Claybar

Lately the topic of what a "clay bar" does has been popping up on the forums.So here's the rundown. To understand what it does, you firstly need to know a little bit about your cars paint. Over the years air born pollutants, dust, dirt, tar etc. etc. all stick to your cars paint, mainly to the top layer. What does this mean? It means that every time you polish your car all you are really doing is locking in the dirt build up that has occurred over the years. Ever notice your polishing pad would be dirty after polishing you car? That is because you were cleaning the dirt out of the top layer, rather then actually polishing it. This is where the clay bar comes in, it is used to remove the build up of dirt. Here are the key steps

1. Go and buy yourself a quick clay kit from Autobarn ($35), you will also need to polish the car after using the clay bar if you want perfection. Here's all the stuff I used.

2. Start by giving your car a GOOD wash in a cool and shaded area.

3. Dry the car down

4. Now run your hand over various panels, in most cases it will feel "rough", this is the dirt build up I mentioned before.

5. Next spray some of the quick detailer over the panel you are working on.

6. Get the clay bar and mould it to how you feel comfortable holding it.

7. Start rubbing down the panel you have sprayed with quick detailer. Make sure the bar is FLAT on the panel. When you start the bar will have a bit of resistance going across the panel but will become less resistant as you work through. Lastly for this point, let the clay bar do the work, do not force it or push on it harder to save time, it does not work!

Here's a picture of how clean the clay is when you start:

And this how it should look afterwards:

All the dirt that was stuck in the paint,not such a clean car up close :P

8. With another bucket and sponge wash the panel at hand again and dry it down.

9. Polish, this is very important as you have just stripped everything out of your paint so make sure you do it. This will also stop anything else getting stuck in the paint.

10. Wax after polishing if you are up for it.

11. Run your hand over the panel again, it should be silky smooth and very reflective.

12. Fold the clay bar up, remould to how you find it comfortable and start on the next panel with the clean side of the clay bar.

Some general tips, if you can remove anything from panels with ease the do so e.g. side indicators. The end result will be much better. Work on one panel at a time. For larger panels like bonnet, boot lid and roof, do 1/4 of a section at a time. Take your time, this is not something that should be rushed, to give you an idea of time frame put aside 6-7hours as that's how long it took to get my car clean.

Finally, the clay bar can be used to clean glass, mirrors, rear tail lights, front lights and plastic trimmings.

If anyone wishes to add to this please feel free to do so.

Cheers, Steve / SVD198