Which Clay Bar?

[Sir Bagalot]

I'm not someone who cleans their car to within an inch of its life.... nor am I someone who sends it to the eastern europeans.

I wash it myself (not even using the two bucket method) and although I've had it for 3 years I've never waxed it so thought once the painting is done I'd wash and wax it. I'm even going to treat it to a clay bar (never clay'd before).

So which clay bar is recommended?

[Haltamer]

A word of warning - Claying will most likely lead to some marring, no matter how careful you are to fold / lube

I'd strongly suggest you follow with polishing / compounding (Even if just a hand polish) before you wax - Just have some on hand before you do the claying and think it's ruined

[mnaylor]

Use a clay mitt from cleanyourcar.co.uk, quicker and less likely to marr the paint.

[margerison]

Whilst agreeing with both of the above posts...bilt hamber is regarded as one of the best...just make sure you use plenty of lube :-)

[Chubbyross]

margerison said:

Whilst agreeing with both of the above posts...bilt hamber is regarded as one of the best...just make sure you use plenty of lube :-)

I’ve tried loads of brands and Bilt Hamber seem to be the best. They offer three varieties: hard (for badly contaminated paintwork), medium and soft (for paintwork that’s in good condition).

[MuscleSedan]

I’ve had a couple of Auto Finesse ones but personally find them too hard and a bit difficult to work especially in colder temperatures. Meguiars are ok as are AutoGlymm, the latter being a bit softer in my experience which I prefer.

[anonymous-user]

On the clean your car website, they do their own yellow poly clay which you can use just with water. Take a jug of warm water out there with you so you can mould the clay easier.

[Summit_Detailing]

As someone above has already mentioned I'd not recommend claying a car unless you are following it up with some form of polishing. You will inflict clay marring regardless of the clay used.
A caveat to this being if your car has a fair amount of swirls etc then you may not notice clay marring. If however you clay a car which has minimal swirls you will definitely see how much damage clay inflicts!

You'd be amazed at how much dirt can be removed from the surface using a paint cleanser - something like Autoglym Super Resin polish.

If you still feel the need to buy some clay this is nice to use and sensibly priced -
https://www.exceldetailingsupplies.co.uk/product-p...

Happy cleaning!

Cheers,

Chris

[Chris32345]

Summit_Detailing said:

As someone above has already mentioned I'd not recommend claying a car unless you are following it up with some form of polishing. You will inflict clay marring regardless of the clay used.
A caveat to this being if your car has a fair amount of swirls etc then you may not notice clay marring. If however you clay a car which has minimal swirls you will definitely see how much damage clay inflicts!

You'd be amazed at how much dirt can be removed from the surface using a paint cleanser - something like Autoglym Super Resin polish.

If you still feel the need to buy some clay this is nice to use and sensibly priced -
https://www.exceldetailingsupplies.co.uk/product-p...

Happy cleaning!

Cheers,

Chris

Since when was super resin polish a paint cleanser?

[Sir Bagalot]

2222

[Sir Bagalot]

Thanks for all your replies. Reading them I think I'll give the clay bar a miss.

On the subject of polish, I usually use cotton cloths. Can I just use microfiber cloths instead? Obv new ones

[thebraketester]

I’ve used meguires clay bar a few times and used quick detailer. Never marred the surface. It’s worth doing.

[Wills2]

thebraketester said:

I’ve used meguires clay bar a few times and used quick detailer. Never marred the surface. It’s worth doing.

Agreed I used megs clay today no sign of marring either used it for years with no issues.

[aka_kerrly]

Wills2 said:

thebraketester said:

I’ve used meguires clay bar a few times and used quick detailer. Never marred the surface. It’s worth doing.

Agreed I used megs clay today no sign of marring either used it for years with no issues.

I agree, used Megs, Bilt Hammer an auto finesse an can't really say one is better than the others, I just buy whatever is good value at the time.

I find putting some clay in the sun whilst I wash the car or during winter plop it in some warm soapy water before use helps. Then, just go slow an gentle you're basically caressing the paint not trying to rub it off!! .

[smudgerebt]

Bilt Hamber

Jug of hot water (start hot and by time you get to the second bit of clay that your using it will have cooled down)

Split into thirds, alot of people use too small an amount.

Bin if falls on floor.

However, I also use a clay mitt, but with that I spray a fall out remover and use that as the lube for the clay mitt. Find the fall out remover a very good "lube" for the clay mitt.

If by hand then SRP is a very good follow up.

Would I call SRP a paint cleaner? Not really, but it does a VERY good job of cleaning the paint and leaving something behind, so is ideal for using by hand and if not using a clay bar. With this in mind, I would still use a fall out remover before the SRP just to help it along in cleaning the paint work.

With SRP less is more.

[Demelitia]

Put a large old bath towel down, or an old bed sheet. That way if you drop your clay there’s a good chance you won’t have to bin it.

[Prohibiting]

I just use a clay mitt. Way quicker and much easier. But treat car with tar spot remover and iron fall out remover first.