Clay bar why

I have a new cadillac ext and am too fearful to clay the beautiful new finish. I have used zymol hd cleanse and vintage estate glaze carnuba on the brand new finish. Do you have experience with these products? Any words of wisdom to get me back into the ring?

Thank you very much. This web site is very helpful and a wealth of terrific knowledge!!! My guess is that the former owner used Windex or another product with ammonia to clean the interior hatch glass, which created a residual spray-off, or dripped onto the panel I only use Stoners Invisible Glass.

Also, that an object golf bag? Will claying help remove these and should I use fine clay bar or something more aggressive? Thanks for your help! Then before any polishing is done, properly clay bar all painted surfaces to remove any bonded contamination that could interfere with polishing. Seeing […]. For example, say you have some road tar, […]. Hey Todd Great article. I just bought a black Pontiac Solstice for my wife. The finish is in pretty good shape, the guy who owned it before us told me about using a clay bar.

After treading your article and some of the comments I have decided not to use a clay bar on it. Any advice would be appreciated. Always enjoy the articles from the best on detailEd image…this website is on my daily routine….

Greets Todd! Most commendable! But THEN what does one do with the lube that has trickled over edges and ran down the back-end of the vehicle? Do you concur? I am NOT nearly or even remotely an expert with such things, but rather, I copy what I see the pros doing and pray that it works for me. To close, thanks so much for everything which your site and personal time has contributed.

Say Todd …. Business has been booming…new facility, huge growth, hiring and training employees, running my new detailing academy, etc, etc. Hope this […]. I just got a new Hyundai sonata, silver, and I waxed it with liquid hard shell turtle wax.

It looks great and then I read about claying. If I decide to clay it can I clay over the fresh coat of wax and then apply a second coat of wax? I have been reading and loving your articles searching for a situation like mine so I thought I would just ask. I have a black BMW x5 , she is 12 years old and needs some love. I have read all about clay bars and quite frankly it scares the hell out of me. Most of what I read seems to be care for fairly new cars or cars that have been clayed before.

My car has never been clayed just washed and waxed. Due to having kids there are some minor scratches and from camping and going to the beach as well. Is claying still a good choice for a black car that probably has a lot of contaminates in the paint? I really would love to see it shiny and pretty again. If you have any advice I would love to hear it.

I just bought mcguyers. Clay bar kid…. Real differance… felt smooth as glass……. I just bought some clay and a bottle of polish from advanced auto to use on my G Your article just taught me all I need to know to do this without being nervous.

Thanks a million. However, I've run across this website before and shows how to clay bar. Hey there! You article finally gave me the confidence to give Claying a shot. The built-up tree-sap makes it splotchy when I use the wipers. You wrote a great article. My comments concern your apparent extremely low mileage Corvette. My wife and I bought a red Corvette, a C4, as a third car and I was so proud of it that I drove it very little and washed and waxed it quite often.

We babied it and drove it to special occasions like the Georgia-Florida football game in Jacksonville and only to work once in a while. I drove it so few times that I warped the components in the engine block from allowing them to become dry from gravity causing the oil to fall off the parts.

I paid at least one thousand dollars to have a new half-block? After that I decided to drive it more regularly. In June I used it as a trade-in at the same Chevy dealership where I bought it. Trust me when I say the car looked brand new. That trade-in was for a Tahoe, but in May we bought a new red Corvette, a C-5, with a factory pick-up. I still wash and wax it often but I drive it a lot. My point is that a Corvette is made to be driven. Even if using the car a lot results it it not being pristine, it is a shame to forego the driving experience just to have a perfect car in the garage.

Thank you Todd for the article. I was not familiar with this process, until I spotted a clear coat damage on the top of my car most likely because of sunlight exposure and search online for ways to restore or prevent clear coat from wearing out. I noticed you wrote this article some time ago and wonder if you can provide with an update, weather the products you are using still your preferred ones or perhaps you have tried other ones.

Thanks again for the help. I need to remove tree sap from the windshield and side mirror. Is it safe, and if so what brand is best? I bought a new VW Passat this fall…my first new car.

After a wash this weekend, I was horrified to see my car speckled with…gasp…rust colored dots. It seems that I need to clay my car. When should I do this? Should I wait until spring which means May in this region? I do not have a heated garage. I have a r red volvo wagon. Will clay in bring it back to volvo red? Hay Tod, I have a 95 Grand Prix. The front driver side break caliper malfunctioned and was lightly applying the break pads on the rotter as I drove.

This caused a brown dust that covers the side of the car. It looks like I drove through mud. Its very hard to get off. The only thing that seems to kind of work with a lot of scrubbing is lacquer thinner and it does not remove all of it. Do you know what I can use to completely clean it off?

I just bought a black camaro with a few light scratches from what it looks like, an automatic car wash. I brought it by a detailer and he said they would just wash and wax it and clay bar spots that needed it. I asked him about polishing and he said you should never buff a black car.

Is this true? Just bought a new pathfinder and noticed a stain on the back bumper. Do you think claying will remove the stain.

Here is a picture of the stain. What is the sealing then waxing business? Referencing the photo from original post of corvette do you deal then wax? Never heard of the sealing step?

Allow me to explain:. When the bar surface becomes soiled, I take a common Potato Peeler and take a few seconds to shave off the soiled layer, exposing a new pristine surface. I never understood the logic in folding microscopic contaminates back into the bar only to resurface sometime later?

I recently had my car machine polished, this has left swirl marks, holograms. The guy who did the work is refusing to fix this. Will clay barring and polishing remove these marks? Gary — After a good wash, using a clay bar will remove embedded contamination, leaving the surface clean and ready for polishing. Swirl marks are generally created from contamination on the surface, scratches, etc.

