E30 Zone

i get asked a lot of questions about clay bars and how do you do it,is it any good etc etc

so heres a little brief rundown if it helps


Basic Rules:
Clay baring does not damage paint, only unskillful or careless clay bar users damage paint! There are several basic rules to the successful use of clay bar:
(1) use plenty of lubricant
(2) use only fresh, clean clay
(3) use plenty of lubricant
(4) use a very light hand with the clay
(5) use plenty of lubricant
(6) stretch and refold the clay frequently
(7) use plenty of lubricant
(8) on any given area, only clay until it passes the baggie test
(9) use plenty of lubricant

Step by Step:
Wash your car using washing up liquid(only ever do this prior to surface prep never do it normally!!!!). DonÔš't use a circular motion, use longitudinal strokes on the horizontal surfaces, and vertical strokes on the vertical surfaces. This will get rid of any wax , oils, or silicone on the paint.

Prepare a spray bottle with some of your favorite car wash soap and fill with water

Put your hand in a thin plastic bag(borrow one from supermarket fruit counter!!!! ), spray a small area of your paint with the soap/water solution as a lubricant and lightly run your hand over the paint. Any contaminants will feel like huge bumps through the bag

Use your claybar lightly on any areas that feel bumpy ... and use plenty of lubricant. No need to use the expensive lube sold for use with a claybar .Ԛ… your car wash solution is just as good, but use it very liberally. It's much less expensive than your paint!

do 2 foot square at a time keeping panel very wet with lube solution
move claybar around moving all over area in all directions making sure you cover whole area
you will feel the initial roughness under the clay but as you work surface this will disappear and the resistance will be come ultra smooth
rinse panel and move on to next area
keep folding clay when it gets dirty as to expose a clean area of the clay

After finishing the claybar process, then wash the car again with your favorite car wash solution. Again, use longitudinal strokes on the horizontal surfaces, and vertical strokes on the vertical surfaces.


you nowhave options
if cars surface is blemish free then dry car feel the difference and see difference clay has made and apply your chosen polish/wax etc

if you have marks chips etc then deal with those with appropriate product ie stone chips ,swirl marks etc and then apply your polish/wax

it does make a huge difference

hth

john

This stuff is totally amazing, I followed John's advice after my car came from the bodyshop, the car was covered in a dusting of overspray, and no amounts of T-cut, or cutting polish could remove it, used a claybar for the first time, and it removed it with no effort whatsoever! I used it all over including lights, plastic and windows.

Good guide jon
I've been thinking about getting a clay bar for a while, I didn't even know that there used wet.
I've been a bit lazy about washing "Delphin" lately and when I got round to washing her I noticed the paint has got a really gritty feel now.
Are there any makes of bar that you recommend or are they all pretty much the same?

hi
it makes a big difference

some of the grit is metal particles in the air really really fine ones
they embed into paint then rust then rust spreads into paint/panel thats whyu see some cars that arent protected with wax etc with micro spots of rust all over panels

white cars show this up quite well

there is lot of difference in clay qualities

meguiars clay is good
zymols is better as is zaino's



there are loads about but ive only ever used these three so its unfair for me to comment on others

do it once and you will be amazed!!!

john

yes i had a hard on over my paint work when i used meguiars, it felt so smooth

Jon,

The paint on the upper section of my rear bumper feels like sandpaper - you can clear see all the grit etc thats stuck to it, but no amount of washing will get it off. Is the clay bar the way to go, or will it end up putting tiny scratches on the paint?

Also, the upper section of my rear spoiler has what can only be decribed as a "dark patch" that looks like some kind of contaminant, will the clay bar be effective?

Ta Russ

if it is the paint that is rough(i.e been sparyed shite) then its effectiveness may be limited, but if it just contamination, then it should work a treat, and as far as the dark patch, then if its contamination then it should work also.

give it a go mate, there quite cheap and even if they don't work, the rest of your paint work will benefit.

Its not sprayed badly, its just "gritty".

