claybar your car
 

i clayed my car when i bought it, it was pretty good, not much at all, so i was happy.
detailed the car today fully, interior, carpet, floormats,under the car, exhaust tip,dressed bumperettes and windshield thing by windshield wipers with back to black, tires, wheel wells,leather, polished the car with meguiars products with random orbital, and sealed with zaino. love the final results, it was never better looking.
but just take a look at what the claybar looked like after i was done :eek:
so no matter how clean you think your car is, think again.
http://i12.tinypic.com/6bt2j43.jpg

Hi,

WOW! Your Clay should never look like that. About 10% of the way to that, you should throw it out or else you're just using pliable sandpaper. It will scratch the paint like crazy...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

...did you NEVER fold that piece of clay or something?

dj-
OMG....poor thing...this is your daily driver car and those cold/snowy winter months she's been thru. Get rid of that bar....

Not to hijack your thread but how long should someone wait to clay his or her car after it's been resprayed from the autobody shop?

What in the world?! That's the dirtiest clay bar I have ever seen!

MN and eslai, my thoughts exactly. That better have been from a tail pipe and not used on paint. Looks like a steak. lol

i cut the claybar in sections, and used seperate piece for seperate panels.
thats why it looks like that.
funny thing is that it was clayed when i got it, i think that when i was painting the wheels all that dust and stuff went on it, even though the car was FAR from where the action was, down the driveway.
so every section i did, i threw out the bar, so new claybar for every car i detailed, so no worries.
i believe this one was the top of hardtop, but right now the car is soooooo glossy, probably better than new, since its been polished and zainoed.

funny, i had about good 8 or 9 layers of zaino on it, and still..

but my point was that even though it looks veryyy clean, it can be cleaner/smoother, so get a claybar and give it a whirl

Looks like, even though you used different pieces of clay, you didn't turn it while using it. Every clay bar usage instruction I've ever seen says to fold it and mix it up frequently.... people are right, if you let it get loaded like that, and keep rubbing that surface against your paint, you're dragging all those particles across your paint!

Anyway, I haven't clay barred my Boxster yet, but as soon as I get a weekend with nice weather, it's in the plan.

Wash, clay bar, wash, polish, wax, wax...

Dang thats one nasty clay bar, looks like Neopoleon Dynamites steak dinner, or like someone put Gumby in the mircowave for 10 minutes on HIGH.

that was probably going back and forth about 8 times or so, and then turn over, i took the pic halfway trough guys.
hehe
and no worries about swirlmarks/scratches, didn't leave any, and even IF it did, i polished the whole car after anyways so now its completely scratch free and swirlmark free. love it

wait...you mean that's not a steak? I was about to ask if you had pics of the spinach dip, the berries and schlag...

p.s.
whenver I clay I keep a small tray or bowl of warm water with some Optimum No Rinse.
When the surface gets caked i rub it off in the bowl and then I fold the clay.

hahah, yea it does look bad, but no AS bad as pic makes it, although at that point it was thrown out.
car is safe guys hehe

Sorry for another noob question, but what is a claybar and what do you use it for?

dj, what polish machine did you use, is it the griots or the porter cable? im deciding which of the 2 i want to get....

I bought the air compressor already to blow off excess water :D

I just bought a claybar over the weekend. Going to try it out for the first time this week. I've heard of Zaino but never used it.

Is it a lot better than say Mothers or Maguiars? Any cleaning and polishing tips are very much appreciated.

A clay bar is a very very mild abrasive, that can remove contaminants and small particles from your paint that regular washing cannot. Find a clay bar kit at an auto parts store, like a Mother's kit. It will have instructions.

Once you use one, you can feel your paint (rub your finger along it) before and after... you will notice a difference!

SoCalBoxster, just keep the bar lubricated, and rub gently. Turn the clay often and keep it moist. Plan on washing your car after clay barring, as the residue will look like soapy water dried on the car. I'd probably also wash with dishsoap before clay barring, since dishsoap will strip wax off.

SoCalBoxster,
zaino will give you much better results than Meguiars, and will last longer (coming from a person who is sponsored by meguiars), it will give it that nice shine.
although i use everything meguiars and then top it off with zaino z2.
zaino goes on soooo easy, its instructed to put light coats, lighter the better, and it whipes of so easy as well, no effort whatsoever. that is why people end up with crazy amount of zaino layers (ask Bmussat how many he has), and i did have about 8 or so on mine, but when using a claybar, you would want to wash the car with Dawn, it will strip all the wax and protection off it, giving you a good start on claying the car, after that you want to polish and seal it.

unklekraker,
i used the griots garage one, with pretty much every single meguiars product.
i was suprised how long it took me, and kinda forgot how small a boxster is compared to a full out 4 door saloon mercedes i recently did, phew.
so pretty much i went over the car with diff pads and diff chemicals/products 6 times, then zaino by hand :)

I haven't claybar'd my car in over a year. I are a bad owner.

