I was just reading on Autopia about clay bars, and how they remove over spray and other contaminants on the surface of the paint? I am trying to do this to my vehicle and was wondering they are user friendly, and how well they work? Any suggestions or experiences with these products? Thanks!

 

yea fo sho... easy to use.. very effective and ya its a good idea to clay

 

If you've never clay bared your car, you'd be surprised how much crap the clay pics up off your paint. I was very suprised the first time I used it.

 

Clay Bar is the way to go. Zaino sells quality clay and you would use their car wash solution diluted in a spray bottle for lubricating the bar.

Never, ever drop the clay. If you do it has to be tossed in the trash. It will pretty much remove anything that is on the surface of the clearcoat. Better then any other liquid polishes etc.

I am still waiting for my car to come in but I told the dealer to only wash the exterior and do not touch it with wax of a buffer even if it has some rail dust. I plan on clay barring the entire car and the Zaino'ing it afterwards.

 

clay bars definitely work, just got the meguiar's quick clay kit and it took off almost all the contaminants stuck in the paint on my rear bumper. I'm gonna use it again next time i wash to take the rest off. i was pleasantly surprised with the results.
-GP-

 

How often should i clay bar the car? Every time i wash it?

 

not every time. When you clay the car it takes off all the wax that you've previously put on the car, so i geuss if you want to wax every time you wash, by all means, be my geust. I'd clay the car maybe 1 or 2 times a year. the member Picus could give you more precise info on this.
-GP-

 

Actually in my experience 'claying' the car doesn't take off all the wax. It just prepares and cleans the surface, hopefully for another coat of wax. Remember, you're lubricating the clay with a detailer mist which as it's own shine and wax in it, it's not abrasive at all to the point to where it would grind off a coat of carnuba wax.

First, put the car in a garage and hopefully close the door so you don't get outside dust being blown all over the car as you're cleaning it.

I like to clay a new car, TWICE. Then wax it with a good cleaner wax. At this point you'll have a very nice slick surface. From here you can apply either your first coat of carnuba, or if you like, one of the new polymer waxes, (Mequires NXT is GREAT), then mist it with Final Inspection or Quick Detailer (Final Inspection is a bit cleaner as a polish and shine agent, where the Quick Detailer has more cleaning power in it, but at this point you don't need the cleaning power. Then top it off with your second coat of wax. You can put Carnuba on top of the NXT, and it works great.

I've tested all sorts of different layering methods, but the key is getting it clean with the clay, then the polishing wax. Not the cheap stuff, but the Mequires liquid. I've also gotten excellent results by putting the next coat of yellow carnuba (please... use the paste and not the liquid or spray at this point), and then just for snits and giggles, I topped it off with a coat of Zaino. Really deep shine, (and mine isn't clear coated metallic). The Laser Red, sadly is a single stage paint, so the Carnuba tends to do well with it. I've probably got at least 5~6 coats on areas of my 06 and it's only 3 months old, and just turned 2000 miles.

 

you'd be surprised. i have the meguiars quik clay kit but i plan to get the sonus clay sometime soon, it looks so bad ***.

 

Don't clay every time. Its not good for your paint. 6 months at most!

 

Sonus sells a new clay that is very mild and can be used monthly. Personally, I don't see the need to clay more than twice a year.

 

When using the clay bar, you can actually feel all the little contaminants/particles that are on the car coming off when using the clay bar. You can really feel the difference before and after you use the clay bar. I use the Zaino one, it's really good.

 

Does the clay bar work on wheels too? My stock 18s have some areas with little black spots and brake dust that just doesn't want to come out.

 

How effective are clay bars in removing over spray? Do I have to wetsand?

 

claybars work killer for removing overspray, polution fall out and just about any other Crap in your paint.