Cheers for the advice "Bill" ;)

(also, nice to post without automatically getting a "Your cars gay and all jap cars are shite" type comment)

nowt worng with mr2's

they just have a bad reputation as hairdressers cars thats all, they're quick, handle well, and drift like no ones business


look a bit less gay in black though

yep clay will do the biz for you
id like to see a pic of contamination to giv a better comment but it wont ever do it any harm
ive seen clay remove tree sap that cutting paste couldnt and ive seen cars that are totally covered in overspray transformed removing it all with no real effort

you will be amazed

john

if you dont use it properly
what damage can be done Jon

i am normally pretty carefull with this sort of thing but gotta weigh up
if its worth it

er....nowt Malc..

there is no wrong way to use it to be honest

if its too dry, it sticks to the paint, all that is required is to relube the panel and rub over again, this will allow the stuck on bits of clay to be picked up by the bar

if you do it in the qrong direction, the shine won't be wuite as good.

just make sure that there is no big lumps of crud in it, as these can scratch the paint, so just keep on folding it over and over. just thinnk of it as a giant blob of blutack, its similar toughness, just fold and stretch, and fold again. this way iot always gives you a nice fresh side to use, when you can no longer get a fresh clewan edge, chuck it in the bin and buy some more

hope that helps

c76jon wrote:yep clay will do the biz for you
id like to see a pic of contamination to giv a better comment but it wont ever do it any harm
ive seen clay remove tree sap that cutting paste couldnt and ive seen cars that are totally covered in overspray transformed removing it all with no real effort

you will be amazed

john

I'll tell you what - You're in Coventry, I'm in Solihull, its seems that the best solution for all concerned is that I bring the car round to yours, you give me a "full car demo" and I sit back, then buy you a pint!

billgatese30 wrote:hope that helps

it does actually mate
thanks a lot
gonna go buy some asap
for when the car is back on the road

Russ wrote:

c76jon wrote:yep clay will do the biz for you
id like to see a pic of contamination to giv a better comment but it wont ever do it any harm
ive seen clay remove tree sap that cutting paste couldnt and ive seen cars that are totally covered in overspray transformed removing it all with no real effort

you will be amazed

john

I'll tell you what - You're in Coventry, I'm in Solihull, its seems that the best solution for all concerned is that I bring the car round to yours, you give me a "full car demo" and I sit back, then buy you a pint!

russ
if you have somewhere under cover
with water and 240v and can keep me in marlboro reds while i do it
it would be my pleasure

john

Russ wrote:Its not sprayed badly, its just "gritty".

Cheers for the advice "Bill" ;)

(also, nice to post without automatically getting a "Your cars gay and all jap cars are shite" type comment)

It is, and they are!

Andrew

well I was a car valeter for 105 years and I never heard of any of this clay nonsense!!!
OK, ok. It sounds great, but I've always machine polished my cars which always leaves them feeling silky soft and deeply shiny. If ever I've come across 'gritty' paint (which is usually railway fallout - brake dust from trains which is fine metal particles embedded in the paint) I've always used oxalic acid.
How is this any different from machine polishing without getting covered in G3 spray? (what I mean is what are the benefits of using this clay)

105 years

dude r u some sort off imortal?

Im sure he meant 15, or was pointing the fact that the job could seem to take years to finish maybe

it was a tongue in cheek reference to the fact I *thought* I knew quite a bit about valeting..........

Next time I'll provide a week's warning before any lighthearted tom-foolery.

tourer-dan wrote:well I was a car valeter for 105 years and I never heard of any of this clay nonsense!!!
OK, ok. It sounds great, but I've always machine polished my cars which always leaves them feeling silky soft and deeply shiny. If ever I've come across 'gritty' paint (which is usually railway fallout - brake dust from trains which is fine metal particles embedded in the paint) I've always used oxalic acid.
How is this any different from machine polishing without getting covered in G3 spray? (what I mean is what are the benefits of using this clay)

well its been used in usa for years
benefits are
you dont need an orbital
you dont get covered in product
you are not attacking laquer/paint with abrasive ie reducing thickness of paint/laquer
clay picks up contaminant and you refold clay reguarly so contaminants are not beeing repressed onto surface and spun at 1000 rpm!!
less effort
quicker

just a few

i know people tend to disbelieve etc but honestly is quite amazing

john

how long does it last jon, is it good for a couple of uses?

it depends on youre paintwork, and how long you leave it between usues, but yeah, a couple of uses and i think with the Zaino you get two bars per pack...not sure about the meguirs or zymol packs though.

