Wow! I have been reading all the posts here about how the clay bar works
wonders, so i purchased one of those Meguiars clay bar kits.
I regret to say that I have neglected my truck's finish, and so did the previous owner. Looks like they used the hand held brush at the car wash which was full of sand
Spent a fair amount of time on the truck, and what a difference the clay makes. removed a lot of gunk on the oxford white paint that i didn't even notice was there before.
I then used the meg's ultimate compound. that pulled a heck of a lot of swirls and scratches out. I then used some megs deep crystal polish followed up by the deep crystal wax. Smooth and silky finish now.
Think i will do the minivan next week

 

Claybar does work well!...post some pics

 

Sounds like you did a great job. Can't wait to see the pics.

 

Claybaring is a wondeful thing!!!!


We need some pics!

 

I discovered the claybaring joys about a year ago. Doing my days '04 Lariat this week. Along with wetsending a few minor scratches. Claybars are great. I dropped one (1/4 of full bar) once in the driveway. I had to toss it in the trash.

This week I discovered heatgunning black trim. Holy WOW! This is awesome. Be careful if you've never done it, though. I did it to his wiper cowl and it truly looks like new. His '04 cowl looked worse than my '01, but then again I've always used back to black on mine.

 

Not meaning to hijack this thread but- WHAT? Heatgunnig plastics????

 

^The glossy appearance just seems to comes out of nowhere!

 

How does this work? I would love to heatgun mine if its gonna turn it back black

 

My guess is that it is some type of thermal activated plastic and when use a heat gun it brings back the shine.

 

I am going to buy clay bar tomorrow and start the work! will it remove small black scuff marks. It looks like a running shoe ran down the front fender!

 

When heating plastic it draws the oils in the plastic back to the surface .The fade you see is the top layer drying out .....love those UV rays

On my sled I had to heat up the side panels and wash them several times to get the oils out/off so the graphics would stick.

Then replace the oil afterwards to bring the rich color back... couple apps of amorall or such

p.s I use tire gel on most of my plastic .... seems to last alot longer and have a richer look .

Thinking of using the BAR this yr , I always done the 3 step deal by Meguires, clean,polish, wax. For 10 yrs old the ole gal still has a better shine then some of the newer ones.


snow

 

here's a couple of pics. 2002 XLT with 138,xxx miles on her.
I'll try to get some more uploaded!!

 

Sorry for the late reply, but this may help. http://www.thedetailerscafe.com/smf/...p?topic=1686.0

Google the subject a bit. There is are plenty of youtube links as well. Like learning to wetsand, etc. I would advise learning on a sample piece that doesn't matter first. You'll find plenty of yeas and nays on this topic. Here's why... it does melt off (breakdown) the outer parts of the trim work which in effect is rebonding a liquid form. However, it will not be as original spec from the liquid mold. SO... do it only once.

 

I just did a truck for my latest detail job last night. It's a silver Envoy, and looked clean until I clayed it. Holy cow there was a lot of stuff in. It's pretty amazing the things you can pull out w/ clay, and I won't polish a car unless I do it first. It's an essential step.

Pick up a tub of Griot's Garage Clay from us and give it a try. This is a conservative clay and as long as it's lubed well (spraybottle of soap and water) you won't hurt your paint.

 

So, only heat gun the plastic once?