clay bar

[jima]

I have a daily driver with a few in-bedded contaminants on the surface. I have read various posts where people have stated that they introduced some marring when using a clay bar - even thought they claimed they didn't press too hard and used plenty of lubricant, while others have stated that they have had no problems. My question, especially for those who have a lot of experience with clay use on various vehicles etc., is: Can I remove these contaminants with clay without causing and micro-marring in that I do not have a polisher to remove them?

[Derrick]

Re: clay bar

Claying will remove surface contaminents and yes there can be marring but usually when using a more aggressive clay. Stick with something like the Smooth Surface clay kit and you should be fine. Also what are the embeded contaminents you speak of? That may play a big part in being able to tell you if the clay will remove it or not. Any pics?

[Mike Pennington]

Re: clay bar

Can I remove these contaminants with clay without causing and micro-marring in that I do not have a polisher to remove them?

Absolutely !!!

99.9 % of the time, marring occurs when you use an aggressive clay or the surface is not lubricated enough, or you do not knead the clay often enough. By using our white clay found in the Smooth Surface Clay Kit, you will have awesome results....

Mike

[Hemin8r]

Re: clay bar

Hi Jima, One thing you can probably do is use a mild clay on a panel as a test. I know that the aggressive clay will leave some marring or if you have a good amount of bonded contaminants that may leave some marring to very little. After you clay you can follow up with a cleaner wax like Color X or #66. Color X will probably be easier to locate over the counter (eg. Target, Walmart, autoparts). This will be a one step & will help save time & energy. This will help remove any of the light marring. Hope that helps some.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: clay bar

Just to add...

We hold classes almost every Saturday and teach people that have never clayed before in their life how to properly clay a car's paint and we don't have any problems when we use our Smooth Surface Clay Kit


Claying the paint...










This could be some kind of paint overspray that landed on the new paint job after it was painted by while it was still at the body shop, it could also be some kind of overspray or industrial fallout/pollution that fell on the car wherever it is normally parked.

Above surface bonded contaminants come from what's in the air where you normally park the car.






We've only seen micro-marring or "Clay Hazing" one time that I can remember and this was at our Thursday Night "Open Garage" class and the owner had what he though was Rail Dust embedded into the paint on the trunk lid and we used our Aggressive Clay to remove this as our other two clays were not working at all. In fact the Aggressive Clay just barely worked and when we were finished claying we had to use a rotary buffer to remove the light scratches from the process.

We should also note the scratches were probably from the particles being removed from the paint, and to a lesser, much lesser degree from the clay itself.

So the odds are in your favor you can successfully clay your car's paint without any problems as long as you work clean, this means a clean car, fresh clay, plenty of lubricant.

This isn't very good but it might help...

How to clay

[jima]

Re: clay bar

Ok, thanks guys. I believe experience is the teacher in matters like this. From the above responses I am convinced if I get a mild clay and follow the proper techniques I can get I good result. I have Colorx, and scratchx, and even a cheap dept. store buffer that may help to get me out of trouble if it should occur.

[Murr1525]

Re: clay bar

Buy an extra bottle of Quick Detailer so you have some extra lubricant on hand, dont be afraid to use too much the first time.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: clay bar

And it can never be stressed enough the importance of working clean.

Clean floor, (your feet can kick up dust, the wind can kick up dust), clean car, clean hands, clean clothes, clean clean clean.

Often times if we're working on a Customer's car at their location we'll take the time to sweep out their garage to create a cleaner work environment.

After all the prep work steps are finished and we're ready to go to wax, we'll wash our hands really well.

Sometimes it's the little things that are the big things.

Best of luck to you...

p.s.

Good tip Matt on the extra bottle of Quik Detailer.

[car fanatic]

Re: clay bar

I have a question if i use the mild detailers clay and qd or last touch 1:1, will i get the same results as i would from the clay kit. This will be my first time claying a car.

[hacker-pschorr]

Re: clay bar

I must be doing something wrong, I've clayed half my car (after speding the past 5 months in storage) and the clay doesn't seam to be picking anything up (using the blue).
The paint feels very smooth before & does feel smoother after, but the clay is clean.

[Murr1525]

Re: clay bar

I have a question if i use the mild detailers clay and qd or last touch 1:1, will i get the same results as i would from the clay kit. This will be my first time claying a car.

Yes, although if you are only going to work on your own car, the mild clay is a pretty big tub. I am always worried about it drying out before I use it (only my car to detail), so I just get a new kit each year.


As far as the clay staying clean.... maybe the car is clean? Most contaminants come from the environment, pollution, etc, so if you have been in storage, maybe it is fine. Just finish on up and onto cleaning. Also, the blue clay being blue, it hides dirt a little more then the white clay.

Maybe you can describe how you are using it at least? Though it is hard to do wrong.

[hacker-pschorr]

Re: clay bar

As far as the clay staying clean.... maybe the car is clean? Most contaminants come from the environment, pollution, etc, so if you have been in storage, maybe it is fine. Just finish on up and onto cleaning. Also, the blue clay being blue, it hides dirt a little more then the white clay.

Maybe you can describe how you are using it at least? Though it is hard to do wrong.

I'm using Final Inspection mixed 1:1
I spray the area that I'm going to clay and rub a small piece of clay all over the area in various directions. If any one spot feels "sticky" (not sure how else to say it) I spray down more final inspection. Once I complete an area, I whipe the area clean with a micro fiber and maybe spray a bit more of the solution to finish it off.

[Murr1525]

Re: clay bar

Hmm... I think Final Inspection is to be used as is, but not 100% sure. Still, that wouldnt explain the clean clay, but could lead to marring if you didnt have enough lubrication.

[hacker-pschorr]

Re: clay bar

Hmm... I think Final Inspection is to be used as is, but not 100% sure. Still, that wouldnt explain the clean clay, but could lead to marring if you didnt have enough lubrication.

I keep doing that, I'm using Last Touch mixed 1:1 not Final Inspection