Actually, somehow I've managed to get swirl marks all over the car so it needs more than a clay bar. I'm lazy so I'll have to have it detailed.

I have three chinchillas that live in my garage and if anyone knows chinchillas, they'll be familiar with the volcanic dust bath that you have to let them have. My car gets covered in very very fine dust every day. *sigh*

^ Chinchillas and a BOXSTER!!!
That's not a good combination. Like peanutbutter in your engine oil.
You might be better off parking outside. That's one deluxe and expensive cage!
I guess if you aren't claying you arent using that FK1 425 either. The dust would just slide off the paint with a quick rinse. Now that the grass is growing again the landscapers have been out in my complex and I noticed the clippings all over the next guys cars but not mine :cheers:

Here's a great site, Charles has alot of good info.

http://melncal.com/detailing/

Oh, no no, I DO use that stuff, a LOT, but it can't hide the fact that my paint needs help. :)

Just had mine done
 

Just had mine done and its smooth as glass...!

Thanks for the beta, Fray. I'm going to get a claybar and do my car.

Dohertycm,
that looks very very nice, night and day difference ha? its hard to believe how much cotamination there is on the car

Night and Day
 

Your not kidding.....My paint was in bad shape, not I get all kinds of looks and compliments.....I dont think my wife cares for the ladies complimenting me though...

...that looks awesome - how many layers? i need to do mine this summer, i promise~

Maxodus, another member from Bay area :cheers: Welcome :)

Does claying remove small micro-scratches?

I just bought some Zaino clay.

No, claying only lifts the contaminants. It doesn't do anything to enhance the surface. Micro-scratches will have to be addressed with a polish.

FYI
Gliptone makes some over the counter clay for a decent price. Two bars for $15 in a nifty jar that will keep the clay from drying out. Think I got it at R&S Strauss.

I just finished a six step detailing process (marathon) on my car.

1. Washed with Mr. Clean filtered water/Ionized water no spots system
2. Turtle wax white polishing paste to remove oxidation (cloth looked clean the whole time. Didn't seem to pickup any contaminants or paint pigment.
3. Meguiars Clay bar w/Detailing spray for lubricant. Again, clay bar stayed clean. I guess my finish was in excellent condition from not being a daily driver and always garaged.
Then I used Meguiars 3 step system:

1. Paint cleaner
2. Paint Polish (boosts color vibrance and adds oils back to moisturized paint)
3. Carnuba wax

Did the wheels including my Red Caliper
Did the interior with Lexol leather cleaner and also the conditioner.
All rubber & plastic trim with Armor All.

This was a labor of love

very nice man, that shows dedication
how did you like the 3 stp meguiars process?

Turtle Wax? OLD SCHOOL :cheers:

Ahh brings back memories of the Bomb my father would not sell 1970 something Pontiac Catalina. That thing was big enough for all the bad news bears and the coach.

All these waxes Meguiars, Zaino, Klasse, Werkstatt Prime strong (my choice), Mothers, Clear Kote, 3M...they all produce nearly identical results. Just takes a bit more elbow grease with the cheaper ones and they don't last as long as the more expensive ones.

I think its always a good idea to use a light swirl remover like Poorboys SSR1 or Meg's Scratch X before getting out the polish.
If you are polishing you will probably doing several steps after that so its a good idea to tackle light micromarring before all that stuff gets layered.

djomlas do you have any other hobbies besides your car?

do hobbies other than your PORSHA even matter?!
you mean its possible to have even more fullfilment in your life?
--runs away from computer screaming...

"djomlas do you have any other hobbies besides your car?"

LOL LOL honestly DJ can be very critical sometimes on this forum........BUT one thing i do respect is the love that he has for his car's!!!!!!!

If it helps, I consider my car to be a hobby.

I consider my car to be a hobby too. I am not trying to be mean or anything, i am just woundering. It seems like every week djomlas spends many hours doing something with his car. Weather it be painting the wheels, putting those red sticker things on the back, claying his car or taking random pic for the heck of it. But as as long as he enjoys doing it i guess it cool.

DJ has become my inspiration when it comes to loving the car like it's my mistress or having an affair in the middle of the night at the garage...hahahahahahaha!

HI,
Ahh brings back memories of the Bomb my father would not sell 1970 something Pontiac Catalina. That thing was big enough for all the bad news bears and the coach.

My Dad had the same car it was a bomb and i also ripped the chimney off the house with it , man did get a beating :cheers:

I'll throw in my 2 cents here and say that I'm tired of using the Meguir's stuff. The scratch X is a pain to remove (and the results weren't all that great, maybe I'm getting picky), the polish and carnuba was also tough to get off. I love how easy the combo cleaner/wax is to use but I don't think it lasts very long. :(

I'm looking for a new set of potions to use so anyone have advice on easy to apply and remove? I do all my stuff by hand for the time being.