Claying is extremely important for a number of reasons but one that you should be able to relate to is the removal of paint contamination. It works like this. Before you can use products on the detailing market to correct and make your paint shine, you must remove any barriers between you and the paint. The process of claying is the only one that will achieve this. If you don't remove that barrier of grit and grime, then you are polishing and waxing that barrier instead of your paint. This drastically diminishes the overall results of your work and in my opinion, your work is basically like polishing a turd if you don't bother to clay when it is necessary. When it's all said and done, your car will still look like crap to the trained eye.

Here's a write up that I did on claying. It explains it in more detail.

Awesome thanks guys, makes a lot more sense now...still have to take a look at your link but that will be next...Car is parked and going to be covered for the winter in the next week or so but hopefully be back out in march/april and will give it try then.

Just took a look at your video Junkman about the claying process explains it really well thanks for posting that.

I still am unsure if I need to clay got the car June 2010, alway garaged, always washed and cleaned weekly. Water beads well, surface is smooth just a few swirls from day one. Also is going to be stored for the winter in the garage also. So by the time I pull it out for spring it would only have 3500km on it and maybe 6months on the road.

I don't want to come off sounding lazy to clay, I will do what is needed as best as I can but really unsure if I need to clay when I bring it out, any opions on this?

my feeling is, if you're gonna spend a few hours detailing your car, might as well start off right and clay the thing, or at least the areas that need claying. its kind of like spending a few hours painting a really nice picture on a canvas that you had spilt coffee on. IMO cars that were never clayed since purchase, need to be clayed no matter what. theres no way there isn't any rail dust deep in your paint from transportation.

Exactly!!! Rail dust if it went by train, diesel soot if it went by truck, salt and all manner of other contamination if it crossed the ocean.

Unless you pick your car up at the factory there is contamination on it, doesn't matter if you took delivery the day it arrived at the dealer or it sat on the lot for 3 months... the world is full of contamination that likes to bond with your paint, glass, headlights, tail lights, etc. Claying doesn't add a ton of time to the process, but it does make a HUGE impact on the clarity of the finish.