Clay is safe for paint. Those water spots must have been bad. The only way to remove deep water spots is by polishing.

LG is not a polish, and will only cover the spots.

You need something abrasive to remove those, but if your paint is already on its way out, then you will just have to see a body shop.

Also, did you use the clay lightly? You don't need to go back and forth a lot, and you don't need to apply much pressure.

but that'* just common sense and following the instructions.

db, I am interested to see pictures, but I have to ask, was your roof f'd to begin with?

The roof had some shine to it before I started the claying.
If it were related to the damage from the rain,wouldn't the rest of my paint have spots on it??

You should also use a lot of claybar lube when using the claybar. Never use a claybar on a dry surface.

Once you drop a claybar it is toast and should not be used because it is now contaminated with dirt. I usually cut a new Mothers claybar into 3 pieces to minimize the loss if the claybar is dropped.

I don't see any way the claybar is to blame for the paint flaking. Claybar is abrasive, but not that much. It'* enough to leave bad marring as shown in my hood picture below, but there'* no way it will remove clearcoat. I still don't know how mine ended up that bad, I used plenty of soap (you can use car soap instead of the spray). I don't think it was stuff in the clay. I was polishing the car anyway, so it wasn't a big deal.

By the way, the Claymagic is also a good claybar, and almost half the price of the Mothers.

Here'* a more detailed explanation of the benefits of claying your Bonne...

Clay, in and of itself, really isn't anything more than an abrasive cleaning tool. The simple abrasion of the clay against the surface of the paint (with lubricant) simply cleaves off and/or removes bonded and/or stuck-on contamination.

One of the most common types of bonded contamination is something known as rail dust What happens here is a train goes down the track and the friction between metal wheel and metal rail generates a 'shower' of metallic flecks that spin off everywhere. This metal lands on a surface like a modern clear coat finish and 'melts' into the paint. It typically doesn't make it far but, you can't really remove this type of thing with a simple wash with your favorite car wash solution.

Enter a clay bar used properly...

The clay will glide across the surface and, with the friction, snare that fleck of metal and extract it from the paint. Remember, this is happening on a micro basis -- not a macro.


When you're done, you're left with a substrate that is as smooth as glass. (trust me here... go feel your paint after you've washed your vehicle... feel that rough texture? That'* 'bonded' stuff (rail dust, industrial fallout, paint overspray, mineral deposits... etc. -- clay it using the directions as listed on the box (major readily available brands include Meguiar'*, Mothers, Clay Magic -- all are very good products) -- feel it afterwards. That'* the difference).

This is a try it and be sold on it deal.

Frequency -- typically around a few times per year for me.

So, all in all, it'* a simple 'surface preparation' step for someone who is very serious about the appearance and/or care of their vehicle. Surface prep, on ANY vehicle is the most critically important part -- anyone can smack a coat of wax on a vehicle and call it 'perfect'... it takes a true enthusiast to clay, polish, polish, polish, polish, wax, wax, wax and QD at the end to bring perfection.

I hope this helps!

John

According to this, at autogeek.net, you should not use soap as a lubricant with today'* clays:

I used soap before, and many others have as well. I will cut the clay into three pieces, and one piece is only going to last one or two applications due to all the contaminants that get in the clay, so I don't think degridation from the soap is an issue. As far as my last occurance from the picture, either the clay had a problem in the making where it was too abrasive, or I had stuff in the clay that unknowingly scratched the surface.

Ain't that the truth, and ad many hours to it as well. I recently bought a polisher and just spent 12 hours on just the exterior of my car.

Claybar normally works REALLY well for me..hmm
It makes the paint look amazing before a good coat or two of LG.
My car is going to get this treatment soon, before she goes under the knife