new guy to claying general advice needed

[disco!!!!]

Hey guys
My brother gave me an autoglym clay bar kit as a christmas present, he told me that he read some reviews and the autoglym stuff came up with the best reviews.
Now i am not hugely into cleaning as such, if im pushing the boat out i might crack out the polish.

Anyways, what sort of advice can you give to a first timer

Thanks

EDIT: the car is an E36 3 series coupe in cosmos schwarz met (met black)

Edited by disco!!!! on Saturday 25th December 20:35

[raf_gti]

disco!!!! said:

Hey guys
My brother gave me an autoglym clay bar kit as a christmas present, he told me that he read some reviews and the autoglym stuff came up with the best reviews.
Now i am not hugely into cleaning as such, if im pushing the boat out i might crack out the polish.

Anyways, what sort of advice can you give to a first timer

Thanks

EDIT: the car is an E36 3 series coupe in cosmos schwarz met (met black)

Edited by disco!!!! on Saturday 25th December 20:35

detailingworld.co.uk is your friend

A clay bar is used to remove contaminants on the paintwork, as you will move it across the surface you will see the grit etc lodge into the bar, once the car has been clayed it will feel lovely and smooth ready for the next stage which is polishing.

IMO a clay bar is only worth using if you are going to give the car a thorough going over. As a relative newbie to the 'detailing' game I'd suggest the following routine.

Give the car a good wash, shampoo in one bucket, rinse water in the other, this will help minimise grit transferring on to the microfibre.

Use the clay kit.

Wash the car again to get rid of residue.

Polish. A polish can be either abrasive meaning it will remove a very fine layer of paint, this will 'level' out any swirl marks which are on the paintwork. Alternatively you can use a 'filler' polish such as Autoglym Super Resin Polish, rather than removing paint this contains teeny tiny little 'things' which will essentially cover up the swirl marks on the paintwork.

The last step is to apply a wax. This is the protective layer and will help to look after the paintwork for 4-6 months and make subsequent washing far easier.

This is but a small glimpse into the detailing world, worth it when the car looks fantastic but very daunting to start with.

I'd also suggest that using the clay without polishing/waxing is rather pointless...IMO

[PJ S]

disco!!!! said:

Hey guys
My brother gave me an autoglym clay bar kit as a christmas present, he told me that he read some reviews and the autoglym stuff came up with the best reviews.
Now i am not hugely into cleaning as such, if im pushing the boat out i might crack out the polish.

Anyways, what sort of advice can you give to a first timer?

He lied! Bilt Hamber's clays have scooped AutoExpress awards, not that means much in reality though.
Still, the AG one is half decent, and if you look on YouTube, you'll find many a video on how to use detailing clay.