Paint, glass, wheels - use it on them all. However, I would dedicate a seperate bar for use on wheels as you don't want any metallic dust finding its way onto your paint.

-GT

 

What are the best clay detailing kits to buy? And the best places to buy them?

 

Yeah, you guys have me interested in doing this to my car, too! I need to find a good thread on how to detail your car ... like the proper techniques to washing and waxing it, and the best products to use.

 

go to www.autopia.org

 

once you use the clay bar--on 1/2 the car--will the debris accumulated on the clay then scratch the paint when you use it on the 2nd 1/2 of the car? I am sure most of the debris sink into the clay, right?
On my car I don't think this would happen--but on my wife's car-she has a lot of specs on the front bumper, grill, windshield, side-mirrors and I am concerned about using the same clay bar on the back half of her car?

Is it designed to be used only once and then throw away?

I have the meguires clay kit and will use it on my wife's car.

My G is smooth to the touch and looks clean. However, I will use the clay bar only once a yr or every 18mo. or as needed like in my wife's cars case.

Does meguire's sell just the clay bar by itself? I have plenty of quick det.mist and don't want to buy the kit again and get another bottle quick det.mist and a small clay bar?

Thanks.

 

You are right in thinking that the clay will accumulate over time the crap that it picks up from your paint. You can help it a lot by using a lot of the detailing mist on it and constantly ripping it into small pieces and kneeding it quite often. (as in kneeding dough) I wouldn't use it however to remove bug splatter, specs and stuff like you are describing on your wife's car. Use a good quality bug and tar remover first for the big stuff. Then wash the car really good to remove the bug remover. Once you are satisfied that it's clean enough, THEN start the clay process.

As for the lifetime of the clay bar itself, I've had the original small yellow bar last for years if treated right. (If you drop it on the driveway or street you have two choices, either try to rip away the part that hit the concrete, or throw away the entire bar.)

YES... Mequires (and others) make the clay all by itself. They have a white clay in a screw top container that is a bit finer than the yellow clay. It's really good, although it's $14.00 for the hunk of clay.

What I've done is come up with a system for my clay(s). I can tell by looking at them how much crap is in each piece. Again... spending 10~15 minutes re-wetting it and tearing it up to clean it is a good idea here and there. However, once it reaches a certain level I mark each hunk of clay and use them where they do the most good, and less harm. It's easy to take a clean hunk of clay, on a clean car, with plenty of lubricant and use it quite often. Now I wouldn't want to use a dirty hunk on a clean car as that'd be just plain stupid on my part. Take the most used clay and do the rocker panels, just inside the fenders around the wheels, the splash guards where everything hits them, underneath the front bumper etc. Then the farther up on the car you go, the cleaner the hunk of clay. Also of course remember once you've done the lower parts and gotten them 'slick', it's safe to use a cleaner piece there as well.

I also color code all my microfiber cloths, as well as any terry cloth towels I have. Different colors by default can do different jobs. Being as most of them come in yellow... that's the color I use for final finishing. They also come in blue and green pretty much everywhere. (And others if you look hard enough) Point is that once you have a big enough collection of them, it's easy to just grab one for a particular area on the car and not worry about damaging the paint. Oh.... and there are some microfiber cloths that are ULTRA fine as well, looking almost like silk. These are GREAT for windows, headlights and chrome even.

As far as terry cloth goes. I've all but stopped using it these days, except perhaps on wheels and wheel wells, door sill plates, hinges, etc. Still have the stack of old bath towels that I can use for major water cleanup, but NEVER to totally dry the car(s). There are several out there that are just for detailing that are ULTRA PLUSH and do an excellent job without worrying about damaging the finish as well.

