Tried a clay bar for the first time

GrahamR

GrahamR

Member
I got a Maguiars Quik Clay kit and clayed the whole car. I found a few "how to clay" guides on utube useful before I started. It was actually very easy to do and did not take long. I rinsed the car well with a power washer, washed with car shampoo using a sponge, rinsed with the power washer, dried off with a micro fibre cloth, then clayed the whole car using the clay bar using the "quik detailer" spray as a lubricant (supplied with the clay bar). The clay definately makes a difference. I found it most effective on the lower halves of the doors where the clay seemed to pick up most contaminents.

I then polished the whole car with Auto Glym Super Resin Polish, and finished with Auto Glym Extra Gloss Protection.

I also vacummed and cleaned the interior and fed the leather with Auto Glym Leather Care Cream:)

clay014.jpg

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Looks nice and shiny Graham - a job well done.

I have never used a clay bar myself, but after all of the positive right ups featured on the forum of late, I intend to do so for the first time later in the year.

I swear by Autoglym Super Resin Polish and the extra protection offered by the Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection is well worth the extra money. Moreover, I find that with the gloss protection added, dirt and muck tends not to bond so well with the paint work. This equates to a cleaner finish and easier washes several months down the line, compared even with just a single coat of the resin.

I will be following your route of "detailing" in due course.

Darren
 
the Bilt Hamber bars are really easy to use - even my daughter managed it, and she's not-quite-seven - and they only need water as a lubricant. Means you don't dry the car, you simply start claying.

when it gets to this colour:

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fold and start again. When it's all that colour, start with a new piece.

Don't press, just sit it on the paint and guide it. Afterwards: "baby's bottom" and "gleaming", should be very smooth to the touch.
Don't bother with rubber gloves at that point, it won't help.

Bret
 
Thanks for the tips/picture Bret - Bilt Hamber it will probably be. Just need to source a stockist.

Cheers,

Darren
 
Excellent - thanks Mike - just the job. :)

Probably a very stupid question, but as a novice to clay bars, I assume that one bar is more than adequate to cover an A2?

Cheers,

Darren
 
More than enough,

When the bar arrives, it's in a nice little plastic box and all you need is a slice off the end, about a fifth of the bar.

This should be enough to do both A2s at least once. So, the whole bar should last at least 3 years!

Cheers,

Mike
 
I also done mine yesterday, and now both of my neighbours are going to do their cars :D
I bought the Halfrauds one,popped in there for some wipers for my van, £20 for a bar,bottle of 'soapy water' liquid and a microfibre cloth.
It does look superb,went thro the local car wash :) got home and started claying, gave it a good powerwash down and clean, then I went over it with a 'SupaGard' sponge.
Really pleased with it, tho it does show my damaged parts up a bit :( Front and rear bumpers, a tow bar hit me on my front bumper, and I scratched my rear bumper putting my mountain bike inside the car :(
A repair job for later in the year methinks
 
We've started something here! There's gonna be a lot of immaculate A2's up and down the country by the sounds ;)
 
murdo said:
We've started something here! There's gonna be a lot of immaculate A2's up and down the country by the sounds ;)
Click to expand...


I think a new forum may be need to help all the new shinny car OCD'ers :Dlol, well it will be easy now to spot A2OC members as most will be shinny

Cheers Phil
 
How do you manage to clay the whole car in a day? it took me a while to do one panel a few years ago and I got bored.

I found my clay megi kit out too the weekend, im going to try and do mine.. I was wondering I have still got the unopened wax bottle that came with the kit, do I just wipe the wax on? or shall I use one of those polisher buffers?

I read loads of good reviews on this stuff, there are two versions I cant remember the other one, a newer generation I thin*. If I clay the car and then spray this wax on (Meguiars Nxt Generation Spray Car Wax) will it be ok? I can then use the extra protection from autoglym.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_172190_langId_-1_categoryId_165527
 
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complete car, if it's not stupidly dirty, should take 30mins to an hour. I probably spent a total of 18 hours washing, claying, and polishing two cars and machining one.
I must have washed both at least twice, too.

Bret
 
Spent about 5 hours cleaning mine today.

I washed the car with autoglym shampoo, followed by a full maguiars clay of the vehicle. I then used the autoglym super resin polish and finished off with autoglym extra gloss protection and back to black on the bumpers. I will post a couple of pictures tomorrow, and maybe take some in the daytime. :)
 
Glad to hear you beat the boredom barrier Richard!

Next step is to do a bit of paint correction and seal the whole lot with a good quality wax.

Cheers,

Mike
 
I tried a clay bar on my A2, shortly after I bought it,,,,having used thm before, all went well,,but despite things looking fine to the eye, I definitely felt the paint on the roof was a slightly rougher finish than the rest of the body,,,anyone else find this.

car has been checked with paint guage so it has not been resprayed
 
yup, re-clay, maybe three times. Some of the c**p on the Octy really did need 3-4 clays to get it out. And that was only 12months old!

Bret
 
And I thought HaZeL was clean...

Well I clayed the weekend and was shocked at how much dirt came off, the tailgate was grim all over with the all four door below the rubbing strip a close second, the rest was dirt free but still took 50mins to do the whole car.
 
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