So I did the baggie test after I clay barred the whole car.
 

It is still ruff as **** all over. Is this normal? I clayed the car twice.

wrong section. your car repainted or something? sounds like overspray...

Can you provide more details? Pics?

yeah the clay WILL give you a smooth surface.

pics are needed indeed

Just claying the car is not gonna give you a smooth finish. If your gonna clay your car you need to then polish and wax the car. That will get you the smooth clean feeling.

hummm... given the condition of the paint claying will result in a super smooth clean surface. if you're feeling the swirls with your fingers (or baggie test) those aren't swirls...those are scratches! :D

no, it wil be glass smooth. clay removes pollen, bug sh1t, sap, tar...... thats its job. you remove that and the finish is smooth. is it scratch free no, but it will be smooth.

Washing the car will remove all that stuff you just mentioned. Claying a car is not something you do all the time. If you want to properly clay a car you need to get down to a clean finish on the paint by using some kind of paint prep. You caly the car polish it then wax it. You guys are just washing your car then claying it??? Normally the dirt and crap a clay bar removes you cant even see with the naked eye.

I think you might be thinking "smooth" is referring to the appearance of the paint, but here "smooth" is used to describe the texture of the paint. Polishing and waxing isn't going to remove the bonded contaminants. I do agree that polishing with a cutting pad will to some degree smooth the paint surface as it removes a thin layer of paint.

OP, as you are claying, use a good amount of lube and continue until you feel the clay is siding very easily. Also most of the time, the sound will change as you clay the surface, it will start out sounding very scratchy (depending how bad it is) and progressively get quieter until it goes it away. Follow up a polish and always wax or seal the paint after you clay since claying will remove the existing protectant. And always, make sure the car is washed thoroughly before you start claying.

:wtf2:

That is exactly what I did and experienced, yet the pair doesn't feel smooth at all to the touch. It is really weird. I washed throughly before flaying the whole car. I don't know. Was I supposed to press really hard when claying? Everything I read said no.

no dont press hard when you clay. there is some force but do not bear down on the paint.

i feel the same way about his comment.

red6spd. you have part of your cleaning method right, the rest sounds like your talking outa your ***. "prep the paint for clay" wtf wash the car with a Ph balanced citrus wash to remove old wax and oils first, then clay.....

i know my customers love the detail work i do and have been doing for years. now with my new PC 7424xp my work has stepped up to a new level.

anyways, clay = smooth finish..... period

if your having a hard time with the claying part maybe you should stop right there.

What do you mean stopright there? I didn't wax it afterwards because of how the paint still feels. I clayed correctly according to everything I have read and watched on YouTube. Do you have any suggestions on what to do?

wat he's saying is you appear to not have enough knowledge or experience to take on the next step...so before you damage your paint (potentially permanently), best to stop wat you're doing and consult a pro.

i think you need to get your car polished. going back to my first question....was your car at a bodyshop? it sounds like you have overspray.

exactly. claying is easy. taught my 60 year old dad in 10 seconds...

sounds like you have something actualy on the finish. overspray is possible.

they also make stronger clay bars. look here
PURPLE CLAY BAR

im not sure if the arbrasive clays are a good idea on this car. even the Meguiar's "soft" blue clay ended up swirling my Z's finish. i ended up pulling out my RO and polishing the section and from there forward only use Griot's yellow clay (super soft).

[QUOTE=fuct;763759]i feel the same way about his comment.

red6spd. you have part of your cleaning method right, the rest sounds like your talking outa your ***. "prep the paint for clay" wtf wash the car with a Ph balanced citrus wash to remove old wax and oils first, then clay.....

i know my customers love the detail work i do and have been doing for years. now with my new PC 7424xp my work has stepped up to a new level.

anyways, clay = smooth finish..... period[/QUOT


Yep paint prep, surprised you never heard of it being a big shot detailer. It does the same thing your citrus mix does.

I have to clay mine every couple months :( . My wifes Z4 too, but I don't bother with the SUV. Even though the garage is divided with a wall, powdercoat dust migrates over to the other side and gets on the cars and turns the finish rough to the touch. Its amazing to see the clay turn red, since those shades are the most popular colors I do.