One more thing about clay. You really don't need to be afraid to use it more often than once a year or 18 months. If you have a thorough cleaning procedure in place, and keep your clay up to date as far as the grit level, etc. along with maintaining several coats of wax (synthetic/polymer/carnuba, etc.) it won't hurt the paint at all to do a quick and light once over with a clean bar of clay AT LEAST 3~4 times a year. If you really like spending time with your 'baby', it's not gonna' hurt it to give her a once over before each major wax job. By "major", I'm not talking a touch-up wax, but one of those nice all day detail jobs that keeps you away from the 'honey-do' list! You'd be surprised how many things I can come up to do to a car... only to end up pulling out the cover at the end of the day and covering it in the garage. (At least the G35 that is.) The Envoy Denali is candy apple red metallic and is my wifes everyday car. She puts 50+ miles a day on it and when I get started on that puppy it takes two days. (Still keeps me from the honey-do list though.) Now the daughter's new G6 GTP I'm training her to do these things. Either she'll take care of the car, or I'll take it away and put her in a used 2002 or so Honda. She WILL learn to respect what a new car is all about and do the work herself, or she'll end up in a MUCH less expensive car. Gotta' give her credit though, so far she's really picky about it. She actually almost left a friend of hers at a local shopping center last week. Seems she took a car load and they went to eat and she told them that it has REALLY long doors and to be careful or she would KILL THEM. Sure enough... one of them managed to hit the door on another car and just barely chip the paint off the very edge of the door, (not even where you can see it when the door is closed). Safe enough to say that we'll not see that kid in her car again. Whaddya' gonna' do though.... they are kids and unless something has changed in the universe in the last few days, none of them have bought their own cars, much less appreciate or KNOW how to take care of them. That's where mine has an edge. Nothing wrong with the finer things in life, as long as you know where you came from, and how to appreciate what you have. The sad part is there are too many of the seniors that she just graduated with that are driving monster lifted new 4x4 extended cab pickups that cost as much as a loaded G35. Or of course Mustangs, and one of her buddies even has a kick-*** bright yellow 04 Z06. At least he appreciates it and keeps it up. A lot of them though would just as soon run over you as look at you. Keeping up with the Jones' is one thing.... but when the parents start buying cars for 16 and 17 year olds just to out-do their friends cars this is getting downright stupid. Makes me feel a bit guilty as well though when it comes to my daughters car because I did spend a LOT more than I intended to. (What's a dad to do when those eyes look at you so sweet and she's an A student that doesn't care about boys, only school?) So yes... you can yell at me now for spoiling my own kid, but... I have at least a reasonable thought process going into all this. It was either send her away to college with an older Honda and have her live in a dorm. OR.... buy her a new car and she would still live here with DAD, yet have to commute to downtown Atlanta every day. (oh... Mom and brother are here too but they don't count ) I figured based on what it'd cost me for her to live on campus the G6, even at over 23K was a bargain. At least I know where she'll be every night. All it takes is pulling her weight with the grades. If she keeps up like she's done pretty much since 2nd grade then when she graduates I'll give her the title (it's paid for now). But if she slacks off and doesn't do her end, then it's not only the cell phone bill and gas, and some of the insurance, but it'll be ALL the insurance, plus a car payment. Either that, or I'll park it and when her brother turns 16 he can start driving it to school down here. (Although he's already got his eyes on good ol' Dad's G35 thinking that'll be more his 'style'.) NOT!!!!!!

 

They work great removing all that STUFF from your
paint prior to waxing! I use Zymol products on my
cars. So I use the Zymol clay with the Klay lube.
I watched a ingrate at a carwash one day claying a
black car "DRY"..........this kinda sh*t makes my
skin crawl..... another reason not to take
your car to a carwash!

 

I usually clay my cars once a year. I just washed and clayed my G for the first time and the finish is smoooooth, as it should be. The clay was followed up by 2 apps of Klasse AIO, 3 apps of Klasse HGSG and 1 app of P21s carnuba wax. As per my normal routine, subsequent washings may include additional app(s) of Klasse HGSG and the usual once a month app of P21s for the next 12 months. Then it starts all over again with the clay. When the clay bar to dirty to use on paint, I save it for the windows.

 

f*cK cLay bars Steel Wool is the Way 2 Go!

 

Continually fold the clay as you use it.