Clay Bar

W

wrbwrx

New member
So I washed my car today and wanted to show some you guys that haven't used a clay bar before what it does and you use it after you wash you car and you can buy a clay bar kit at any auto store and what you do is spray stuff on the car and use the clay bar then wipe away pretty easy to do and well ive read on the chat a few times about people asking and seeing if it really helps well heres a few pictures of a new clay bar and the one I used on my car today pretty sure it explains itself...

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Clay FTW make sure you fold it over after each pannel though and use lots of quick detailer.

This is from a truck I detailed.

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a bit o thorough prep work before clay barring really helps extend the life of those pricey lil blocks o magic stuff

wash car 2x, make sure you cover every inch of surface with a soft brush or fleecy mitt. take a toothbrush to crevices around badges, door handles etc. bamboo BBQ skewers are great for prying schmutz out of crevices w/o damaging paint or the badges

each time, dry car with cotton towel (steal old ones from the linen closet if you can git away with it)

THEN go ahead and clay-bar the finish. this xtra prep work really cuts down on the gunk the bar picks up.

 
Ive got clay bars, never been that impressed with the results, but my car is black sooo.... yeah. What I really wanna know is how you get that look like you just laminated the car in plastic,or put on 10 coats of wax. Ends up looking really deep, like poly urethane. I have never been able to achieve a finish like that, just one coat of regular hand wax take me about 3 hours. I never even tried sealant because I don't have any indoor workspace regularly avalable so by the time I get from one end to the other, the end I started at already has a coating of sand dust on it. The only exception is when I use to work at a detailing shop and we used buff wax with a power buffer on my old car. But it still didn't look that great or last more than a week.

 
Iboc_C64 said:
Ive got clay bars, never been that impressed with the results, but my car is black sooo.... yeah. What I really wanna know is how you get that look like you just laminated the car in plastic,or put on 10 coats of wax.
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well you DO know black is the hardest color to make look good...

basically you need to eliminate scratches, microscopic and tiny ones that dull the reflection.

wash, wipe, clay bar, sealer, glaze...and buff the beejebus out of about 10 coats o wax. well not really 10 coats, a couple will do if the earlier prep work is up to snuff.

of course then you will live in fear of dust, pollen, pooping birds, stone chips, acid rain, kids with grubby greasy lil fingers, etc etc

I spent years in the car show world, and learned pretty well how to make even dark green or black cars look great...until I realized that the obsession with shine interfered with actually using a car for fun. chasing the perfect finish is a very slippery slope...the more you work toward perfect shine the farther away from it you realize you actually are. sounds weird, but ask car show ppl and they'll commiserate on this.

so then I switched to lighter color cars --light yellow, silver, light metallic blue, WRB and now white, and just have fun drivin. wash n wax occasionally and just don't worry if finish ain't perfect.

stone chips are not problems, they are badges of backroad adventures well won.

 
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Iboc_C64 said:
Ive got clay bars, never been that impressed with the results, but my car is black sooo.... yeah. What I really wanna know is how you get that look like you just laminated the car in plastic,or put on 10 coats of wax. Ends up looking really deep, like poly urethane. I have never been able to achieve a finish like that, just one coat of regular hand wax take me about 3 hours. I never even tried sealant because I don't have any indoor workspace regularly avalable so by the time I get from one end to the other, the end I started at already has a coating of sand dust on it. The only exception is when I use to work at a detailing shop and we used buff wax with a power buffer on my old car. But it still didn't look that great or last more than a week.
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The problem is all the swirls and spider webs in your clear coat which the clay bar does nothing to. You need to use a high quality polish and a good pad on a DA or rotary polisher to get those out. If you want more info PM me since im not a vendor on here I can only post so much. A proper detail will last 2-4 years if maintained properly (good washing, wax..etc)

Nigel Prodrive said:
well you DO know black is the hardest color to make look good...

basically you need to eliminate scratches, microscopic and tiny ones that dull the reflection.

wash, wipe, clay bar, sealer, glaze...and buff the beejebus out of about 10 coats o wax. well not really 10 coats, a couple will do if the earlier prep work is up to snuff.

