Clay Bar Detailing

[bigJake]

I was looking at these clay bar detailing kits for cleaning the finish on your vehicle. They cost like $19 for a couple ounces of clay and a spray bottle of lubricant. I was wondering if modeling clay could be used since it is a fraction of the cost. I read one article by a professional detailer that said he uses just a damp chamois instead of the lubricant spray. Anybody know ?

 

[devonte007]

You definitely need the special clay made for detailing vehicles, regular modeling clay will not work. The stuff they make for cars is completely different. As for the lubricant I just use a spray bottle of water with a little bit of car soap mixed in, just enough soap to make the water slippery. No need to spend money on a special spray.

I usually clay bar my cars in the spring before I buff and wax them to clean off all the winter gunk. The clay bar really makes a difference and removes all of the foreign material that gets into the finish. Makes the car surface completely smooth and you can really feel the difference between an area that has been clayed and not. Then the vehicle will be ready for polishing and/or waxing.

If you are interested I usually buy my car detail products from this website: http://topoftheline.com

 

[bigJake]

Thanks Devonte, very helpful

 

[Carguy89]

I was looking at these clay bar detailing kits for cleaning the finish on your vehicle. They cost like $19 for a couple ounces of clay and a spray bottle of lubricant. I was wondering if modeling clay could be used since it is a fraction of the cost. I read one article by a professional detailer that said he uses just a damp chamois instead of the lubricant spray. Anybody know ?

I've used it on a few cars...Damp chamois would probably work as you mainly just need the surface clean AHEAD OF TIME and the detail spray is merely just being used to lubricate the surface so you don't scratch the paint.

There's no need to bother with modeling clay. A clay bar isn't used frequently and depending on how bad the paint of the vehicle you're using it on is - can last up to 3 cars.

You'll hear it pick up the crap and feel it get much smoother. Big difference. Lots of effort but well worth it.

 

[bigJake]

Would something like Meguiar's A3016 Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner do the same thing as a clay bar?

 

[LouDoo]

Jake,

I "borrowed", a clay bar from the dealership, we use it mainly for for paint over spray. I used it on the decals on the ski, it actually did a pretty good job on the graphics, I also found that it didn't do much on the gel cote. On the gel cote I used turtle wax rubbing compound and then turtle was polishing compound, then a coat of blue ice wax. If the ski is not badly oxidized just use the polishing compound and then wax.

Lou

 

[bigJake]

I did one of the SUV's last week with Turtle Wax polishing compound and wax. It did pretty good but not great. Still a little gritty and the polishing compound didn't take any of get minor gel coat scratches out at all.

I wanted to try to restore the finish on the corvette and the pickup, they are both have pretty heavy oxidation. Well not sure you call it oxidation on fiberglass.

 

[LouDoo]

Jake,

I've got a buddy at the prep. department, I actually bought my 96GTI from him. The cars that come out look like new. Tomorrow I'll ask him what he would recommend.

Lou

 

[Rabid]

on my old 02 chevy I use "lightly" a magic eraser when the paint got real bad. it cleaned it up real well. I used soap as a lubricator and did not use a lot of pressure. The chickens and turkey like to hop up on thr truck and it cleaned up the scratches....just don't get crazy with it.