Clay Bar Anyone !

Wolfus

I've searched high and low last few days and cannot find an outlet in Dublin that sells Clay bar ...... Any one know of one ?

The only one I've seen was Halfords that sell the rip off 50g bar with the lub

Amazon sell a good one 200g but the shipping is madness at over 20 pounds


thansk

Curran

There wont be many places that you'll be able to walk into and pick it up!
There are online retailers in Ireland that sell clay!

bennyx_o

Detailing Shed sell clay. You could also try the G3 clay mitt from Halfords

Darraghmh91.

I bough maguires claybar today in halfords man with maguires detailing spray

myshirt

Detailing Shed all the way op. Bilt Hamber clay at a great price, throw in a few other goodies, and flat fee of €7.95 or so for postage I believe.

MyStubbleItches

+1 on detailing shed. Have a lump of Bilt Hamber looking at me waiting for the farmers to finish destroying the roads. I set up a wishlist there, wifey got a few things off it for me. Next day delivery and reasonably priced. Now just to convince her to get me more goodies!!

*Kol*

bennyx_o wrote: »

Detailing Shed sell clay. You could also try the G3 clay mitt from Halfords

Anybody ever use the G3 clay mitt? Is it the same as using a clay bar?

Curran

Essentially the samething; except you cant knead the clay to a fresh surface.

DraganGTD

*Kol* wrote: »

Anybody ever use the G3 clay mitt? Is it the same as using a clay bar?

Yeah had a go cpl of times with it...very satisfied and makes job much quicker.

bennyx_o

Have used the G3 mitt. It has it's pros and cons. Makes the job much quicker, but it's harder to get into tight spots like you can with a clay bar

Wolfus

thanks for advice... will try the Detailing Shed

*Kol*

Curran wrote: »

Essentially the samething; except you cant knead the clay to a fresh surface.

Can you wash it?

If you clay a car do you need to machine polish or is hand polishing enough?

myshirt

Kol.. what car have you? What condition is the paint in?

*Kol*

myshirt wrote: »

Kol.. what car have you? What condition is the paint in?

It's an Audi A4. The paint is in good condition but there are swirls. I would say it's been through car washes before. It's only a year old.

myshirt

*Kol* wrote: »

It's an Audi A4. The paint is in good condition but there are swirls. I would say it's been through car washes before. It's only a year old.

You'll likely achieve little by hand polishing that car and you'll get arms like Popeye. The paint is generally hard. Maybe use something filler heavy and seal it in? Will look great.

Ultimately, get a DA. Or a rotary :pac:

Curran

*Kol* wrote: »

Can you wash it?

If you clay a car do you need to machine polish or is hand polishing enough?

Yes, you can wash it - Ive never used one so cant say if washing it is effective at getting all the bonded contaminants off it.

You dont need to machine or hand polish, but claying often leaves some marring from the clay itself; which will need a light polish to remove them.

*Kol*

Curran wrote: »

Yes, you can wash it - Ive never used one so cant say if washing it is effective at getting all the bonded contaminants off it.

You dont need to machine or hand polish, but claying often leaves some marring from the clay itself; which will need a light polish to remove them.

Is there any danger of doing damage with the clay? Does the clay help to remove swirls at all?

myshirt

Clay will not remove swirls.

What clay does is remove bonded contaminants from the surface that you can't remove by washing alone.

Once you wash your car, feel the surface, particularly the lower half of the car. It will feel rough. Claying is what sorts this out, it makes it glass smooth. Can claying do damage? Yes. But it is absolutely not risky, as long as you behave sensibly:

1. You drop the clay, you bin it.
2. Use plenty of lube (stop sniggering)
3. Do max 2ft x 2ft sections at a time, it is not a race. Re-knead the clay as needed, to get a fresh surface.
4. Use an appropriate grade clay (there are aggressive clays out there for guys in a hurry, and who will be machine polishing afterwards so do not care as greatly for minor clay-marring)
5. Don't skip the tar and fallout remover stage

In short, the full process for a thorough clean is basically:

1. Snow-Foam / Pre Wash; Rinse
2. Two-Bucket Method Wash
3. Tar Remover; Rinse
4. Fallout remover; Rinse
5. Clay; Rinse; Re-Wash using 2BM
6. Dry so you don't get water spots
7. Now you either polish to remove swirls, scratches etc, or you basically use a glaze product to mask the swirls
8. Wax or Seal in the look

Note... you don't do this every week, this is just a thorough clean.

Any questions on any aspects of the process, just shoot because each one can be a topic of conversation.

Curran

*Kol* wrote: »

Is there any danger of doing damage with the clay? Does the clay help to remove swirls at all?

Does nothing for swirls but has potential to cause them if the prep for claying hasnt been thorough.
Tar contains grit, so if there is tar on the car and you drag the clay bar across lots of tar spots, it will become heavily contaminated and essentially it will become like sand paper; so you'd knead to a new surface regularly.

Similar applies to heavily iron contaminated surfaces.

Best to do both removal steps before as some dont do the de-iron step.

*Kol*

Thanks for the replies guys. Very informative. Who knew it was such an art to wash and detail a car??!! The de iron fluid only seems to be available online. I would say a lot of people don't know that it exists. Would you spray it on the entire car?

myshirt

You can do the whole car yes... typically the culprit will be the lower half of the car, and the wheels, but certainly do the whole car as part of a thorough clean.

What I actually recommend with this whole process is that you try get everything right on one panel, and then use you use your newfound expertise on the entire car!