So what's with this clay bar stuff?
 

Almost everyone I know uses the clay bar on their cars....what is the purpose of this, "Clay Bar"...does it replace the waxing process? I saw on the mothers clay bar kit box and it said to use in between washing and waxing...

BTW what do you guys suggest for the ultimate waxing? Im looking for something that's either a spray on (Im using Meguiars Quick Detail) or someting like Ice....(I heard bad reviews about it)....Thanks!

spray on wax will never work as well as the time-intensive waxes.

A claybar is a way to remove the contaminants off the cars paint that you can feel when rubbing your hand after the car is clean. After a claybar it will feel as smooth as glass.

I use one every year after winter to remove all of the harsh winter stuff.

There are a few threads about claybars and how they work, I'll see if I can find it.

*Edit*
Found the link! here you go I wrote a long intensive write-up on the process, and other members also contributed with their knowledge of the products.

Awesome. Thanks alot!

The title makes you sound like Seinfeld. But I thought he was into Porsches?? lol

http://www.autogeek.net/detailing-clay-bar.html

this link explanes ALOT. please take a look

clay bar dosnt replace anything,,

TIP: take a sandwich bag and put it on your had and run your fingers down the side of your car if its ruff then is need a clay bar kit.

i would stay away from luquid clay bars they dont compeat with the hard bars.

So, yeah....even though its suppose to rain tonight, I went ahead and washed my car just to get a fresh coat of wax on it...but after the wash I got carried away =[...I cleaned my rims, washed my car, Rubbing Compound it, Waxed it, Cleaned the Windows, Rain-X'd the Windows, and then Polished my rims....all in all, it was 8:25pm when I was completely done....checking the fluids....it was roughly 4-5pm when I started...hehe

but yeah, I decided to give "Victoria" (my mc) a feel....and yeah, she feels rough....time to give her my bar haha =P...clay bar...clay bar is what I meant...yeah....DONT JUDGE ME =[

i said it before and i will continue to rep it

meguires is the best out there!

i clay barred my car once and was a little dissappointed actually. it did take away contaminants, but it did not take away my hard water spots like it says it will. i just used a solid rubbing compound and that worked.

on the other hand, i purchased my turtle wax liquid ice wax and BAM. i dont think i'll use another wax again. i was so happy with the results. my car is soooo soft now. shined like brand new. its great because you dont have to worry about avoiding the rubber molding and trim...it works on that too! very easy to apply and take off. i applied it in moderate sun so my car was warm to the touch, its a synthetic wax so thats ok to do. its great because i dont have access to shade around my complex for waxing.

in a nutshell, thats probably the only wax i'll invest $20 bucks for. probably the only wax i'll use again.

and of course this is me: (help, im trapped in a nutshell!)

haha.

The package is worth it, though the bottle of wax they give has just barely enough to wax your car. Just make sure you have about 7 hours of free time to wash-clay-and wax. And it is very important to take your time on the clay and to keep it clean.

What the?

7hrs to wash, clay and wax your car? That's insane!

Wash = 30 min at most

Clay = 30 min at most

Wax = 30 min at most

So even if you're taking your sweet time, it should only take you 1.5hrs at most to do that process. I usually do wash/clay/wax jobs in an hour or less.

The trick is to clay the car using the leftover water from the final rinse as the lube. Just make sure to have a bottle of QD on hand if you need more lube.

7hrs? i think there must be a few beers consumed in between steps there;) wash, rinse, beer, repeat!

lol i agree tho it is possible in one day i spent about a week cleaning my car. Most if it was becase i had to take car of my kid but heres what i had to do in a week.

Paint 3 pieces red
Re-Paint Rear plastic piece
Buff car
Wax car
Get mustang rims form neighbor
Install musting rims
Grind 1/16 of the brake bracket
Paint Calipers and brake bracket
Polish rims
Shine tires
Clean windows
Shine interior


Wifes Over imaging Time- 16 hours no beer sometimes i had to cut out early

Personally I don't know how you can do a quality clay job in 30 minutes. It did take me 4 hours to clay bar my car. It's not the fact that I'm slow at rubbing, it's just how slow you have to clay and listen to sounds and get everything off.

It took me 30 mins just to do the back-end.

heres my process, works well in my opinion

1.wash
2.claybar (mothers)
3.wax (mcguires liquid wax/black magic liquid wax) with power buffer
4.turtle wax ice detailer just to bring out the shine even more, wipe on and off with rag

yeah i just went through the claying process and i dont see how its even possible to do a whole car in a half hour! i worked on my hood trunk and roof for an hour alone! but boy was it worth it... feels so smooth! i love it!

Meguires makes great stuff, but once you try Auto Magic products you'll never use anything else, they hold the patents on clay bar (they call it clay magic). Check their website http://www.automagic.biz/, clay barring a car after washing makes all the difference in the world, lots of work but worth every
minute and use the spray lube with the clay bar not water it's designed to work like that. I don't work for them but my son is a pro detailer and he's learned from experience about the products, you won't be diaappointed

Aaron

auto magic is ok but i prefur auto amor this is really hard to obtain because its mainly sold to dealers and business only

heres a site

http://www.ecpinc.net/

Just did mine today, washed, clayed, Meguiars scratch-X the entire car, wash then wax, total time 7 hours. Then I did the interior :)

The results are entirely worth it, the car didn't look this good on the dealers lot, well, aside from the chips in the hood.

Anyway, I couldn't believe the difference the clay makes. The amount of crud it removed was incredible, particularly on the rear end, and the areas directly behind the front wheels. And the finish is sooo smooooth, it's unreal.

I think I'll follow these steps every spring.

i use the clay bar on my windows and now there shinny and smooth

Waxing the windows helps as well. Anyone else have terrible water spots on the sunroof?

yeah i got bad water spots on the roof, can you really wax the window with regular was like NXT tech wax. i usually just use the rainx original.

i got the water spots on the sunroof as well... normally what we do at the dealership is we have glass cleaner that comes in an aerosol can so it makes foam on the window... spray it on there and use a really thin steel wool and rub that around on it... sounds crazy and the first time i was told to do it was on a corvette so i was like no way im not doing that! but it actually does work!

I did the clay bar on our 02 last summer. I'll do it again this year too. The claybar got so nasty I'll buy a new one this year. Very time consuming but well worth the results. I use all Mothers products only. So first the wash and dry, then the claybar with the detail spray, then finish with a coat of wax. It took pretty much all day to do the car. BTW the detail spray works nicely between waxes. I bought a inexpensive Ryobi orbital polisher and it works very well. Black car, no swirlies. ;-)

thats pretty uncommon around here to have a black car with no swirl marks! i gotta buff mine still cuz i got em on my white one!