j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Hi guys,
Well I'm the worst car car guy in the world. I maybe wash my cars once a month in the driving season. I have thought about claying their paint, but usually I just don't do it.
So I bought the Griot's Synthetic Clay product. It is reusable for multiple cars, easy to use, fast, and does a great job. I had seen the plastic bag test done on TV many times, but I never experienced the real life improvement until today. I'm going to do the whole car then address my other cars. Will apply a sealant of some kind afterward.
Great product:


Thanks,
Dave

LexVan

After claying, you need to polish the paint. Then you can apply your sealant. Clay only removes contaminants (so you don't do more damage when you polish). Claying will actually mare the paint slightly, and that's normal. Hence then necessary polishing stage.

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Thanks. I realize that now. It looks like I've opened a whole can of worms.
Dave

Shark2626

Yes, you probably did! So let me help you get the food flying! 😎

Meguiar’s Ultimate products are all that I use these days; if it says Ultimate on the label it’s the best that Meguiar’s makes. Now that you’ve clay barred it my personal next step is Ultimate Compound followed by Ultimate Liquid Wax. But whatever product(s) that you choose, the feel of the paint finish after clay barring it the first time is amazing!!!

I’ve gone through many boxes of clay bars now, I always throw away the bar after a single use. They really do get quite filthy. I don’t think that I would feel comfortable with a “reusable” bar.

As far as damaging the paint, that seems to be the result of improper usage and techniques. With the results I’ve observed, I would never consider waxing my car without clay barring it first.

Welcome to the clay barring community!

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Thanks.
...and so my hellish nightmare begins...
Dave

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Seriously, I had no idea what a difference a clay bar provides. It's unbelievable.
Thanks,
Dave

LexVan

If you drop your clay, throw it away.

dr bob

^^Agree!^^

As much as I love following directions, I've settled on using a thick Dawn foam rather than the detailer's spray that the clay marketers seem to love. Lather the section you are working on, sponge first, rinse and re-lather. Make little pancake of the clay no bigger than the width of your fingers. Glide the clay across the foamed surface with your bare fingers with absolutely minimum pressure, and always front-to-back direction on the paint. The foam lubricates the surface, such that you should never feel the clay dragging at all. Your bare fingers will tell you when the surface crud is removed. I clayed the whole Honda Pilot DD last evening in less than 15 minutes, the second stage of five of its twice-annual full clean-and-detail paint treatment. Dawn is pH-neutral in the water solution, will emulsify organic compounds on the paint surface, and itself is fine on the paint. It's mild enough to use with bare hands in the sink. Just rinse well before it dries. If the paint needs some polishing or correction after the clay, it likely needed it before the clay if you use sufficient lubrication as described.

My care package prescription for paint has M105 if needed, M205 for pre-seal polishing, and then your favorite wax or paint sealant. I like the synthetic paint sealant stuff from Meguiars, but the decision on what's "best" can be quite personal.

Several 928 owners, including Stan and Rich Andrade, have been recommending some of the silica-based "ceramic" sealants lately. The pro versions of take a couple days of apply-cure-buff effort in small patches, and are extremely unforgiving if you don't have a great surface underneath, or screw up the application-cure-buff timing at all. So a full paint-correction effort is needed as part of that. It's the same three- to four-step prep effort needed for any seal coating, except that there's no way to back up a step or three to recover once the ceramic sealant is applied.

Brent A.

I've been using traditional clay bars since the early 90's and as others have noted, it was a real eye opener the first time I used one. I usually bought mine from Griot's as I always liked the plastic container that comes with it for safe storage.

I couple of years ago I purchased one of the synthetic clay bars (Mother's brand), but just couldn't pull the trigger on using it mainly because of the old adage, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So it's been sitting in my cleaning and polishing cabinet until about 3 weeks ago. I promised my wife that this spring I would do a full detail of her daily driver and I thought it would be a great time to try it out since her car is the one I care the least about. It's 4 years old and had never been clay bar'd so would be a good test.

I must say, I am impressed. It worked just as well as the Griot's clay and I felt it was actually easier to use as well. The Mother's bar has a plastic backing that fits the palm of your hand well, but I think i will order the Griot's version as it looks like it is made of a sponge type material which would be a bonus. It's designed to be used with soapy wash water so you can just squeeze the sponge to release more soap (lubricant) as needed. I believe the largest benefit of these synthetic versions is that if dropped, all you need to do is rinse it off with the hose and you are good to go again.
.

