re: Car/truck exterior care question

Clay bars are designed to grab the leftover particulates from the painted surface that regular washing does not remove. All that's needed is a slick liquid to make the clay glide otherwise it tends to stick. You just slide the clay across each panel until it starts feeling smooth and then fold it over when moving on to the next panel.

My own "quick-clay" technique is to wash my car, then use a foam sponge and grab suds from the clean water bucket (2-bucket method has a clean bucket and a rinse bucket). Then go panel by panel and squeeze some suds out to make the clay glide then rinse the area. After you've done the whole vehicle, rinse down everything and dry with a microfiber towel.

Claying your car will not remove defects but will make for a much slicker surface for wax to adhere to. If you want to get some of the defects out of your clear coat, you'll need to do some machine polishing work or pay someone like me to do it (if you're near/in BR I can check it out). And also stop going through automated carwashes if you want your paint and clear coat to last and look nice.

Here's an example of a two step polish I did on my dad's old Silverado:



And here's an example of a partially-polished hood of a friend's car whose paint was in awful condition:



And after the whole car was done: