Clay bar before/after

[bigbob77]

Our car is only 6 months / 7,000 miles old but was already covered in tonnes of tar spots and insect juice. It was annoying putting all the effort in to washing it and it was still covered in black spots.

Dry day yesterday so did a clay bar and wax. Here is a before and after of the same spot:





Needless to say I'm very impressed! The clay was easy enough to use although the car has a few sharp angles in the bodywork and it took a bit more effort to get those clean.
It was a "Bilt Hamber Auto Clay Medium" from Amazon, in case anyone's interested. I actually don't know if I would recommend it - it was too hard, and the cold water made it even harder. It worked well but was very difficult to work/reshape. I had to use warm water to keep it supple enough so I think next time I'll look for a softer clay.

[theshrew]

It's because it's cold. Trick is to split it, keep some in a cup of hot water. Use a bit and swap + repeat.

[belleair302]

I keep an old ice cream tub to hand when claying and fill with hot water, so that the clay is always soft and malleable.
BH Autoclay is pretty good and lasts better than many.

[trickywoo]

A spray tar remover and / or fallout remover will do the same job with less elbow grease but at more expense.

[Blue62]

I've used a clay cloth with good results on Mrs and Ms Blue's motors, much easier but I'm not sure if it gives quite the same results as a bar. I have a brand new swisswax bar in the garage and will probably use it on my car when the weather warms up a little.

[Winky151]

Blue62 said:

I've used a clay cloth with good results on Mrs and Ms Blue's motors, much easier but I'm not sure if it gives quite the same results as a bar. I have a brand new swisswax bar in the garage and will probably use it on my car when the weather warms up a little.

Thought the same about the clay cloth. Good for a mid year spruce up but for the full new year clean i go back to a clay bar.