Muzz

I just claybarred my car. WOW.

I'd never even heard of claybarring until I ventured over into the US forums. Yesterday I ventured down to my local auto parts store and whaddya know, clay bars. Who would have thought rubbing a chunk of (expensive) clay over your car would work so well.

Anyone else done it? I was starting to think I was becoming a bit obsessive with my car washing/waxing until I read about those 11hour Zaino freaks

So anyway. Claybar = good. (followed by wax of course. Meguiars Gold Class in my case.)

Lone Ranger

I used Clay Magic and then Klasse. Results were fantastic.

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

Yeah - I keep wanting to do mine, and then re-apply some Swissol. I am still looking for the time though How long did the "bar-ing" take??

I should have gone to Supercheap on Saturday to get some. They had a 20% off sale.

Cheers,
Hymee.

Muzz

It was very easy. Easier than waxing and certainly easier than any paint cleaning exercise requiring a bit of elbow grease.
About 60-90 mins work depending on how slow you go. Thats just the bar of course, you wax it afterwards but everything is so smooth it's easy as.
I've used Meguiars Paint cleaner before and that really wears me out due to the effort required to buff it off.
Now I may have the bug. :O
I am tempted to go the whole hog - ie wash with detergent to strip wax, claybar, then the 'Z' word

It's all part of my stategy to keep myself occupied during the interminable wait for delivery of
1) swaybars
2) short shifter

and obviously

3) sCANalyser
4) Hymeecharger

And yeah you should have gone to SC because the bar+detailer pack was about 38 bucks. Worth it though.

mikeyr

Hey Muzz,

What brand of claybar? Are there good and bad. Did a search and got about 4 million thread hits!!

Have an SC round the corner.

Ta

Mike

EZZY

nah couldnt be bothered, just give the car to my spray painter instead :D j/k

takahashi

I use Meguire Clay bar and their detailer. I don't find I have to clay it very often. I hardly get tar or oxidize if I keep it under cover most time.

auzoom (or maybe ILIV48) said my paint still kept very good after 18 months. I think it is creadited to clay bar to give a very smooth surface.

One tip I learn with clay bars. Always work on your car with some wet lubricants - I use the detailer that came with it and spray crazy

EZZY

or you can just use the water hose (watch out for the water *****....)
after use, keep the clay bar moist and warp it in clad warp. dont let it get dry, it'd be useless
have only clay barred my car once...... a few years back, never again

takahashi

Why is that? I don't clay bar until I see a tar spot. Tar remover does not go deep down enough and leave a lumpy surface...

labrat

Clay is still an abrasive, and will gradually take the finish from your car. It works because it is slightly harder than the paint on your car. On the Moh's hardness scale, kaolinite clay has a hardness of 2- 2.5 (the scale ranges from talc = 1 to diamond = 10). Clay particles can be around 200nm in size - approximately the size of a large virus. It will scratch the paintwork, but you can't see the scratches unless you use an electron microscope, since the scratches are smaller than the wavelengths of visible light. Gradually, you will abrade the minute imperfections inherent in the painting process. The net effect is that the finish appears shinier. Nonetheless, every application means you are taking off paint, the only thing that is preventing your car from rusting.

For those of us non-fanatics, regular use of a good quality polish that contains no abrasives will maximize the life of the car's paint. Modern car paints are very resistant to atmospheric oxidation, but use of a wax or silicone based polish puts a barrier between it and the atmosphere and will prolong its life.

I had my last car for 12 years, and polished it 2-3 times a year with Nu-Finish, about $12/bottle. The paintwork looked like new the day I traded it in. The trick with Nu-Finish is to polish it twice within three weeks of the first application. I'm doing my car about every 4 months this way, and it looks great. Another thing I do is only to use one or two caps of wash and wax car wash per bucket unless the car is really dirty. All car washes are detergents, and will gradually dissolve the polish, no matter how "gentle". Only use enough to suspend the dirt on the car, and your polish will last longer.

I will NEVER take my car through an automatic car wash, whether "brushless" or not. The "brushless" types use really strong detergents which are very alkaline to compensate for the lack of a wiping action. They will easily strip all the wax from your car and can attack the paintwork, and unless you are convinced that the proprietor has really strict quality control over the dosing of the cleaning chemicals, I wouldn't risk it. I have seen the formulations of some of these brushless car washes, and they are absolutely loaded with caustic soda or potash, silicates, polyphosphates and other highly alkaline materials. Rule of thumb - if the detergent is too strong for your hands, it's too strong for your car!

EZZY

because im a lzay bum :D
i gave the show car to the professional detailer after that, they are much better at it :p

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

From my understanding, the term "clay" is used quite liberally here. I got the impression it is manufacturerd rather than dug up out of the ground, more like plasticene or similar. I guess though that as you need to use a good dose of "lube", it must be abrasive if used on it's own.

