clay bar/ wax questions- (1 Viewer)

[PDoyle]

Today ( right now) I'm using Mothers Claybar kit. This is my first time using this stuff. Just got done with my "white" cruiser.
I've read a couple posts. Not supposed to push as you levitate back and forth with the bar. But I have little rust spots and a couple scratches as well. The bar didn't do anything after going over them. I'm about to apply the mothers wax. Does the wax get rid of these, or was I just too soft with the clay bar treatment?
Thanks.

 

[nicholas]

Today ( right now) I'm using Mothers Claybar kit. This is my first time using this stuff. Just got done with my "white" cruiser.
I've read a couple posts. Not supposed to push as you levitate back and forth with the bar. But I have little rust spots and a couple scratches as well. The bar didn't do anything after going over them. I'm about to apply the mothers wax. Does the wax get rid of these, or was I just too soft with the clay bar treatment?
Thanks.

From my understanding when my friend and I did mine, the clay bar was mainly to breakup and remove road grime and might smooth out some very minor surface scratches, but it won't do anything to rust spots or deep scratches. We used concentrated car soap without water and rubbed the clay back and forth until it felt smooth, making sure to fold the clay over periodically.

 

[PDoyle]

guess I'm looking for better results, or, my 80's paint isn't bad enough, yet.
I used the cleaner wax to wax it , which is included in the kit just now, and didn't see better results then the Maguires 3 step wax treatment I used about a year and 1/2 ago.

Was a good tricep work out though.

 

[AndoCommando]

I haven't used the mothers clay bar...but I have used the meguires kit a number of times. When I did mine I used dawn dish soap to completely strip away any old wax or residue. Standard car wash wont strip away all of the old wax. I only do this 1 a year. My clay bar kit came with a detail spray that you apply then gently rub down the paint in that area. You should see some of your paints color on the clay...this is the oxidized paint. My car was black so it was very easy to tell.

The point off the clay is to pick up sap, or old wax etc that are down in the pores of your paint. I did this on my 03 civic si and saw a huge difference!!! I used a polisher after my clay and a nice cleaner wax to finish it off.

 

[john_eckels]

I have had good luck with Meguires SratchX for removing scratches. The container looks like a fat tube of toothpaste.

 

[PDoyle]

Today,when I used the bar and spray I didn't notice any difference. I have 2 other cars to do, both black.
For the heck of it, I'll post my findings. I waxed both cars once a year with Maguires 3 step as well.
I'll be doing one tomorrow.

 

[flyinbrian]

The clay bar will only remove anything on the surface, sitting up above the finish, like sap. If you rub the back of your hand on the metal, you'll feel those things.

To really get scrathes out, you'll have to get more aggressive with a scratch remover, then build the wax back up for a sweet shine.

Go to Mguire's site and I'm sure they'll have helpful hints.

 

[KurtKuhn]

The clay bar will only remove anything on the surface, sitting up above the finish, like sap. If you rub the back of your hand on the metal, you'll feel those things.

x2. Compare the areas side by side, before clay and after clay. You really can feel the difference. Contaminants will be removed leaving a smooth surface.

-KK

 

[cubiclecaptive]

FWIW, I moved from the Mother's clay bar to Turtle Wax's Liquid Clay Bar Ice. My time away from the cube is scarce, and when near the Cruiser I'd rather be tinkering than rubbing big-boy play-doh across the fenders. Scoff if you will ;p but I don't notice a discernable difference between the 2 treatments. That's not to say I use anything Turtle born or bred to finish off the job b/c their wax blows more chunks than a drug store tire at Tellico. Call me lazy (I use air tools where possible), but my rig is "presentable" than "show quality".

 

[PDoyle]

I've been reading up in the clay bar method of detailing. I searched here earlier and found a very good website. See attached... I like to have clean cars. And liked the info. I read on this site, so I joined to be able to search further. Findings: The mothers bar is pretty "mild" compared to other brands. Also, I keep the 80 in a garage, that seems to make a big difference.

