Clay bar - Wow!

Stevie Dakota

Thought I would give the car a clay bar session given the good weather. The car was valeted a few weeks ago, to be honest looks pretty much like new anyway. Well I was amazed at how much crap came off the car, you can feel the clay bar removing all the gritty bits, and it left the car looking stunning with am ultra smooth finish. Just keep turning the clay, go lightly with it and use lots of lubricant.

Really amazed at the results when I thought it was some gimmick.

smash

any photos?

rebel.ranter

I often wondered about when to use clay bars. Is there ever a case where a clay bar will make no difference?
I wax my car about once a month or 6 weeks, will I see any benefit? I was really tempted to get a paint restoration job done on the car after seing Cyrus, M3 results. I would be interested to hear from Cyrus in a few weeks time to see if the results were long lasting, i.e. did some of the "damage" appear after a few washes. I'll update that post with a request of an update.

Phaetonman

Where can you pick up a clay bar set.

I have loads of speckles of either paint or cement on my car after I parked near a building site. Its been there for 6 months now and I wonder is this the solution.

TomMc

It makes quite a difference and clay only removes the head of contaminants bonded to paintwork and not the entire particles. I use fallout washes which are even better again. Makes polishing/waxing afterwards so much easier. It is a pity there is so much dust and sand in the air at the moment. I'm waiting for things to change before pressing ahead with my full annual detailing session.

Cmar-Ireland

You can get a Meguirs (sp) quick clay kit in Halfords.
They are designed more for fallout contaminants than for sap and tar etc.

The biggest benefit is when you go to polish and wax the car afterwords. The polish and wax will apply and remove with very little effort.

Definitely worth the €30 or so for a kit.

TomMc

rebel.ranter wrote: »

I often wondered about when to use clay bars. Is there ever a case where a clay bar will make no difference?
I wax my car about once a month or 6 weeks, will I see any benefit? I was really tempted to get a paint restoration job done on the car after seing Cyrus, M3 results. I would be interested to hear from Cyrus in a few weeks time to see if the results were long lasting, i.e. did some of the "damage" appear after a few washes. I'll update that post with a request of an update.

Claying will always help to improve things. A car only needs to be clayed once (although twice is better) every year. Only if a car was recently clayed and the paint fully sealed would there be little benefit in doing so again so soon afterwards. There are also different grades of clay. Some are made to be so mild that they are used in between major sessions to lift fresh contaminants without striping off the sealant protection underneath. The problem with a lot of natural waxes is that they melt at relatively low temperatures and start attracting and holding pollutants on and in the paint. Synthetic products have much higher melting points so this is not such an issue.

Clay was originally designed for bodyshops to help removes things like paint overspray but if it has been allowed to sit and harden for ages the risks of marking paint are pretty high. Cement deposits are best tackled with a chemical wash to break it down, without using any friction generating if you were trying to rub it off by hand, otherwise the hardness of the cement particles would scratch for sure. All these washes are for professional use only as they are acidic, so not sold to the general public on health and safety grounds.

This Company has the patent for clay and they have sued loads of different people for bringing out their own version and even put some of them out of business in the process, so it definitely has its place

http://www.claymagic.net/Movies/movies.htm

Stevie Dakota

I used the Maguires Clay kit. It shifted pretty much everything (although I wouldn't use it to remove cement), the tar came off especially easily. Would defo use it once a year fro now, the last time the car looked this good was when I bought it.

MercMad

Yeah I clayed my car last summer when my neighbour got two yahoo's to spary his house with obvious results !

I nearly died, then I nearly killed the Leonardo Da Genius next door.

Out with the clay and all off within 30 minutes. My car is normally very clean and regularly polished and waxed but it looked so much better afterwards.

It is important though to wax your car after using the clay to give it the protection it needs to remain clean.

Victor_M

TomMc wrote: »

It makes quite a difference and clay only removes the head of contaminants bonded to paintwork and not the entire particles. I use fallout washes which are even better again. Makes polishing/waxing afterwards so much easier. It is a pity there is so much dust and sand in the air at the moment. I'm waiting for things to change before pressing ahead with my full annual detailing session.

So it's not just Where I live that is dusty, my heart was broken last weekend after a good 2 hour 2 bucket clean & polish only to find the car covered in dust spots when I came back out to it! Black is such a difficult colour to keep clean.:mad:

OP - Thanks for the tip about the clay bar, will pick one up in halfords. What lubricant do you use? Does it come with the clay bar itself?

TomMc

If it rains or theres a shower in the next few days you will see all sorts of crap on the paint afterwards. Lots of airbourne pollutants like that sahara dust/sand knocking around.


The Megs kit comes with Quik Detailer Spray. They have two kits, one is 20 quid the other e35 or so and they include a cleaner wax with it. The problem with clay is that it is very easy to put hairline scratches in the paint so make sure the bar is very soft (mould and knead it often, pick out any grit particles) and use lots of lubricant and only glide the bar across paintwork. Whatever you do, do not rub or use any more than minimal downward pressure. Rewash the car after claying to remove clay deposits. You really need to use a proper polish afterwards to tone down any marks and spruce up the gloss and optical clarity. Waxes will do nothing much more than disguise them slightly. The protection given from a cleaner wax will not last more than a few weeks at best either. So you really need to put a pure wax on afterwards for decent protection.

Seperate

I've never noticed any improvement looks-wise after claying. It makes the car feel smoother and takes away contaminants, but i don't really notice any extra gloss or depth in shine.

Never the less it is a step in the right direction... as Tom says, a good cleansing polish & a pure wax would finish it off. I'd recommend Dodo Juice Lime Prime as a cleansing polish...really is excellent.

Stevie Dakota

Victor_M wrote: »

OP - Thanks for the tip about the clay bar, will pick one up in halfords. What lubricant do you use? Does it come with the clay bar itself?

Yes, the lubricant comes with the kits, as does as nice microfibre towel. Out of interest I bought mine while in the US for $20, compare that to what Halfrauds are going to charge you..:eek:

HJL

Might try a clay bar myself, heard about them a few months ago and any review about them has been positive.

Here is a guy on ebay that sells them, ive bought other Meguiars products off him before and i found this seller to be much cheaper than shops, and the postage is very reasonable too.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Meguiars-Quik-Quick-Clay-Detailing-System-Polish-Wax_W0QQitemZ150244506151QQihZ005QQcategoryZ72201QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262