Clay Bar: Whats the Hype?

[Jim W]

It's been a while since I last clayed my car and I'm having a REALLY hard time convincing myself to do it again after the hours I spent doing the work. The product that I decided on was the Meguiars clay bar kit. It came with a nice rag, 2 packaged claybars and a bottle of Quik Detailer.

After a nice wash and dry, I proceeded to clay by spraying the target area with the detailer, running a thin wad of clay along the paint and wiping clean with the rag. I found very little protest from the clay itself. Whenever I asked before embarking on this task I was told I would expect protest from the clay, and to constantly run the clay until the sheet metal felt clean. Throughout the process I felt that it was the Quik Detailer, not the clay doing the most of the work.

Granted, when it was done, the metal felt soft to the touch and I felt like I accomplished something good, but the results were no better or worse then any other multi hour cleaning and detailing session of the Big White.

So, if you have a regularly cleaned car and park in a garage, don't waste time with the claybar process. However, over exposure to dust, sap, road grime and a lack of a cleaning routine..do a clay job.

Back to the original question...whats the hype?

[crash93ssei]

Well, the clay bar removes all the stuff off your car that a regular wash won't touch. Road grime, some tar, tree sap, and brake dust. Washing will not remove all of that stuff, but a clay bar will get rid of it quickly.

When you use a clay bar, you make the surface of your paint more smooth and it will help your wax or sealant last longer. I had an exterior detail job on a Ford Ranger a month back and he had his front brake on the driver side go bad and was rubbing metal to metal for about a week. It covered the entire side of his truck with the brake material and metal particles. It was actually imbeded into the paint and washing, no matter how much you would scrub, wouldn't touch it. The clay bar was the answer on that one. Quickly and easily removed all the material and left it looking good again.

Basically, if you drive your car, a claybar would be a good idea. Any time you drive, you subject your paint to road grime that a wash won't always take off. It would be a good idea to clay once or twice a year.

Unless your paint is REALLY bad, you might not even notice a difference in the actual look of it, but it will make a huge difference in how it feels and how long your wax or sealant lasts.

[wjcollier07]

Most of the small metal flakes and such you're pulling out of the paint, clearcoat and even as deep as the primer, is stuff that is accumulated from driving in dusty, dirty areas, around and over train tracks, settling brake dust, and leaving your car dirty for any good period of time. Leaving these small bits of metal and other sharp objects on the surface allows harmful things to get to the metal, such as salt or other corrosive things that may be in road grime. These can cause little rust spots to appear over time, especially noticeable up close on very light colors. Removing them and filling them with wax or a sealant keeps this from happening. The contaminant's concentration is dependent on the lines of the car and how air moves around it, but typically they are on the top of the trunk and rear vertical surface of the vehicle.

One more benefit is that if these are not present when waxing the car, it presents a much smoother surface to apply the wax to, also taking away the chance for the applicator you are using to pull some contaminants around with it and cause very fine swirls.

Essentially, in my opinion, the car is not truly clean unless any and all surface contaminants and grime are absent, and a good amount of them are removed properly by a good quality detailing clay & lubricant.

Edit: Definitely agree with Ryan on the sealant/wax lasting longer, and thats no hype. My 89, which had probably not been clayed in all its time, wouldn't hold a good wax shine for even a week. With the rust and oxidized paint it had, i never found the incentive to go as far as claying it, but I'm sure that if it had been, even the clear coat would have been in better condition by the time I had gotten it.
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[Jim W]

I understand the fundamentals of clay barring and what its supposed to do. However, when I clayed my car last fall, I found no noticeable difference from a standard (I use that term loosely) cleaning and detailing.

Then again, I park inside and my car is usually clean.

I'm gonna clay my GTP and see whats what...since its only been washed a handful of times since I've owned it (despite being off the road for a few months now)

[Pontiacdad]

Road conditions, storage, wash intervals all play a part in determining when to clay bar.

