Does it hurt not to wax your car after you use the clay?
I wouldnt think that you have to wax just because you use the bar but just wanted to know for sure

 

Any detialing questions you may have can be found instantly on this forum thru the search function.

http://autopia.org/forums/

 

Yes, that's a good website but to answer your question you don't have to wax after you clay. It's a process that' important if you are going to wax your car but if you simply want to use it on it's own it's fine.

 

I have to disagree with BlueDragonZ. Once you remove all the wax/polish with claybar, your clearcoat is now exposed. UV radiation, dust, dirt, acid rain, etc. will immediately begin eating away at your clearcoat and the glossy finish that it provides.

I strongly urge anyone to wax/polish your car IMMEDIATELY after claybarring. It only takes about 20 minutes to put down a coat of good polish like Zaino or Mothers. It's not worth risking your car's finish to go to to the effort of claybarring and then not protect the finish.

 

Claybar does not remove wax/polish. It only removes impurities embedded in the surface of your paint. That said, depending on what wax/polish you have on your paint and what you use for lubricant when claybaring you might remove some of it that way.

Zaino for example will not be removed by the Z-7 mixture recommended as lubricant.

 

just my 2 cents, but you should wash your car with dawn before and after you claybar... and then finally finish off with a coat of wax/sealant

washing before ensures the surface is relatively clean before running the clay over it (larger dirt particles could get pushed into your paint by the bar)

washing after ensures any loose particles are picked up after the clarybar process

at the end of all of this, you'll be left with a pretty clean surface which can then be protected by your wax/sealant... anything short of this process and you risk waxing (read: burying) more dirt into the surface of your car

 

Uhhmm.. you need to protect your car after claying!

Just how do you think you get the imperfections/particles out of the surface if its not exposed?

You should put a layer of protection on your car after polishing OR claying.. be it wax or your favorite polymer. If you are spot claying.. at least use some QD spray or something over it.

 

Claybaring your car WILL remove all wax.

 

My wife's car got overspray on the passenger side last spring. I claybared the doors, and rear fender then washed it as usual. It beaded water as it always does, and it still shined as usual. BTW, it was Zainoed about three months before that.

If you're removing wax or other polymer coatings it's either because you're claying it wrong or your lubricant is stripping it off. It's not just from using the clay. If you rub it enough and hard enough, I'm sure you could remove clearcoat and paint too.

 

If your containments are UNDER the wax.. just how do you think the clay is pulling them out without taking off the wax?

Teleportation?

 

Why would you wax over contaminants in the first place?

I don't mean to be argumentative, but just because somebody claybars their car does not mean that they must immediately apply wax/polish because the surface is left unprotected.

 

The same reason people don't clay their car every time before they wax. People wax after stuff is on the car.

If your car is waxed up, any 'fall on' stuff can be contained by the wax layers. If it goes through those, its to the clearcoat or worse. Then.. once you clear that out.. guess what.. their isn't anything left in its place.

You can't take something AWAY and have something magically replace it.

If the containments are going to be either on top of the wax, through it, or under it.. regardless.. anyway you think you got that containment out.. you had to remove what was on top of it to get to it and you've left a void where it was.