of course then you will live in fear of dust, pollen, pooping birds, stone chips, acid rain, kids with grubby greasy lil fingers, etc etc

I spent years in the car show world, and learned pretty well how to make even dark green or black cars look great...until I realized that the obsession with shine interfered with actually using a car for fun. chasing the perfect finish is a very slippery slope...the more you work toward perfect shine the farther away from it you realize you actually are. sounds weird, but ask car show ppl and they'll commiserate on this.

so then I switched to lighter color cars --light yellow, silver, light metallic blue, WRB and now white, and just have fun drivin. wash n wax occasionally and just don't worry if finish ain't perfect.

stone chips are not problems, they are badges of backroad adventures well won.
Click to expand...
Glaze and sealer do nothing for marred and swirled paint. The glaze may hide a few imperfections but will wear off and they will show again very soon. Best thing you can do is start researching proper washing techniques, that includes 2 buckets with grit guards and using high quality wash mits/microfiber towels.

 
Iboc_C64 said:
Ive got clay bars, never been that impressed with the results, but my car is black sooo.... yeah. What I really wanna know is how you get that look like you just laminated the car in plastic,or put on 10 coats of wax. Ends up looking really deep, like poly urethane. I have never been able to achieve a finish like that, just one coat of regular hand wax take me about 3 hours. I never even tried sealant because I don't have any indoor workspace regularly avalable so by the time I get from one end to the other, the end I started at already has a coating of sand dust on it. The only exception is when I use to work at a detailing shop and we used buff wax with a power buffer on my old car. But it still didn't look that great or last more than a week.
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My car is black. I went from washing it over and over and never being able to get all the dirt out of the paint. No matter what I did it looked like water marks always there. Clay bar took it right out and made the paint all smooth and shiny.

Not perfect, it's a 13 year old car with original paint who lived in new england it's whole life.... But given that, it looks pretty damn good!

 
that's the thing, I own a black late model car, and I have no garage. It was not the smartest plan. I have also never used sealer or glaze, I have no Idea what you are refering to when you mention these. When I wash & wax my car, I was it twice, then go over it with a shammy. Then I look for any tar or bugs that didn't come off and remove them, then I fill in the paint chips missing from the front of the hood. They need to be refilled about once a year because the paint just flakes back out of the chip holes. I have 2 chips at the front of my hood that are about 1/2 the size of my pinky nail. After the paint touch up I then claybar and look for scratches, then I try to polish out the scratches by hand with polish (& if necessary, rubbing compound). I haven't found the time or money to order a buffer yet, I have been intending on getting one ever since I worked at a detailing shop in waterville about 5 years ago. By the time I am done with all this, I put on the wax (turtlewax ice, due to acryllic paint) and hand buff it off, then go over the car with quick detailer spray to get the remainging residue off. All this ussually takes me at least 6 hours, which discourages me from doing it more than once or twice a year because I don't have time for it.

Also, can't avoid the dusty roads between here and work. Its 27 miles each way, every day. Its hard to keep a car clean with that type of usage. Its 2 years old and already has 51,000 miles.

 
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Wow! That's a lot of work!

I'm not overly obsessed with my paint. As long as it's not totally filthy. I avoid mud puddles and dirt roads for a day after washing and waxing... but there comes a point where you have to decide between paint job and fun.

I could spend thousands get my car professionally painted with the best paint, and then park it in my garage forever. The paint would always remain perfect. But what fun would that be?!

 
that's my point, I would rather throw the snows on and beat around some dirt roads. But I will still wax it once or twice a year to ward off oxidation. Other than that I only take the car through the touch free automatic car washes about once a month, sometimes twice a month.

 
Where do you get just the clay part, and not the whole kit with the spray stuff and rag?

Seems as though the spray stuff lasts much longer than the two little bits of clay in the kit...

 
Ryan, Polish comes before wax, I would hope I didn't polish after wax. That would mess up everything.

Yes this is Sarcasm, Im pretty sure we are speaking the same language, just in incomplete thoughts, lol.

 
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Wow I look like a Dumb @$$. No I don't polish after the car wash, its dirty again by the time I get home. I just try to keep the thick stuff off of it.

 
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