Clay....Is it Vital?

[Landerholm]

Ok guys. I'm going to be selling a 70,000 mile red A6 thats in the family - on eBay. I'm going to PC it becuase its a bright red that shows all the swirls. I will probably start with FI2, AIO, SG, etc. and people like to buy shiney things.

Do I need to clay first? I really hate claying and clay is expensive. What did people do before clay? I'm really only concerned about harming any of my pads.

Any other exterior tips to help the sale?

A little OT advice here....
Should I replace the shot tires prior to the sale? Or will i loose money in this? There is a set on sale for $300 at Discount.

[David]

I would clay.

[Landerholm]

I would clay.
Yeah but you're the guy that does everything right.

I'm trying to do this the American way. The Max Powers way.

I can't imagine dealerships clay cars before buffing them.

[G. P. Burdell]

I agree with David. Clay isn't that expensive, it doesn't take long, and after finishing with the red car, you can use the remaining clay and quick detailer on your other car(s).

Do it right and the right buyer will take notice.

[Landerholm]

This is so not what I want to hear. :(

[G. P. Burdell]

When you add the claying step to all of the other things you're going to do to get the car ready for sale, it's not a big deal.

If I were selling a car today, I would give it a full detail before showing it to prospective buyers. A clean, well-kept car will put the buyer at ease.

[wrkcxeffect]

as a part time employee of many years at a very prestigous detail shop I can tell you that the most important part of any wash/wax/buff/compound etc. is the claying. There is absolutely no comparision to those cars that are buffed or waxed without being clayed. I can easily walk up to a nexly buffed/waxed car and tell whether it has been clayed or not. Will a prospective buyer have the same sight that I do? Who knows, but it's possible.

[JD886]

as a part time employee of many years at a very prestigous detail shop I can tell you that the most important part of any wash/wax/buff/compound etc. is the claying. There is absolutely no comparision to those cars that are buffed or waxed without being clayed. I can easily walk up to a nexly buffed/waxed car and tell whether it has been clayed or not. Will a prospective buyer have the same sight that I do? Who knows, but it's possible.

Agreed.

I would be so scared to buff my car without claying it. That'd be a nightmare.

[bellavus]

by not claying before buffing, you may drive the surface contaminants further into the paint.

[tEckniks]

as a part time employee of many years at a very prestigous detail shop I can tell you that the most important part of any wash/wax/buff/compound etc. is the claying. There is absolutely no comparision to those cars that are buffed or waxed without being clayed. I can easily walk up to a nexly buffed/waxed car and tell whether it has been clayed or not. Will a prospective buyer have the same sight that I do? Who knows, but it's possible.

Ditto. Claying is one of the most important factors in detailing a car IMO.

Plus customers have their jaws dropped on just how smooth the paint is just after claying. :buttrock

[fdawg]

i detailed (including clay) my '92 325is the week before putting it for sale and sold it to the the first guy that looked at it, without adjusting the price.

his coment? "it looks brand new!"

i don't think it'll matter TOO much on ebay, but if you're going after a local buyer it'll make a world of difference.

Oh, I also threw on some new tires and had it aligned before selling. i think that helped seal the deal.

[MP525i]

the max powers way: you don't have to clay it, but the other steps will take longer since you're still just rubbing dirt around.

i never used to clay when i was younger (19-20yrs.). after learning a thing or two about detailing over the years, this is the MOST vital step in the whole detailing process. a good clay job will result in less work for all the other steps.

-mike

[Landerholm]

Fine you guys talked me into it! Itll be good practice I guess. How about SG? Does that make that much of a difference? I could just leave it at AIO.

[MP525i]

:lol

dude, there is no easy way out of detailing. you get the results you put into it. aio will do it good, but sg or s100 will really bring out the luster (and that's what you really want when selling a car!! ) :D

good luck man.

-mike

[supark]

if it's cool - give me a ring if you decide to do the claying yourself - I've never done it myself and would like to see how to do it.

[Eric Giles]

Although Eastside has already decided to go ahead and clay, I will throw in my opinion too.

Couple of weeks ago I was showing my E36 M3/4 to the eventual buyer. I had not clayed the car in over a year, and it had been months since it was properly polished with the PC. When I was done claying, the Clay Magic bar was almost totally black-I could not believe the contaminents that were on the paint within a year! Needless to say I threw away that bar after I was finished.

After that I applied P21S GEPC with a foam polishing pad and then followed with P21S wax. WOW-my car had honestly never looked that good before! I know that using the clay made the most difference in this case.

Needless to say, the buyer was very impressed with the car and he bought it this past weekend. Said he had looked at another '97 M3/4 with 50k miles the week before, and it looked nowhere near as good as my '97 with 113k miles.

[RRdawho?]

Whats FI2 stand for again?

[BMcCoupe]

Clay is definitely a must... Blue Claymagic all the way...

[bellavus]

Whats FI2 stand for again?
finesse it 2