Car has never been to a body shop. It is the original factory brilliant silver.

How much claying passes did you do? and what kind of clay are you using? Its a lot of work and it took me over 6 hours to get the paint smooth. I would try focusing on a single small panel, using a lot of detail spray, work the area until you get the result you want. You should feel the clay "grab" any contaminants. You need pressure, but not so much where it stops the clay from moving freely.

Make sure your baggie is clean also.

-- "some kind" of paint prep? great answer

-- yes we are just washing then claying. i should have said wash with a paint prep soap... geeezzz

-- and no, you CAN see the crap the clay bar removes. its right there in the clay!

good luck with the finish OP. im sure its nothing and your just missing something simple.

Thanks guys.

Here's what I did.....
 

I had the same problem with my Z. Picked it up from the dealer (20 miles on the clock) and the paintwork was rough as feck to the touch.

Later on during the "detail" I found out what was actually wrong - this is a piccy of the drivers side glass AFTER I'd cleaned the glass with glass cleaner!

http://www.digitaljersey.co.uk/370z/clean4.JPG

Turned out the whole car was covered in what appeared to be overspray! Haven't a clue where it came from but needless to say I was very p*ssed off!

Anyway, here's what I did, hopefully it'll be of use to you:

1) Rinsed the whole car off with clean water from a hose.
http://www.digitaljersey.co.uk/370z/clean1.JPG


2) Snow foamed the car and let it sit for 10 mins (you could miss this stage, but seeing as I was going to be doing loads of cleaning I thought I might as well do every stage)
http://www.digitaljersey.co.uk/370z/clean2.JPG

3) Rinsed the snow foam off, then used Megs Hyperwash and lambswool mit and two buckets (one with water & megs in it and one clean water to rinse the mit). Then rinsed the car again.

I made sure that during 1-3 above I paid particular attention to wheel arches paintwork edges, under the sills and under the front and rear bumpers - it's easy to forget and skip these bits, but they usually harbour the most of the dirt and grit.

Usually at the next stage I'd waffle towel dry the car, but seeing as I was going to be claying anyway there's wasn't much point.

4) Next up was the clay. I didn't want to use anything too abbrasive on a new car, so used Sonus Ultrafine Detailing Clay, along with with Sonus Glyde Detailing Clay Lube. As it was quite a sunny day (not ideal) I didn't want to spray down too much of an area at a time, so did a two foot square area at a time and sprayed the clay bar too, then rubbed the clay bar over the panel and sprayed the panel as I went along, panel by panel. You can hear the roughness actually disappear as you go - just move along once the scratchy noise goes and use plenty of lube. Probably took an hour or so to do the whole car and another 30 minutes to clay the bl**dy windows!
http://www.digitaljersey.co.uk/370z/clean3.JPG

5) By this stage the paintwork was lovely and smooth but not amazingly glossy yet. First up was a coat of Sonus SFX-3 Final Finish polish, applied by hand using a foam disc pad, left to haze, then polished off with a microfibre cloth.

6) Next was a coat of Sonus SFX-4 Paint Sealant, same application, left to sit for 10 minutes to cure and stick to the car, then polished off with a microfibre cloth again.

7) Last up was a coat (If I hadn't been so knackered by this stage I would have done two coats), of DoDo Juice Blue Velvet hard wax, applied with a foam disc, left to haze then polished off with a MF cloth.

Job done! Paintwork it amazingly glossy and smooth as glass!! :tup:

http://www.digitaljersey.co.uk/370z/clean5.JPG

http://www.digitaljersey.co.uk/370z/clean6.JPG

http://www.digitaljersey.co.uk/370z/clean7.JPG

http://www.digitaljersey.co.uk/370z/clean8.JPG

Damn that paint looks good.

If you don't clay with enough lube, I clay with a foam gun much better imo, you will have residual clay left behind. This might be what you are feeling. The clay bar should glide easily across the paint surface with a little pressure and never stick. This would leave rough sticky areas. If this is the case use a cleaner wax or mild polish to restore finish. As some have already told you claying will leave the surface very smooth. I alway like to use a cleaner or polish after claying. Chances are if you need to clay then it's probably time to polish as well. Good luck.