Clay bar problem

[dave34]

Recently used a clay bar and now paint is dull and cloudy . I used polish right afterwards by machine and nothing changed . Tried a new polish twice and still this cloudiness remains. I've had my GN for almost 30 years and I've never seen anything like this before. It's really weird. Below is a pic of my front drivers quarter ( Not clayed)and on the right is drivers door that was clayed. In the Sun it looks terrible. I read online that polish should easily get this out but no Bueno. Any ideas? I even tried a small area with medium cut 3M followed with polish. No change . Before claying it was fine .

 

[dave34]

The car was painted back in 2001 over the original. Was not stripped . Back then I had no real rust anywhere and knew a shop owner . I was very happy with the deep gloss job . Only $1800 bucks too. Everything was cheaper back then . I do wonder though if maybe there is a paint defect at play here . Just don't know. All i did was use a clay bar with lots of detail spray as lube .

 

[TurboTGuy]

A paint issue would appear before 24 years.

Single stage or base coat/clear coat?

You may have gone too hard with the clay and messed up the clear.

 

[dave34]

Not 100% but I'm pretty sure it was base coat and clear . I used plenty of lube and the Clay bar didn't drag . But I'm not a professional detailer . The whole reason I used it was there was some paint overspray from a paint project I did outside the garage but it somehow made it inside and got on the back half of my car .

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Not 100% but I'm pretty sure it was base coat and clear

Find a small hidden area and lightly sand it with a very fine grade paper.
If the dust is white, it's clear coat.
If it's body color its single stage.
You can then buff the area and it won't be noticeable.
Sounds to me as tho the paint is single stage, and you may have removed the gloss coat.
Might be some info here....

The Truth Behind Clay Bar Marring (And How To Avoid It) | DetailDIY

Clay bar marring is light paint damage that is caused during the use of a clay bar. Usually this is the result of not using enough lubrication, too...

detaildiy.com

 

[dave34]

Appreciate the replies . I'll test an area .

 

[dave34]

It's definitely white dust

 

[dave34]

Pretty upset with myself if I did this . Hopefully someone can offer possible next steps . I just can't believe a lubricated clay bar could do unrepairable damage . I've used heavy cut compound and even wet sanded some spots in the past . Always able to buff out . I get that the clay has some abrasives in it to be able to get out contaminants like overspray and too much pressure could marr or scratch but to totally take out the gloss and be left with a cloudiness that won't change at all with many types of buffing is beyond my understanding . Sitting in the garage under fluorescent lights you would never know there's an issue. Outside in Sunlight totally different story

 

[TexasT]

you may have "rubbed" the over spray Into the clear and caused the haze. what kind of paint was the over spray?

 

[dave34]

you may have "rubbed" the over spray Into the clear and caused the haze. what kind of paint was the over spray?

The garage is always closed when I'm spraying something for work or around the house. I'm not totally sure what the actual culprit was but it left black dots . Probably just canned black spray paint that made it's way in through small cracks in the garage I'm guessing.

The thing is the affected paint right now is as smooth as glass . No new scratches or streaks just cloudiness and much less deep black depth in the sun .

 

[TexasT]

did you put anything else on it chemical wise to try to clean the over spray before you started with the rubbing? we have some different chems now that might not be compatible with that two decade old clear

 

[dave34]

Maybe some residual detail mist spray wax but I doubt even much of that since I washed it 1st with warm water and a small amount of Mcguire's shampoo carwash . I've even used 3M adhesive removal the past decades with no problems . It's strange.

 

[dave34]

The only other chemical I can think of is my tire dressing sometimes slings on lowest painted areas . ( i use Griots black Shine - tire and trim coating) that's not water based but usually that gets wiped off when I get back from driving .

 

[TurboTGuy]

PM me and I'll give you my shop's paint restoration guy's number. Maybe he can walk you thru a fix.

 

[theamcguy]

It is called micro-marring and can be a problem when you clay bar "soft" paint. There is no one fix, each paint is different and requires the right pad, polish, polisher speed, and time polishing. The problem is the more you work the paint, the more micro-marring you induce. It is best to hit hard and fast the less polishing the better. If you polish too long and hard you will never fix it. Here is a link that might help explain the problem. Michael Stoops the training guy at Meguiar's recommends M105 a microfiber pad on a DA polisher and very short polishing time. Do a search for Michael Stoops and micro-marring for some insight and recommendations.

Polishing How To with Meguiar’s M105 / M205 – Ask a Pro Blog

Learn how to use Meguiar's M105 Ultra Cut Compound and Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish using a Porter Cable 7424 XP buffer. Todd shows you how this polish combination eliminates swirls and other imperfections. Read about proper technique and step by step instructions on how to the...

www.detailedimage.com

 

[dave34]

Thanks alot for the link AMC guy .

 

[dave34]

UPDATE

Thanks again TurboTGuy for getting me intouch with a paint restore guy . I wish I had better news . Cutting and buffing unfortunately didn't change anything. I even tried wet sanding 1500 a small area . Probably spent 50 hours with different paint correction techniques. I figured I'd attach 2 more pics better showing exactly what paint looks in sunlight and led light incase anyone else has any other possibilities of what and how claying did this . I definitely can't afford getting repainted for a long time ( 2 girls in College ) .I still have a glimmer of hope I can salvage it. But honestly I'm feeling pretty defeated .