Ok you clay bar users...Who makes the best one, or is there no difference? Even though I've done a lot of body work through the years, I have never used a clay bar. Now that my truck is 2 1/2 years old and the Meguires is starting to get thin, I thought I'd give the clay bar a try. Is there a special technique to using one? Are there things to avoid? I don't want to screw-up the paint.
Thanks

 

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...highlight=clay

Read that thread....


Everyone here has their preference on clay bars... like wax, it's a personal preference.

Simple as heck to use...

If you don't find the information that you seek in the aforementioned thread, feel free to do a search for 'clay' and enjoy the reading.

RP

 

At first I was total chicken**** to use one as I feared as well it would mess up the paint. But i sat down with my freshly washes truck and went to town. When using a clay bar you have to use some sort of lubricant so there's not a huge amount of residue on the paint and to keep the clay from getting sticky. Just use a spray bottle mixed in with your favorite car wash, not dishwasing soap as they dopn't have enough lube to keep the paint lubricated well enough. I like to mix Pro Cherry Suds with water in a ordinary spray bottle. Just gently rub the clay against the surface and with about 6 passes or so, the surface should be like a baby's butt dreched in oil, not really, LOL you know what I mean. Keep the clay clean and DON'T DROP IT!!!!!!!! if you drop it the clay might pick up some dirt and become impregnated with it, so you have to throw it out. I know it sounds silly but it keeps the paint from sctraching. Once the surface of the paint is smooth and the clay has picked up everything, wipe the residue off or wash it off and it should be like glass, smooth and just like polished glass. on a full size truck it takes me about 1 hr to clay it. Hope this helps,,,,,91

 

When claying you want to continually knead or keep turning the clay so as to not use the same spot of clay over and over. You will know if the surface you are claying is done because the clay will just slide across it, if there is something in the paint it kind of feels like it is clicking. I don’t know how to better describe it but once you start you will know what I mean. You will be able to feel the clay picking stuff up out of the paint and then it will just feel smooth. Once it feels smooth it is clean.

It could take one or two passes, or many. If you feel like it is really picking stuff up after say 3 or 4 passes you want to turn the clay. What ever you are picking up is in the clay and if you continue to use the same side continuously you will be dragging what ever you picked up all over the paint and put fine scratches in it.

As was mentioned if you drop the clay bar THROW IT AWAY because you will NEVER get all the tiny crap out of it. RockPick made an excellent recommendation in another thread. His suggestion was to take your clay bar and divide it up into two or more pieces. That way if you drop it you still have some left and it is not a complete waste. It is a lot cheaper to replace the clay bar if dropped then pay for a new paint job scratching it up with tiny particles it will pick up from the ground.

I use a 10 to 1 mixture of car wash soap (1 part) to water (10 parts) in a spray bottle. However someone, I think BigDeal had a good recommendation of using two different buckets, one with your regular mixture of car wash soap for washing your truck and another one of clean water. I believe the method he described was to soap down the surface with the wash mitt from the soap bucket, clay then wash the area again then rinse the wash mitt in the bucket with plain clean water so as to not get some of the clay residue into the soap bucket.

Hopefully BigDeal will come by and correct that if I have it wrong.

 

Go to an auto parts store where they sell body work supplies and buy the big hunk of clay that comes in a plastic box. It will be cheaper and bigger than what you get from a company like Mother's. They also come in different grades. I use the blue because it's not as aggressive, fearing I could over do it with the other grades.

 

Dennis:

That is interesting I did not know they had different grades of clay. I use the clay from Zaino, it is kind of gold, yellowish in color.

 

Any clay is better than no clay! No clay is better than any clay used the wrong way!