Clay bar = damaged car!!

M

mcbutler

Veteran
 Plymouth
After taking advice and researching the subject I decided to take the plunge and buy a Meguiars Quick Clay Kit from Halfords at £29.
Took it home, watched the videos on Meguiars site, read the instructions, talked to a detailer about it and waited for a nice dry today which was today.

Car is thoroughly washed with Meguiars gold car shampoo and dried, then out comes the quick detailing spray in the kit (lubricant), clay bar opened, split into two parts and massaged till warm and pliable and formed into a disc shape.

I decided luckily to do a small part of the boot lid, spray on plenty of lubricant, rub clay softly in direction of car trave repeatedly, look at clay to see removed contaminants (nothing seen). Wipe off lubricant and horror of horrors my beautiful carmine red car has white rub marks as though I had used a bloody green scouring pad!!!.
Much compound, swearing and cursing later I managed to remove the marks almost completely.

Slinging this box of cr_p back to meguiars asap.

Anyone else used this joke product???
 
I have used it in the past with no problems.At least you were able to polish out the marks.
You didn't drop it on the floor by any chance.?
 
Clay can mar (Which isn’t the same as scratching) if not enough lubricant is used, I’ve tried the same kit with no issues but find a clay mitt is much faster & just use plenty of soapy water as lube with no marking :?
Rob
 
Could be the lube you used, could be the amount of pressure you applied, could be the grade of clay you used. I always sit mine in some boiling hot water to make it more pliable.
 
Smartbear said:
Clay can mar (Which isn’t the same as scratching) if not enough lubricant is used, I’ve tried the same kit with no issues but find a clay mitt is much faster & just use plenty of soapy water as lube with marking :?
Rob
Click to expand...

I do the same. No issues and works brilliantly
 
enuff_zed said:
Smartbear said:
Clay can mar (Which isn’t the same as scratching) if not enough lubricant is used, I’ve tried the same kit with no issues but find a clay mitt is much faster & just use plenty of soapy water as lube with marking :?
Rob
Click to expand...

I do the same. No issues and works brilliantly
Click to expand...

+1 :thumbsup:
 
Are you sure it was scratch marks and not lines of clay left on the paint due to not enough lubricant, I’ve had this before but never any scratches, it does seem to stick to the paint if you let it get too dry
 
I've never had an issue with it. The mineral particles in the clay are way too small to cause a visible scratch, unless it's dropped or has picked up surface debris not turned in by folding the clay.
 
I have never had much of a problem using it although I would have said you slide the clay rather than rub it.
I also dont dry the car before using it and use soapy water as well as the detail spray which can help the clay slide also.
I have been left with a few marks in the past but realistically every time I have used it I have polished afterwards to remove any marks that have appeared.
 
Can you capture this on pictures and upload? Clay does do this, but only at a very small level...follow up with a polish should remove any of these. I've used this kit and reckon it's as good as anything on the market IMO
 
Try and decontaminate the car better before using a clay bar. Clay bar can marr and mark and is usually used before a machine polishing. See John on youtube detailing forensics for his advice.
 
Busterboo said:
What's a clay bar?
Click to expand...

It’s a bit like plasticine, it’s rubbed over the paint (with soapy water or detail spray acting as a lubricant) and removes “contaminants” that have stuck to the bodywork.
It really makes a difference you can feel with your fingers afterwards, leaves the paint feeling like glass with no roughness.
Rob
 
When i first tried the blue 3M brand bar it does drag, realised you need to constantly lube the block, not treat it like sand paper!
I think having used the proper lube, watered Fairy liquid probably just as good.

In fact the mits seem a better idea, the blocks should come more like Kraft sliced cheese.
 
The more crap you can remove from your paintwork before claying the better, I use a fallout remover first, then preferably something like ‘tardis’ before starting to clay.

I’ve never had an issue with claying either, but by the time I use clay a lot of the airborne contaminants are already gone because of the above.

The Megs stuff is ok, not the best, not the worst.
 
Have used clay bars (not the Megs one though) of different brands without any problems, except where not enough lubricant was used, in which case I've just re-lubed and reapplied the claybar to remove any residue.
I watched a vid a couple of days ago where a vehicle was being clay barred; the youtuber summed it up well by saying it's all about Friction not Pressure. Fast, light strokes is what you want.
I find clay bars good for any bird-poo staining on paintwork if you weren't able to get to it immediately, e.g. my son's Sapphire Black 335i turned up last weekend for a visit having sat under a tree for a few days the week before. Washing the car helped, but claying removed what he had feared was permanent damage to the clearcoat. :thumbsup:
 
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