Jonas Goldsmith

What exactly does the clay bar do??? Cause I have this stain on my hood... in a small area that is discolored (very slightly). I think the previous owner spilled something on it.... Will that bar take it out?

Tyler951

I have been using goo gone to dissolve the adhesive from the decal, prob not as effective as lighter fluid but it has a pleaseant orange aroma.

Tremelune

Doesn't it just take off tar and what not? If I were going to buff with a medium cut compound, I assume that would take off everything the claybar would and a bit more, yes? It might be good for getting the muck off my stone guards, though.

washington951

so....can you use clay bar on clear coats? i'm confused...
(i have satin black metallic - OEM paint...)

i'd love to use it on my g/f's honda, too - it feels reallllly bumpy from sitting outside all the time....am i good to go there, too??
confused....

Tom R.

i used No7 chrome cleaner on the stone guards. worked greay. rub very gently.

fluid15

I've read nothing except incredible comments on using clay bars and finally bought one last weekend. I used it only on the front fenders and hood to checkout the results and I was disappointed - I didn't notice anything different. It did feel slightly smoother immediately after using it, but visually there was no difference.

Could it be because my paint is a black metallic? I would assume standard black would look like a mirror, but maybe metallic is just different. ???

Any input is appreciated. BTW, it has 40k miles. Not a lot, but not new either. Any car driven will get contaminents on the paint.

IceShark

The clay bar will not give a high luster finish. You use it to remove surface contaminants quickly. Like paint overspray, tree sap, etc. Then you need to go over the paint with a fine cut rubbing compound to get the mirror gloss.

UDPride

I must say I clay barred the 951 last weekend for the first time and was quite disappointed. Did not get the results I was looking for. It may be that my paint was quite smooth to begin with, but it really did little if anything for my car. Then after polishing and waxing it, I can just see the chips and scratches twice as easy now. If your paint is pretty good minus the chip and scratch part, I dont think youll see the clay bar do a whole lot for you. Ive got a couple bird turd stains burned in from years ago even clays and glazes can do nothing for.

God I need a repaint. My car has the white primer stone chip measles.

OriginalSterm

I had to find out for myself. Just clay-barred the front half of the car. I didn't get the "sounds" the Mother's clay bar box said I would. But I did strip the 7 layers of old wax that were just horribly built up. The clay was dirty, the rag was dirty, and the wax afterwards looks great. Like a mirror finish. You can tell a difference between the front and back. It was worth the extra few minutes and added step. Highly recommended.

Chris Prack

Of course you are, duh, it's a honda.... If all goes well do your car and then show me how to do it on mine

Tyler951

I went into claying my car just expecting to smooth my finish only slightly. After using the paint cleaner it was pretty smooth but i could still feel rough areas. The clay bar is more of a cleaning agent then a beautification tool in my opinion. I was very pleased with the results from the bar. I must have had a lot of oxidation and surface contaminents.

When i finished with the bar, i did the meguiars crystal polish and then followed with 2 coats of gold class. About a week ago I repaired a lot of paint chips as told on auto-pia and my car has never looked this good...

Removing the old porsche decal from the back helped too, i just hope that she doesnt get dirty tomorrow when i take her to get new motor mounts.

dualblade

you know, orange gojo always did such a good job on my hands that i wondered how well it would work for the car

Operator

couple questions/comments...

clay bar - isnt it just for getting rid of overspray/tar/etc? why do the whole car if you dont need to do the whole car? it is mildly abrasive afterall.. i guess it couldnt hurt.. but also, wouldnt it take a while?
the technique requires getting the surface wet and then rubbing the bar over the surface, sounds tedious, doing the whole car could take hours? no? just wondering

as for what to buy - how is this for a clay bar package: http://shop.store.yahoo.com/autofana...calgolcla.html
nice price too?

and i know there was a thread recently about 3m hand glaze, the best polish right? also cleans stuff up? well.. theres a peach colored bottle and a black bottle.. which do i want? the peach one seems to be for filling swirl marks, the black one seems less abrasive, black is the way to go? that same store has it for pretty cheap.. so im thinking of buying both.

oh and finally - where is a good place to buy porsche-colored touch up paint? might as well touch it up before the wax...

thanks

UDPride

I have the 3M hand glaze. Its an absolute biyatch to get off your car though. The stuff dries on your paint in about 25 seconds. I about had to sandblast it off. Did it make a difference in the look of the paint? Not really. Theres nothing you can do to scratches you can feel or chips you can put your finger in -- other than repainting them. I think a good carnuba wax did 3X as much as the clay bar and glaze combined -- in 1/5th the effort.

Just my experience.

Mighty Shilling

so THAT explains the oxidation I get EVERY FRICKIN time it rains!! My hood is pink in spots...any recommendations? I'm thinkin clay bar it, then wax it...that is if there is no PCA event on Sunday