Clay bar not as good as expected

[goochie]

Bought a Meguires Quick Clay kit from Halfords last night in the hope of removing the fine swirl marks from my wife's metallic black Corsa.

Following some excellent guides on the web I got on well with using the clay and the wing I tried it on feels glassy smooth.

However, the fine swirl marks in the paint are still there I was under the impression that they'd go.

I tried one wing with Meguires free sample of quick wax that came in the box and the other wing was then polished with Autoglym Super Resin Polish and finished with Extra Gloss Protection.

I'd previously used T-Cut metallic on the bonnet before applying the Autoglym products and the clayed wing looks and feels no better.

[Fruitcake]

I thought clay bars were to be used for getting embedded dirt out of the swirls before more work takes place to get rid of them. I didn't think clay bars were to actually get rid of the swirls but am willing to be corrected.

[DazGTR]

Clay bars are not used to get rid of swirls, they are used to prepare the paint for polishing by removing any contiminents on the surface of the paint.

[bennno]

Fruitcake said:

I thought clay bars were to be used for getting embedded dirt out of the swirls before more work takes place to get rid of them. I didn't think clay bars were to actually get rid of the swirls but am willing to be corrected.

Thats my understanding. Clay bars just remove surface contamination supposedly - you then need to polish the scratches in the laquer out

Bennno

[D_T_W]

I used a clay bar on my car last weekend, first time i tried it. While it didn't take the scratches out, it certainly got the crap off the bodywork so when it was polished it had a real shine to it. Some of the finer scrathes were gone by the time i polished it but still a fair few left although i'm not too bothered, the car's 9 years old with 120k on it, not expecting it to be perfect. Mind you, the clay bad was filthy by the time i got the car done so it must have been worth the effort!

[goochie]

Ahhh.... In that case the clay bar is doing a great job of what it is supposed to do

So how do I get the marks out? Is the Autoglym polish tough enough to do it or should I be looking for something else (or the T-Cut metallic that I already have)

[Mr Whippy]

goochie said:

Ahhh.... In that case the clay bar is doing a great job of what it is supposed to do

So how do I get the marks out? Is the Autoglym polish tough enough to do it or should I be looking for something else (or the T-Cut metallic that I already have)

Megs Scratch X is good.

Then use Megs 3 stage system (two polishes and a wax if you want to use it) to refine the finish.

Good enough for most stuff, and the final wax can mask alot of swirls too!

DAve

[jamieboy]

D_T_W said:

Mind you, the clay bad was filthy by the time i got the car done so it must have been worth the effort!

I washed mine two weeks ago and clayed it for the first time, then used Mothers Sealer and Glaze followed by their solid carnauba wax.

It's shinier than it used to get when I was using the cheap-ish pale blue Zymol cleaner wax and some of the swirling is less obvious, which I guess is the Sealer and Glaze doing it's job.

I was surprised how clean the clay bar stayed, given that it's never been clayed before in 14 years.

[thewave]

Mr Whippy said:

goochie said:

Ahhh.... In that case the clay bar is doing a great job of what it is supposed to do

So how do I get the marks out? Is the Autoglym polish tough enough to do it or should I be looking for something else (or the T-Cut metallic that I already have)

Megs Scratch X is good.

Then use Megs 3 stage system (two polishes and a wax if you want to use it) to refine the finish.

Good enough for most stuff, and the final wax can mask alot of swirls too!

DAve

What he said
. The X Scratch will get most of them out as long as they're not too deep. I did the 3 stage jobbie on my car not so long back, but exchanged the P21s wax for stage 3 of the Megs.

[Rochester BMW]

Appologies if this is an obvious question but when in the process do you use a clay bar?

After washing but before waxing?


and also is this something for older cars? or would a new car benefit from it aswell?

and lastly how much are they? (the halfords one for example)

Thanks
Lee

[vernan]

Wash

Polish

Wash

Claybar

Wash again

Wax

That'll keep you busy

[pmanson]

Rochester BMW said:

Appologies if this is an obvious question but when in the process do you use a clay bar?

After washing but before waxing?


and also is this something for older cars? or would a new car benefit from it aswell?

and lastly how much are they? (the halfords one for example)

Thanks
Lee

After washing but before waxing. The Meguirs 3 stage (Cleaner, Polish & Wax) is what I use after the clay bar.

It's about £15 from memory for the Meguirs clay bar but you get a cleaning spray solution with that as well.

I think its worth doing on any car, I do mine once a year as the grime starts to build up. I recently did a Saab 900 that came up really well using the Meguirs clay bar and 3 stage.

[goochie]

A quick google found this, which I found very interesting:

Removing swirl marks - www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4536

Using a clay - www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4829

[GT2man-2]

Or you could never wash it or wax it, job done.

[Mr Whippy]

vernan said:

Wash

Polish

Wash

Claybar

Wash again

Wax

That'll keep you busy

You sure you want to polish *before* claying?

The polish is an abraise and will remove what the clay does, except the polishing motion will also drag around any large particulates the clay might have removed...

I usually wash, dry, clay, dry (as I go), polish, wax, done!

Dave

[steelej]

The clay is stage2 in the cleaning process, if your car needs claying DON'T use polish before the clay bar, very bad idea.

John.

[hutchingsp]

goochie said:

Ahhh.... In that case the clay bar is doing a great job of what it is supposed to do

So how do I get the marks out? Is the Autoglym polish tough enough to do it or should I be looking for something else (or the T-Cut metallic that I already have)

Autoglym will deal with very fine swirls but your arms will hurt after, you'll have more joy with it masking/filling them than removing them.

Maybe Meguiars ScratchX as suggested, or bite the bullet and get it done professionally.

[Rochester BMW]

Another stupid question!

What IS a clay bar made from?

or am I stupid and its actually made of clay?

[hutchingsp]

Rochester BMW said:

Another stupid question!

What IS a clay bar made from?

or am I stupid and its actually made of clay?

Not at all, AIUI (could be wrong) the chaper ones are a bunch of synthetic "goo" with bits of abrasive in it that probably are Kaolin or similar. The more expensive ones like Zymol etc. are possible less synthetic goo and more natural Kaolin.

[goochie]

Kaolin being the fine white powder they make bone china from

I was very impressed with the way I could just keep folding and kneeding it and it produced a clean, workable side. Used just 1/3 of the clay as suggested.