Went out and bought the megauirs clay bar yesterday, and used it this morning.

Blimey! Its amazing! the paint work has come up like glass, and its a complete piece of cake to use.

It suceeded in getting rid of most of the grittiness on the rear bumper, and Im pretty sure if I'd spent more time on it, it would have got it all.

Even before polishing, the shine was superb (I used the megauirs lubricant stuff as well, in the same pack). After polishing its a much better finish that usual.

The clay wasnt very pliable though, i was expecting it to be like bluetac, whereas it wouldnt really stretch and fold that easily. perhaps it was because its a bit nippy out.

The marks on the spoiler are stil there, but they seem a little better - again perhaps more time and care would have done the job 100%.

I will def be doing this again and would recommend it to everyone.

Jon, how long before it would need doing again? I wash and polish the car about every 2 - 3 weeks on average, and dont want overkill

Might post up some piccies later.

Russ, 2nd item down on this link, is that the Maguires kit you got?

http://www.performancemotorcare.com/aca ... _Bars.html

Adam

Adam318i wrote:Russ, 2nd item down on this link, is that the Maguires kit you got?

http://www.performancemotorcare.com/aca ... _Bars.html

Adam

Thats the one, but its Ԛ£2 cheaper at Halfords

hi russ
clay bar is your first step in prep

so take your time with it
do it as well as you can

if clay is not very pliable put it in plastic bag and submerge in warm water
this will soften it
small areas at a time
the longer you take and the the more care taken pays off in the long run i assure you

this as i have said is your first stage
clay takes any dead paint and/or contaminents off the paint surface leaving you a good surface to work from and from what you have said russ you can see the difference

clay is NOT abrasive and is not taking any paint from surface at all unless its oxidisation

you could clay your car all day for next 5 years and it will not harm the paint or thin it in any way

once you have got the surface clean you may want to take out other imperfections such as swirls /marring /light scratches etc with other purpose made products then when you have surface looking good then apply your polish

i cly my car twice a year and in my opinion thats more than enough

remember that once you have prepped with the clay etc you are then going to apply your wax/polish
this will protect the paint from contaminants as long as you keep on top of washing and retopping your chosn polish/wax etc

2 to 3 weeks for wassh and polish should be fine russ

get pics up of mark you have and ill see if i can recomend something fior it

glad you liked it russ

john

Russ wrote:

Adam318i wrote:Russ, 2nd item down on this link, is that the Maguires kit you got?

http://www.performancemotorcare.com/aca ... _Bars.html

Adam

Thats the one, but its Ԛ£2 cheaper at Halfords

Ok, cheers mate, i might go and get me self some soon

Adam

john, ive tried this clay thin thing and didnt really rate it but after reading
your guide it seems that i was probably doing it wrong. It does sound good
and i will give it another try. I cant really understand how it lifts oxidation without abrasion though. Are you saying that on a red car it will remove the pink, faded paint without thinning the existing, good paint?

hi
clay is superb
if your results werent good id say thwere was a problem with the method used

clay will only lift contaminants that are on surface of paint
oxidisation is not part of your paint
it is lying on surface
you are using clay with lubricant to make the reae slippy
once clay has grabbed all foreign stuff from surface ie metal,tar,treesap etc etc it will simply glide over paint and will take nothing more from surface

john

I understand, sounds good. Ill try it again

Not even heard of "clay bar" till recently,but after reading all these comments ill deffinately be getting some,very soon
just got to try and convince the misses that you can clean a car with clay and that it actually works better than Fairy liquid

eko wrote:Not even heard of "clay bar" till recently,but after reading all these comments ill deffinately be getting some,very soon
just got to try and convince the misses that you can clean a car with clay and that it actually works better than Fairy liquid

just to point out
you are not cleaning you are removing all the shat from surface of paint

you then need to reprotect the paint with polish/wax

you will wash as normal but not with fairy!!

clay every 6 months is more than enough

john