Claying a NYC car thats exposed 24/7

What's a good frequency for claying a Acura TL ? Car sits outside 24/7 in New York City and I know claying adds marring to the finish.

 

I would say at least two or three times a year. I live in MA, not in a city, but my truck is outside 24/7 and I clay my truck in the spring and then again right before winter when I apply my winter protectant.

and the marring with claying really depends on how aggressive the clay is. If your use a moderately aggressive clay and plenty of lube the likelihood of marring is limited.

 

I am using OTC product from Meguiars.

 

I'm from NYC and most of my fam still lives there. I detail their cars when they visit us in VA. I strongly recommend that you use a decon kit (Valugard or Finish Kare) or Aquartz Iron Cut. For some reason, NYC cars accumulate tons of rail dust/contaminants that need to be removed before claying. It's not unusual for me to use 1.5 claybars per vehicle if I don't do a decon wash first. I think you can get away with using the claybar/decon twice a year (Spring and Fall) and an iron cut treatment only in the Summer.

This is the combo that works for me:

1. CWC Wash (LSP strip solution) with an ounce of PowerClean/Zep Citrus.
2. Aquartz Iron Cut
3. Claybar- AutoMagic Blue Clay
4. DG 601 / DG 105 and topped off with 845

There tons of people from the tri-state area here that will chime in.

 

Where do we buy IronCut?



I think for OP using something like ONR everyweek will help stop contaminate from bonding which mean less claying.

 

I buy Iron Cut (now called Iron X) from Mike at autoaesthetica.com.

 

I think a "decon" kit is too time consuming for me....

 

Agree ... Iron Cut only takes 30-40 minutes per vehicle.

 

Claying a heavy decontaminated car is very time consuming. Using a decon kit is easy, spray on the solution and wait, during the solution is doing it's thing - to something else.

When I get a car who is like a 320 sand paper, I always use a acidic product to remove the fallout, and then either a clay bar or clay block. This takes me maximum one hour.

 

GDAL-

In your experience, how long does it take to apply and remove the valuguard system from a vehicle?
What type of vehicle do you think it is needed for?