Ecrissman

Two bucket washed, pinnacle ultimate clay, pinnacle advanced finish polish, and pinnacle Souveran carnauba. Used the flex 3401 with a green pad for paint correction, it's about 98% correct. I thought it was perfect but then caught a few imperfections in the halogens while I was putting on the LSP. Then used a blue pad on my old PC to apply the Carnauba Paste. I think it turned out pretty good.

11SHELBYGT500

Is there a reason you needed to use clay already?

BB3

Looks fantastic Ecrissman. Hope to see running the streets of the Burgh one of these days.
By the way.....did it really have to frickin' snow again ?
Take care of yourself and congrats again on getting the Shelby.

-----Bill

mcate

Very deep & wet looking. Excellent work! I've never tried Pinnacle before, but I definitely intend to. I bought a small jar of Wolfgang Fuzion that I'm going to try on my black '09. Still haven't figured exactly what combination to use on the wife's new Race Red GT/CS.

UnrealFord

I hate to agree with ^^^^, But claying a car as new as yours was not needed at this point.

11SHELBYGT500

My name is Joe. LOL

Ecrissman

Oh the car had to be clayed; I went through 1 and 1/2 bars of clay. The hood, and trunk were absolutely filthy from contaminates from sitting in dealer lots. To not clay the car would have been a disaster. Imagine running your machine over un-clean surface would have induced swirls and micro marring everywhere. You wouldn’t buff your car without washing it would you? Claying is just taking it a step further to make sure you are working with the cleanest possible surface. No to mention it didn’t take much longer to clay than it did to wash. If the paint isn’t perfectly clean you are just wasting your time and actually doing more harm than good to your paint.
Since its garage kept and a toy it won't be necessary to clay for quite awhile based on how I plan on using the car. It’s one of those things that you just have to check the surface and make a judgment call. I will have to look and see if I saved the clay I used on the car, it was unreal.

Dbranham

Nice what does it look like looking over the hood as if you were driving? I'll never get the chance to actually sit in one so I'm wondering

Ecrissman

I'll have to take a picture and post it on here.

UnrealFord

Well I checked out a few sites and they all pretty much say the same as you said, this is news to me . And I thought I was pretty knowlegable about detailing. I have a Porter Cable and the Grit guard bucket 2 (bucket method).
Wish I would have known I would have done my Boss, matter of fact I didnt let dealer wash or prep my car, worrying about swirls.
Heres what I found about Claying a new car,,
Do brand new cars need to be clayed?

Yes, absolutely! Once cars are built, they typically sit in lots or shipping docks that have a high exposure to industrial fallout. Many of them also spend time on trains and trucks to get to their final destinations where…they sit in lots some more! It’s very common to find rail dust on brand new vehicles. I always recommend that a brand new car gets (at the very least) clayed to remove these contaminants.

Ecrissman

My clay was covered with this tan/beige color that came off the paint. Anybody flat surfaces hood, glass roof and trunk where the worse. Its why i used so much clay, you could only nead and reform so much and it had streaks of that contamination.

MarcHarris

Looks outstanding! Great work and I personally love Souveran on red. It's what I use on my own red car. The downside is this particular wax's horrible durability; while many waxes last 2-3 months, you'll be lucky to get a month and a half from Souveran. I think Ecriss will be fine though, as he certainly is taking great car of his baby and I'm sure she's kept in the garage when not in use, which really helps more than most people realize.

Claying a brand-new car is always recommended, especially if you plan on any polishing step directly afterwards as it will negate any potentially marring from the claying process. Great work OP!

TDS

Clay is the way, clay can be used at every wash - if you want to. There is too much fall out in the air to not use it.