• No more kneading or turning of the clay
• No more wearing gloves to keep the clay out from under my fingernails
• No more worrying about dropping it and ruining it
• No more worrying that I've overused it

Shark2626

Why not follow the manufacturer recommended practices? Using dawn in this instance would mean wiping Dawn soap to a dry state on your paint’s finish, whereas using the recommended detail spray leaves no soap residue on the soon to be waxed finish.

Why people believe that they can outthink manufacturers that spend millions of dollars developing products and techniques is something that I just don’t understand anymore; I did when I was younger, with less understanding of processes and less informed.

dr bob

Secret, don't tell anybody. Craig "the chemist" ran my production QC lab at P&G in Long Beach way back when. You won't have to work hard to guess who manufactures Dawn. My first foray with the clay was with a tub intended for paint and detail shops for removing over-spray, maybe thirty years ago now and well before there were any consumer markets for it. And before there were any 'detail sprays' to push along with it as a $lubricant$.

If you follow what I posted, the thick Dawn foam lather stays a foam lather all the way through the clay process. The foam never dries on the paint. Foam a section, clay the section, rinse off the foam. Very light finger-tip pressure only, just enough to keep from losing the clay. The clay glides almost effortlessly on the film, never touches the paint directly. Please, try it before you criticize. Save that detail spray for what it was designed for originally, rather than a pile-on sale with the clay. Use you favorite thick-foam car wash detergent if you don't want the Dawn to get the old layers of wax and sealant off in the same step. The protocol is the same.

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Today, I used some fine cut machine polish after the clay treatment. The car was very smooth after the clay, but the polish made it noticeably smoother. Both by bag test and wiping with microfiber cloth. I then went over the whole car with some detail spray and microfiber to clean off any trace of residual polish. I had a bottle of Rejex on the shelf, and applied that and buffed it off. I must say the car looks great. The paint was 90% original, and came out very nice, except around the tail light above the exhaust. The rear bumper still looks a little flat compared to the rest of the car. Maybe because of the urethane bumper? Anyway it's a huge improvement, and all thanks to the clay bar.
Thanks,
Dave

Shark2626

There are some detail enthusiasts with some fantastic equipment for true paint correction, but it seems perhaps not many that peruse this forum. But that equipment and the various attachments would make quick work of that oxidation.

Assuming that you own a common random orbital buffer to polish and wax your car with a foam, terry, and a wool bonnet, use the wool bonnet on that area with your polishing product. The wool is more aggressive than the other two. It may take a few attempts and perhaps a little more pressure. Remove the taillights first if the oxidation is very near the bottom edge of the lights.

ETA What the heck is Rejex? And since I am not familiar with the polishing product that you are using, use caution as you attempt to make the paint correction. Don’t over do it, stop frequently to check your progress.

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Thanks,
Rejex was very popular on one of the Porsche forums, maybe 911. It is a polymer/sealant, whatever that is. It makes the paint smooth, shiny and water repellent. Plus I had it on hand. I may try a wool bonnet, or I may just accept the huge improvement, as is. BTW the polish I used is Meguiar's Mirror Glase #2 Fine cut machine polish. It's probably an older formula, because I've had it a while.
Thanks for the support,
Dave
PS: I've seen it before. What does ETA stand for? I only know estimated time of arrival.
D

Shark2626

ETA is 'edit to add' when used on a forum like this. I edited the post.

It is really cool to see a dramatic change in your car's finish, especially so if you accomplished it yourself! You may eventually become a paint correction enthusiast with a shelf full of products, a professional dual action polisher, and a drawer full of pads! If so you will need to pick a side, that is to say pick a brand of products that you love and argue with people about. Griots has a full line, as does Meguiar's, and who knows how many others are out there. I saw a small jar of carnauba wax especially for 'black cars' that retails for $160.00, people actually bought it, there were reviews on the site! This can get crazy.

The Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #2 Fine cut machine polish that you used is excellent! It won't damage your paint unless you apply it with a piece of sandpaper. Meguiar's has two distinct lines of products now, the Professional line and a Consumer line. The basic difference between the two is that the Consumer line has fewer products to choose from, it's what I use. The professional line includes the Mirror Glaze products, which I used to use before the Consumer line was created. The Mirror Glaze #2 that you have would be roughly equivalent to their Ultimate Polish, its a gently polish to use before applying wax, it should remove very light oxidation, but only light stuff. On my other car (Black color) I prefer to use Ultimate Compound first and then Ultimate Polish, the Ultimate Polish adds depth to dark colors. On other colors I use just the Ultimate Compound; although it has 'compound' in its name it is actually quite gentle and very safe to use. I had some very bad oxidation on my red car at the bottom of both taillights and around the 'Porsche' in the center of the rear bumper. A basic random orbital buffer, a wool pad, and Ultimate Compound removed it, it took a few applications.