Clay bar reccomendation
- Thread starter BMW^Z4
- Start date
I've used Mother's clay bar system, and have had good results with it. Widely available at Schucks and other auto-parts stores.
Black Fire.
Here is the story. Clay Magic holds the patten on the product. Everyone else has to go through them to put the product on the street. Clay Magic got real nasty in court and put the other one company that was making the product out of business. There are two main varities, one prosumer/home owner use and one pro use. The difference is the amount of effort it takes to kneed the product while you use it, home owner easier to use. If you check the amount of product in the boxes, you get more with CM than with the others, wonder why. The price of the CM package is also less. They don't include a wax to use like most of the other products do. The wax with the other products would be a waste to me because I would not use them in the first place. Check it out for yourself.
No need to be BMW^Z4..we all have our products that we prefer for our vehicles. They are all good quality products, it's just all in what you prefer/can afford. I use the Blackfire because it enhances vehicles of lighter color. And, it is a high-quality product, not the highest, but a step-up from what you could buy in a store. It's all in what you want. I don't think anybody here would use a bad product on their vehicles, and all of us who've responded have actually used these products and would not recommend to you if they weren't of excellent qualityBMW^Z4 said:
Aebous said:
I was just at a Portland Audi Club Detailing event this morning that featured the folks from Mirrorworks doing $250 detail jobs to a bunch of Audis. They use Clay Magic for the clay jobs and a suite of mostly Menzerna products for the rest. While their primary final finish is Menzerna FMJ, they had an interesting wax for cars that spend a lot of time outside - Collinite No. 845 Insulator Wax. They also use it on Yachts as it is made for fiberglass as well as painted surfaces:
http://www.colliniteindustrial.com/#845
Seemed like a curious twist that it is used for waxing high voltage power lines but these guys swear by it for cars that don't get garaged.
These are the same guys that did Rick's red ///M a while back up in Seattle.
Shipkiller
Lifer
Since I have only had my Z for a month or so, I am doing a paint cleaning and detailing on Friday. 8)
On my truck, I don't use a clay bar. I use Megires (sp) three step treatment.
Step 1 is the paint cleaner. Same as using a clay bar. I go through a lot of rags (I really use old tube socks) with this step.
Then I use number 2, the paint polish. More socks....
Step three is the wax. I don't use their wax. I use something else....
If you go back and look at my first post, you can see my truck. It's 12 years old and has sat outside it's whole life.....
http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1812#p25155
Lots of off road use... Covered in mud etc....
In fact, it needs it again....It has not been done since last year.....
On my truck, I don't use a clay bar. I use Megires (sp) three step treatment.
Step 1 is the paint cleaner. Same as using a clay bar. I go through a lot of rags (I really use old tube socks) with this step.
Then I use number 2, the paint polish. More socks....
Step three is the wax. I don't use their wax. I use something else....
If you go back and look at my first post, you can see my truck. It's 12 years old and has sat outside it's whole life.....
http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1812#p25155
Lots of off road use... Covered in mud etc....
In fact, it needs it again....It has not been done since last year.....
I like detailing, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. I think it's well worth it and actually look forward to breaking out all my detailing goodies, opening an ICB and making a day of it. To see the results of your work is a great feeling, and I don't trust anyone to be as picky as meseanwr400 said:I just grab a can of my kids Play-Dough (colored to match the paint of course) and go to town....oke:
Seriously though, is going through all this trouble worth the effort?
Shipkiller
Lifer
20ducks said:
Ok,
Why?
Educate me.
Chemicals along with a "rag" will remove some but not all surface contaminents from the paint surface. Clay bar removes those that cling to clearcoat surface. Best way to describe it is when you wash your car...even with oil/grease dissolvers like Dawn dishsoap, it does not remove contaminants that are more stubborn to remove like fine dust particles (brake dust e.g.). Now if you wash your car with Dawn, use a chemical like paint prep AND use a clay bar, you have effectively cleaned the most thoroughly possible. I am sure there are other products that will even further the process. All this is perfomed to prepare the surface for varying degrees of compound. Some are very aggressive (rubbing compound), medium and some have very little abrasiveness. Some scratches will even require wet-sanding. Your car surface determines what is process required to knock down the visible scratches etc. and how much you (or if you hire someone) or far you want to go with a procedure.
All in all, for $20 or so, clay bar is the safest and most effective way for a novice to remove surface contaminants from a car surface in preparation for polish/wax or synthetic protectant application, IMHO.
All in all, for $20 or so, clay bar is the safest and most effective way for a novice to remove surface contaminants from a car surface in preparation for polish/wax or synthetic protectant application, IMHO.
Oh boy where to start on this one..well, you will never get the same detox results with a paint cleaner because the properties are all together different Ship. A good quality clay bar is nothing more then fine dirt in a sticky base. It actually grabs the debris and pulls it out of your clear-coat/paint - you're cleaning out dirt with dirt. All you're doing with 'paint cleaner' is rubbing it in. You may get some superficial detoxing, but the deep embedded stuff will never be removed without a clay bar.
You can actually feel the debris coming out with a clay bar, if done properly and with a quality bar..I can't stress that enough. The clay must be very, very fine and of the best quality - otherwise don't bother. I'm no pro like ducks and I know he will correct me if I'm under the wrong impression, but I used to detail cars with my dad (who's a major OCD), when I was a teen. He did it for a few extra bucks and since we're both OCD, it worked out great!
He has shelves upon shelves of detailing stuff - ducks, remember when Fire Glaze came out? - anyway....you could perform an experiment on your truck. Do 1/2 your hood w/paint cleaner, then the other 1/2 w/a clay bar. You'll see the difference I promise .
T.
You can actually feel the debris coming out with a clay bar, if done properly and with a quality bar..I can't stress that enough. The clay must be very, very fine and of the best quality - otherwise don't bother. I'm no pro like ducks and I know he will correct me if I'm under the wrong impression, but I used to detail cars with my dad (who's a major OCD), when I was a teen. He did it for a few extra bucks and since we're both OCD, it worked out great!
He has shelves upon shelves of detailing stuff - ducks, remember when Fire Glaze came out? - anyway....you could perform an experiment on your truck. Do 1/2 your hood w/paint cleaner, then the other 1/2 w/a clay bar. You'll see the difference I promise
.T.
oops, ducks beat me to the punch! :lol:
