comes in, I specifically requested that the only thing the dealer do is to remove that Expel film. When I bring my dirty Z home the first thing I'm gonna do is to wash it using the ABC system to get all the grime and chemicals off of it. Then once its all nice, clean and shiny, and sice it shouldn't have any marks, I can forgo polishing and go ahead and wax it. Clean the windows, dress up the tires with a non-silicon protectant, and that will all thats needed for the exterior.