Thinking about Clay Bar and general waxing questions

[SilverShadow]

Try www.mequiars.com or 800-545 3321 The site has a media presentation that goes through the "steps" for keeping your car clean. BTW a friend put clay to my hood (bonnet to some of you) because I was so pissed about having sprinkler water drops on it over the years and could not remove them. The clay bar removed them and the hood was Smooth and Shiney! Never will I use home soap and bucket, or inferior wax again!

[evol90accord]

its maGuiars... no q.

[uncle_el]

its maGuiars... no q.

actually, it's meguiar's

www.meguiars.com

[evol90accord]

wow thats so weird I coulda sworn I typed that e!! lol thanks man!

[doylna]

So I used Mother's Clay Bar system on the hood of my GF's car over the weekend. I used the spray liquid and clay and it didn't really take anything off. I guess the hood was pretty smooth to begin with, so I'm not sure if it really needed it.

I sprayed the lubricant and then rubbed the clay bar up and down, then left to right on the hood. Did I do it wrong, or use too much lubricant? I had to clean the hood again afterwords, because there was kind of a haze on the hood afterwords. Hmm.

[mrvinyl33]

If the paint was already smooth=clean it won't make it any better. If not it should have removed dirt. I have heard mixed comments about the Mothers brand of clay. I haven't used that brand myself, but can verify claying works quite well for paint and glass.

Did you spray the clay and the car's surface then clay, and spray again and wipe off?

[93LoProLX]

I sprayed the lubricant and then rubbed the clay bar up and down, then left to right on the hood. Did I do it wrong, or use too much lubricant? I had to clean the hood again afterwords, because there was kind of a haze on the hood afterwords. Hmm.

Really not necessary to change directions, I typically keep going in the same direction so that any scratches I might accidenatally create will be easier to remove. The clay isn't abrasive, but since it does pick up contaminants, you're left with the potential to drag abrasive elements across the paint... best way to avoid it is to knead the clay every section or so.

Mother's clay is a lot tackier than ClayMagic so if you weren't feeling a little bit of resistance against the paint, then you probably were using too much detail spray. I find it to be an easier gauge with mother's if you leave the car wet after a wash and then use a minimal amount of detail spray.

You should always wash your car after claying, because clay will leave behind some residue from breaking down as you use it. Polishing can take it off as well, but it's best that you wash it first so that you don't gunk up your polishing pads.

[doylna]

If the paint was already smooth=clean it won't make it any better. If not it should have removed dirt. I have heard mixed comments about the Mothers brand of clay. I haven't used that brand myself, but can verify claying works quite well for paint and glass.

Did you spray the clay and the car's surface then clay, and spray again and wipe off?

Nope, I sprayed, clayed and then washed the hood. I didn't know to spray, clay, spray and wipe off. Thanks for the tip.

[doylna]

Really not necessary to change directions, I typically keep going in the same direction so that any scratches I might accidenatally create will be easier to remove. The clay isn't abrasive, but since it does pick up contaminants, you're left with the potential to drag abrasive elements across the paint... best way to avoid it is to knead the clay every section or so.

Mother's clay is a lot tackier than ClayMagic so if you weren't feeling a little bit of resistance against the paint, then you probably were using too much detail spray. I find it to be an easier gauge with mother's if you leave the car wet after a wash and then use a minimal amount of detail spray.

You should always wash your car after claying, because clay will leave behind some residue from breaking down as you use it. Polishing can take it off as well, but it's best that you wash it first so that you don't gunk up your polishing pads.

The directions on the box said to go left to right, up and down - I was a first-timer following directions. For the most part, there wasn't much resistance at all, which I thought was odd, but I also didn't want to ruin her hood by pushing too hard or not using enough spray.

Thanks for the hints. I'll give them a try on my car this weekend.