Noob and clay bar…

[Turn7]

Will I completely trash my paint if I try a clay bar on my
New to me black car?

Never used one, so have no experience.

[Summit_Detailing]

In a word..yes!...unless you plan on machine polishing it afterwards.

[Turn7]

Ah, in which case IM glad I asked.....I dont own a machine polisher and im worried about a bit of clay bar, so theres no way IM buying one of those lol

[Chubbyross]

Yes. In a big way. Claying leaves tiny scratches all over the paintwork, which machine polishing will remove. Doing it on a black car without polishing will leave a terrible mess. YouTube is your friend and guide on these matter. Check out the Forensic Detailing Channel.

[mike150]

Yes.................

That's one of the reasons why full paint correction is so expensive, it takes a lot of time in preparation from meticulous washing and drying to decontaminating and tar removal.

The last car I did paint correction on had 2 bad areas of little circular scrores where the last detailer picked up a small piece of dirt on the pad. I couldn't get all of it out, just did what I could and pointed out the damage to the customer.

Edited by mike150 on Wednesday 18th May 18:34

[_Hoppers]

Go for a fallout remover and tar removing products for a safer clean

[Belle427]

Fallout remover as suggested and something like Garage Therapy decon shampoo afterwards for a deep clean.

[roscopervis]

Do your paint decontamination chemically - tar remover first, then fallout remover, then instead of clay, use a good pre wax cleanser like this:

https://www.mitchellandking.com/products/pre-wax-c...

It will do essentially the same thing in terms of getting the contamination out of the paint and leave it looking super clean.