Started a little late today and I managed to get the car washed along with a clay done. My question is if it's ok to drive the car for a day after I have used the claybar and finish polishing / wax tomorrow? Thanks!

 

It is not the recommended way to do it, but sure I wouldn't see any major harm in leaving it like that for less the day, but MAKE SURE YOU WASH THE CAR THOROUGHLY before you go back to polishing. Either wash it, or give it a real good spray and wipe down with some quick detailer type spray.

 

you are ok to leave it for a day. just make sure to wash and dry the car before starting the polishing process.

 

While we're on the subject, is my goal to make it so that the surface I'm using the clay bar on is smooth? I normally determined if an area was good enough if it felt soft and didn't make a squeak when I rubbed my hand against the paint. Some parts were smooth but had a squeak whenever I rubbed it with my hand, should I be doing 3-4 passes on an area with the bar?

 

Using Meguiar's Clay Bar btw.

 

You want to go over the surface until it is completely smooth (judge with using the bar and lubricant). You'll feel the difference.

I used to be very determined to get everything out of the paint that I saw (little specs that are stuck in the paint). While it is do-able, it takes FOREVER. When I did it that way, it took me about 3 or more hours to clay a standard sized car. Instead, just clay it until it is perfectly smooth. The buffer will take out those other little monsters. When I don't worry about getting every little spec out with the clay, it takes me about 30 minutes (or less) for a normal sized car.

Another thing you can do to tell if your surface is infected or smooth, is get a piece of saran wrap (enough to cover the entire palm of your hand and fingers) and run it across the surface of your car. The saran wrap magnifies the feeling, and you can feel it much better. This is a good way to tell if your car needs to be clayed or not. This is also a good way to tell if you're claying your car well enough.

Hope this helps,
Matt

 

i think that you will like this:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfEfLGL59GI [/media]

 

Thanks for the responses, I think I might just re-clay the car for safe measure on wednesday and get it all done. 6am - 6pm !

 

Re-claying it will not do much, you have already pulled the contaminants from the paint. Just wash , dry, then start from where you left off.