A good way to know if you need to clay is take a plastic sandwich bag, place your hand in it and rub the car while spraying quick detailer. If its smooth no need to clay, if it sticks then its time.

[00Beast]

Just got done with a quality wash/clay job, it needed the clay, i used a whole bar of the meguires kit, do i need to use the wax cleaner, or can i just skip to a quality wax?

[Pontiacdad]

You can go straight to wax if the paint looks the way you want it.

[00Beast]

Ok, thanks.

[chopper442]

I just removed tons of rail/brake dust off this white car...if you looked real close ,you could see 11 years of crap rusting away. They ( previous owners) took good care of her, but other than basic washing..doubt the did much more. Meg`s clay bar took ALL of the rusted dust off...looks like a million bucks! They must have lived close to tracks. It was some work..but I definatey needed it!

[Grimm]

I'd say it's pretty simple. I didn't have time to do the whole car, but I just clayed the hood of mine last week. I sprayed it, then ran the clay over it. I could feel all the crap on the paint (we have a lot of stuff from trees in the spring here). Mine does sit outside 24/7 so that does add to it. If you can spray a large area and not feel the clay hitting anything, then I guess you really don't need it.

[*B2*]

The amount of time it takes to clay is directly proportional to how badly the vehicle needs clayed. If the car didn't really need it, it takes me about 30 mins. If it really needed it, I could spend a few hours. I just glide quickly over the surface to feel for any contaminants. If there are none, I go on, if not, I concentrate on the contaminated area. Also, you can't *properly* detail your car without claying. If you try to polish your car with contaminants in the paint, you are going to be swirling the contaminants around on your pad.

[BonneMe]

Clay bars are not the be all, end all product some have posted here.

They're not for chunks of ANYTHING, tar, bugs, what have you. They're solely designed for pulling up small particulates and deposits that a normal wash will not get off. It is used between washing and waxing/polishing to help clean up the surface so those particles wont scratch it up while you're waxing/polishing.

My GTI was a runner at a dealer for a few months, next to a commercial pit, cars were dirty there anytime the air was moving in any direction. Clay bar did wonders for my year old car last year when I picked it up. But it's been parked inside since then.

If a car has been clay bar'd and always has some wax/sealant on it, it generally wont need it more than once a year, if even yearly.

[BlackHawk99]

I've also heard that clay barring a vehicle will stip all the old wax off. Any truth in that?

[*B2*]

I've also heard that clay barring a vehicle will stip all the old wax off. Any truth in that?

Yes, it should. Most OTC waxes don't last over a month or so anyway though. I always wax after I clay. It doesn't take long and ensures protection.

[Grimm]

There are mild clays that won't strip wax, but I'm sure all the over the counter ones do.

[BonneMe]

There are mild clays that won't strip wax, but I'm sure all the over the counter ones do.

If it doesn't pull off wax, it wont get anything else really.

Best practice is to strip the wax with whatever products you choose, or dawn.

[Baby is her name]

I am glad to have read this I never knew about a clay bar for when I clean and wax my car. Thanks guys now I can add that to taking even better care of my car..

[Wes]

You can go straight to wax if the paint looks the way you want it.

Good point, I agree, but slightly disagree. I usually go by feel, rather than looks. You can feel the bumps and imperfections of the "gunk" much better than you can "see" it.

[sandrock]

An easy way to tell if your car needs to be clayed after a wash...take out your drivers license, old credit card, or id card, and run an edge over the paint. If you can actually hear it and feel imperfections, it's time for a clay job.

[Pontiacdad]

You can go straight to wax if the paint looks the way you want it.

Good point, I agree, but slightly disagree. I usually go by feel, rather than looks. You can feel the bumps and imperfections of the "gunk" much better than you can "see" it.

Yes, when I typed 'looks' I should or could have used 'is'.

And I agree you can 'feel' see better than you can 'sight' see....if that makes sense?