What to do?

So I recently purchased my newest Ram, it has 3000 miles on it but is already in the body shop for sand and rock damage from a wind storm. It is a work truck but I want to keep it as nice as possible. What kinds of things should i be doing on a regular basis once its out of the shop? I usually just take it through a car wash since were not allowed to hand wash where I live. Clay bar, Sealant of some kind etc. Ive seen alot of people clay bar often but was unsure of doing it since its still brand new. TIA

Clay won't hurt it.(I clayed mine the 3rd weekend I had it less than 750 miles) It will just remove surface contaminants. If you are running through automatic car washes I would recomend giving it a good clay bar job, a light Polish and the a good sealent and once the sealent is good and dry a coat of wax once a month.

Paint sealents are a lot like wax but much harder and typically last a lot longer than wax. I would say clay and sealent once every 6 months and hand wax once a month. I don't use automatic washes very often and I try to wax every couple months.

2 things one once you get it from the body shop make sure it's ok to wax right away (if the do paint) some shops bake there paints and you are safe to wax right away. Some don't bake there paint and it needs a few weeks to fully dry. If you wax it while the paint is still drying you are trapping in the solvents from the paint job witch will make the paint never truely dry and it will be soft.

2 never use brushes (even in the bay) especially in the auto washes always use touch free. Brushes are always agressive and they become really harmful if they have mud or dirt caked on them.

Ok, thanks. Yeah, I think im going to veer away from using the automatic washes and just do it at one of the handwash bays. So when i use the wash bays should I just take my own sponges with me to wash with? This is the first brand new vehicle Ive ever owned so I used to just use the brush at the wash bays.

That's what I would do. Sense you can't wash it at home just bring a bucket and couple microfiber sponges and wash mittens. Becarefull some car washes don't allow hand washing because it takes to long but if it's a slow day they shouldn't mind.