Anyway - I'm no expert. Just learning about this. I used to use NuFinish a lot on my first Mazda. It was pretty good.

So - what brand 'bar and lube did you use, Muzz?

Cheers,
Hymee.

Gomez

What is this claybar thing? I've heard the septics talking about it, but have never seen one.....someone post a pic!

takahashi

Clay detail set

The clay is in front of that spray

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/inf-clay.html

Check that out for some details and some instructional shots of "Holley" doing some bar-ing

Cheers,
Hymee.

labrat

Hmm, so the "clay" compound does contain added abrasives after all. It's just a matter as to how fine these particles are. To my mind, clay is just another type of cutter, albeit somewhat finer than the rest. I think I'll stick to an abrasive-free wax, thanks. I want to keep as much paint as possible on my car.

labrat

BTW, I saw an ad on TV for a DIY dermo-abrasion kit. It said it contained alumina. Alumina is an extremely good abrasive. It's common name is corundum, and is chemically identical to sapphire, which is extremely hard indeed. You may as well use "wet and dry" on your face!

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

That is quite funny.

I also wan't to keep as much paint as possible on my car. But I also wan't to remove as much build-up as possible before I lay down some layers of wax.

Cheers,
Hymee.

Muzz

I just went down the hobby shop and got myself a big glob of the brown stuff.

Don't do that! Actually - I used Meguiars - the exact same package that Taka sent a pic of.

Not much choice really as that is all they stocked. They guy there said they sell about 1 per month.

The clay is quite fine to the touch. After rubbing there were a couple of very slightly dirty patches on the clay but no masses of discoloration indicating I was taking a heap of paint off or anything. Plus the amount of pressure used is minimal. I certianly wouldnt be doing it monthly or anything thats for sure. Maybe annually.

I am not a clay bar expert! Use at your peril. For me, I could definitely notice the difference, the paint really did feel like glass afterwards. There are numerous websites showing how to tell if claybarring would be any use. I know there is a danger of scuffing your paintwork if you don't lubricate the surface first. And of course if you have dirt or grit embedded in your clay - hello scratches.

Maybe I should try to take some pics. I am very lazy.

Lone Ranger

The clay magic bar comes with a little plastic glove for you to put and run your fingers over the car. You can feel a little roughness even though the car looks smooth and clean. After the clay bar, the paintwork was smooth as !!!! I used clay magic blue (the gentlest grade) and used the lubricant that was sold to me with it. Followed up with Klasse all in one, and then klass sealant glaze.
Did all this on my new 8, and the wifes year old Peugeot GTI. Both cam up absolutely fantastic.

Choppy

Check this link out.

http://www.eclipsedetailing.com.au/P...ory=claypolish

Can get it from this local guys, they have been excellent for advice and products.

Regards
phillip

labrat

I need some help on this. If modern paint jobs have a clear coat on top, would you expect to see any paint colour on the clay glob? I guess if you do see paint colour, would that mean you've worn through the clear coat?

Most of the polishes I've used seem to be in the form of an emulsion with a hydrocarbon (kerosene?) base. As well as helping to suspend the polish waxes, the hydrocarbon doubles in removing small tar and oil spots that normal car washes leave behind. I notice my polish applicator rag always looks a bit grubby after use.

I guess my personal preference is for a light, easy on, easy off polish like Nu-Finish. Polishes like this tend not to give a build-up like the older heavy wax types. It takes me about 45 minutes go to whoa and so even if I do it every 3 months its no big deal.

I guess I might come across as being non-fussy, but I'm not into show and shine. I just want to keep my paintwork in good condition.

Gomez

Thanks Hymee for the link, let's see if I get this....

Okay, so I must first clean and dry my car to remove any loose dirt.....in the shade....when it's cool to prevent evaporation of the clay lubricant. Then I should spray the lube on a small area and rub the clay back and forth.....while keeping it wet or I'll risk scratches. I should do this three or more times....while checking the clay bar frequently for hard particles. I should toss it out if I drop it....and I should not overuse it.

Then when I'm finished .....I should wash the car to remove the lubricant film, and go over it with a pre-wax cleaner to finish cleaning the paint. Finally, I should apply my favourite wax or sealant.

Your Honour, the jury has reached it's verdict. Clay barring is for the unemployed....or for the single man....or for the compulsive obsessive....or for owners of black cars ( )....but it's not for me.

Gomez .

Muzz

You forgot the 7 step Zaino sequence after you have done all of that

And yes I do have a black car BUT I fail on the other 2 (EDIT: 3 even) points!!

Gomez

Hahaha....incorrect!

You get automatic entry into the obsessive compulsive club when you drive a black car out of a dealers lot .