Believe in Clay...

[rascal]

Well, I detailed my Dad's 1958 Ford Skyliner yesterday. I used the clay bar on his car and was amazed on how imbedded the paint was. The car has been repainted in the past, but never washed/waxed properly until now. I used a half bar of clay and wore it out on the car. My parents were amazed on how well the car came out. My Dad is the type to not compliment on alot of things, but yesterday he did. I don't have pictures since I didn't have a camera with me, but I just wanted to share to everybody that you can believe in CLAY!

[SL1CK]

Well that's good, what color is the car?

[RZ Autodetailing]

Anyone who has used clay knows how important it is in the prep process and the final result as well.I do believe clay makes a huge difference. Bring your camera next time,iam sure we would all like to see how your work turns out.

[TKDDAD]

Clay is probably the most mis-understood step in the process by most "ordinary" people...I clayed a car yesterday with my neighbors kid who bought my old car and he was like "what is that ???"...

This is how I get people hooked....especially if I'm doing their car....I do a small section of the hood of the car with clay when they are not looking at it...you can't see a difference when you clay it...then I ask them to close their eyes and place their had on the part of the car that HAS NOT been clayed and slide it toward the part that has been clayed....it happens every time when they hit the clayed part...their eyes open up and they say "WOW!!...that's amazing !!!..."

p.s....funny ending to my detail story from yesterday....we had the car in the garage and when it was time to do a sun inspection, we couldn't start it !!! ...I had it parked at an angle to accomodate a smaller garage so, had to charge the battery and then back it out...by then, sun was down.. ...no pictures sorry...but it came out great and he was very happy...and learned about clay....

Love the clay.....

[foxhound58]

Cool, Did that make for a fathers day gift? Sounds like he was happy with it.
Found out what clay could do about three or four years ago. Did't realize it was even easier to use when you make it like a pancake. Picked that one up off a post in the forum somewhere.
Later, The Fox

[TKDDAD]

Originally posted by foxhound58
Cool, Did that make for a fathers day gift? Sounds like he was happy with it.
Found out what clay could do about three or four years ago. Did't realize it was even easier to use when you make it like a pancake. Picked that one up off a post in the forum somewhere.
Later, The Fox

Actually it was a "each one teach one" exercise....he's a young college kid who barely has enough time to eat with all the school and work stuff...plus it's my old car which I hated to see go downhill...so, I offered to help him detail it...he had a great time and it was fun....

Yeah the forum is unbelievable...great people....

[miked2]

I will add an adendum to this thread. I've used clay for a few years, and have always been impressed with the results. However, because our cars are usually newer, I typically don't follow with a paint cleaner, and instead go straight to polish and then wax. But the dealer's detailer put a lot of little scratches into our Saab 9-3 Vert, so I bought some DC1 paint cleaner, and applied it with an orbital buffer (after claying). WOW. It removed nearly all of the fine scratches, and really deepened the paint color -- to the point where DC2 couldn't add much over what DC1 did. DC1 is now one of my go-to products for the bi-yearly complete detail I do. Try it!

[rascal]

Here are some pictures that I shot today.

[SL1CK]

Dang! Looks REALLY REALLY good!!!!

[gt40_guy]

rascal that looks amazing. What else did you use aside from clay??

[rascal]

Thanks for the compliments guys. After I clayed it, I used DC#1 that came with my Smooth Surface kit from Meguiar's. Of course that bottle wouldn't do the the whole car since I have already used some of it before. I used a terry cloth applicator pad to apply the wax and used Meguiar's awsome MF towels. I detailed the interior with some DC#1 on the painted parts of the dash and used Meguiar's Interior cleaner and protectant spray on the dash, doors and seats.

The car is going to the local mall here this coming weekend along with a classic Chevy Impala to be shown off. My Dad is always willing to show that car off when he gets the chance. When I get my G100 by either winning one or buying one, I'm going to hit some swirl marks on the rear deck and hood. BTW, that car is a hardtop convertible.