At the bottom of that article Chad recommends some products to help remove holograms and swirls to bring your paint back to life. Question for the pros here. I only wash it myself with the two-bucket method preceded by a good foaming and I always blow dry it.

And the car sleeps in my garage. All this to say the paint looks, to my novice eyes anyway, pretty darn good. Still shines, no swirl marks. So, here comes my question. Should I clay it before my first wax? Thanks in advance for the thoughts. Just wondering if meguiar clay bar kit is good to use. Or can I used the quick wax liquid? After I do everything Juss wanted to kno if I have to wax it and Wat is a sealant..

Should I just follow this after washing, claying, polishing, sealing, and waxing. Can I used all meguiar product do to all this step. I have a black Ford truck and I noticed that I have white specs on the tail gate and also on the front of my fishing boat.

The only thing I can think of is that it is white paint from new stripes on the highway. Will claying remove this. I would guess their are about 50 or so specs on the truck and boat. Any help would be great. Do i have to remove the wax on my car before i clay bar my car or just use the clay bar over the wax thanks i will wait until you tell me how to do it. Body, cab, doors and bed are fire truck red. Presents a very nice combination and draws a fair amount of attention.

There are some scratches on the front fenders probably from engine work that appear reasonably deep, but not to the primer or fiberglass. Thank you for your time and expertise. John Clarkeshouse garage. Hi Todd, I have a black chevy, that has like a heavy soap residue on it, is the clay bar the best way to remove it? Brandon — It really all depends on your market and the offerings of the detailer. I would recommend asking around and finding a detailer in your area with a good reputation and he can give you a quote specific to the condition of your paint.

I have a white Toyota Camry. The marks are not anywhere else on the car. If it is tree sap, will claying remove it without damaging the surface of the car? I have recently purchased a Honda Fit. Obviously, it goes without saying, if you pick up lots of harsh particles, either fold your clay bar over so you expose fresh clay, or pick them out if possible.

Never use a clay bar that is quite clearly contaminated - it'll do you no favours. Following a good full buff-off with a quality microfibre cloth, you're ready to polish, wax or seal your paint. This stage is especially important. You've probably just spent hours clay barring all of the contamination from your paint, don't undo all that hard work by not protecting your efforts. Once you've clay barred and protected your paintwork, you should only need to do it twice a year - once before winter and once after.

Obviously, you're welcome to do it more often. This is simply the minimum required. Before winter is important because of the harsh weather it'll encounter, and after winter is equally important because of the crap we come across on our roads through the winter months; salt, grime, brake-dust etc. Well, that's us signing off. We'd love to see some of your results, just tag in your pics on Instagram or Twitter and we'll check them out! No thank's. Take me to the shop. Auto Finesse uses cookies on this site to provide the best possible online experience, for analytics and for advertising.

By browsing the site, you agree to our use of cookies. A clay bar is an engineered resin compound that can be synthetic or natural — although most manufacturers use synthetic versions. Imagine it as a putty you used to play with as a child, the clay can be moulded in whichever way makes it easier to use.

But unlike the childhood favourite playdough, detailing clay is designed to cut through and remove, heavier-duty contaminants like paint overspray, brake dust, rust, tar spots and more.

As these contaminants connect with the bodywork of your car, they pierce the paintwork to become lodged in, and stick to your vehicle. Regardless of the weather, the car washes and even polishing, the only way to remove these is to use a product like detailing clay, which either pulls the contaminant out of the paintwork or cuts them down to smoothen the surface of your paintwork. Most clay bar kits also come with a detailer spray or lubricant, which acts as a thin protector on the surface of your paintwork, preventing the clay from getting stuck, and potentially damaging the bodywork.

It also makes it a lot easier to move the clay over the surface of the car — since, without the lubricant, the clay will simply stick. Next, simply break off a piece of clay and work it in your hands, as you would do with brand new playdough or putty until it is completely malleable and pliable. Then flatten it into a small disk shape, around 5cm in diameter.

Clay bar detailing needs to be done in small sections, one at a time. Keep the spray around 2 feet way from the car as you go. So, you will need to ensure that you use 1 side of the clay at a time, and when the impurities build-up, you fold the dirty side of the clay into itself, so that you keep using a clean section all the time. You will want to glide the clay over the paintwork, back and forth, gently. Beyond this you could also factor in a clay bar to your spring detail once the winter is all but over and you are preparing to enjoy the summer months.

This will remove any contamination picked up over the winter and ensure that any waxes applied in the summer months will bond as designed. Your vehicles surface is barraged with debris on a daily basis, every time you drive the vehicle it faces assault from the environment each and every time. Every trip brings different problems to face be it salts, general debris, exhaust films, airborne pollution and much more.

Splashing or imbedding themselves in your beautify maintained paintwork you have painstakingly cared for. And worst of all, remember your vehicle can become contaminated at any time and any place! Even when it is new at the dealership or in fact simply on its way to the showroom or in production! Simply wash and dry your vehicle as you normally would.

Find a nice new plastic sandwich bag and place this over your hand. Now lightly rub your fingertips over the clean surface of the paint. If you can feel a gritty or rough texture then there is contamination present on your vehicle. This method works as the plastic bag emphasises the contamination more than your fingertips alone would. Helping you notice the contamination with ease, just make sure to take your sandwiches out of the bag first! Now we have explained the why, when and what it is time to look at the how, the fun part.

But before we get deep into thought we need to prepare.