Mother's products - Autopia.org

 

[turbocruiser]

I think that there are some misunderstandings here, the clay is really intended to "yank out" contaminants that are partially imbedded past the wax and into the paint of the vehicle. It really isn't intended as a surface scratch or surface rust treatment at all and I would not rely on it for those things at all. It is really only intended to remove the contaminants that are hard to remove from the paint with things like cleaner waxes (do both cleaning and waxing but only a lousy little of each in my opinion).

You should only use dishwashing detergent (dawn is one of the best of the best for this BTW) if you WANT to strip the old wax off but it will only strip off the dirt, the dust and the wax it won't strip off the contaminants in the paint. IF you use dishwashing detergent to lubricate the clay use only a little detergent (1 tsp in a large squirt bottle). You don't want to use pure dishwashing detergent because its surface tension is simply so high that the clay won't fully sit flush to the paint and because you will need lots and lots and lots of rinsewater to rinse it all away. If you DON'T want to strip off the wax use a special "car wash detergent" which advertises wont strip the wax. But, whenever you use clay you should specifically spend the time to wash with a dishwashing detergent, then clay using the detergent water mix, then rinse, then dry thoroughly, then use the fine/med/heavy cut cleaners as appropriate and then wax with wax or with some polymer sealant (some of new ones are actually really really good and won't distort the color or the clarity of the paint where the old ones always did). You should only clay once a year unless you live in really industrial area with industrial fallout that penetrates the paint. This is just a short summary but if it generates any other questions, I'll try to answer those too. HTH>

 

[Chevinater77]

Today ( right now) I'm using Mothers Claybar kit. This is my first time using this stuff. Just got done with my "white" cruiser...
But I have little rust spots and a couple scratches as well...

Those little rust spots will come out with ease with flitz rubbing compound. I too had the rust spots after this last winter, i flitzed it this spring, claybared with Turtlewax liquid ice, and waxed with mequires paste. Then polished. I would not wax out the rust spots. its most likely industrial fallout, possible from break pads, and/or rain and road debris. Look up flitz and claybar in the search.
here is a linky too, hope this helps!

https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/207485-rust-spots-paint.html

 

[PDoyle]

Turbocruiser, I could never use dish detergent on paint. I just can't do it. Anyway your right about misunderstanding what a clay bar does. I think you have to experience it first. Also, each vehicle is going to be different.
I just finished with using the mothers kit on my black TJ Wrangler. It looks showroom now. Very impressive. The bad - all the little imperfections come out, but the paint looks very good.

 

[turbocruiser]

Turbocruiser, I could never use dish detergent on paint. I just can't do it. Anyway your right about misunderstanding what a clay bar does. I think you have to experience it first. Also, each vehicle is going to be different.
I just finished with using the mothers kit on my black TJ Wrangler. It looks showroom now. Very impressive. The bad - all the little imperfections come out, but the paint looks very good.

I'm just telling ya that all the paint shops I know use Dawn, and I use Dawn, and my daddy used Dawn and my granddaddy J/J ... again it is strictly and specifically used to strip the old wax off, that's all, otherwise I use a dedicated car detergent that wont remove wax.

 

[PDoyle]

Those little rust spots will come out with ease with flitz rubbing compound. I too had the rust spots after this last winter, i flitzed it this spring, claybared with Turtlewax liquid ice, and waxed with mequires paste. Then polished. I would not wax out the rust spots. its most likely industrial fallout, possible from break pads, and/or rain and road debris. Look up flitz and claybar in the search.
here is a linky too, hope this helps!

https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/207485-rust-spots-paint.html

Seems as though the carnauba wax took out most of the rest of the problem spots after using the clay bar. Both a good combo. I could polish after that but I already went around the truck 5 times... wash, dry, clay bar/ wipe off, wax, wipe off.