matt_m

I'd never heard of this before but in searching for info about what I believe to be rail dust on my truck I learned about it. Wow what a difference. I spent maybe 1-1/2 hours and my truck is now white instead of white with orange and black speckles all over. Now I really need to get a coat of wax on it but first I want to get my graphics kit installed.

One trick I learned (the hard way) is to cut the bars in half as they are still plenty big and a lot easier to hang on to. Plus you can drop a bar 4x instead of 2 before running back to the auto parts store for more.

I'm assuming the Mothers kit for $20 is ridiculously expensive for a bottle of detailing spray, 2 small clay bars, and a microfiber cloth. Any better sources out there?

yanki01

yea, clay bar does wonders to a cars paint that feels like crap. there's plenty of other options than what the big box stores carry. you can check out http://www.autogeek.net/ for a lot more detailing products. careful..you may get carried away. I also just ordered Collinite 845 wax which is raved by plenty of its users. A good clay and wax will really bring out a car's shine.

FX4life

Been using clay on all our cars for years, it's instant gratification. Follow up with a good cleaner, polish, and thick coat of wax for long lasting deep, rich, wett looking shine. I just did my race red FX last month, keeping it shining with some M34 final inspection QD from Meg's.

cyberdude47

I clay bar and wax my vehicles twice a year, and have for years, where I live there's pulp mills everywhere and puts quite a bit if fallout into the air. Which ends up embedded into our vehicles paint.

Once the lubricant runs out just use a bit if mild dish soap and water into the spray bottle

Tothemax

Just clay bared the wife's car a couple weeks back. I need to do my truck.

How long is a clay bar good for? I think I've used it 4 times or so and its starting to show contaminates in the clay.

Chris's FX4

A clay bar is just the start for removing iron contaminants from paint, look up CarPro Iron-X. It will ensure your paint is completely free of iron contaminants by removing those that are stuck deep in the pores of paint where as a clay bar will only remove whats sticking above the surface.





And to add to that, there are clay bar alternatives now such as the Speedy Prep Towel and Nanosking Autoscrub products that can cleaned and re-used over and over again.

FoX2012

Agree, it will come back with just claybarring...mine took a couple applications of Iron-X to remove...time will tell if it comes back.

Chris's FX4

It will still come back. The picture I posted above is my truck a couple weeks ago, had to take advantage of the great weather, and I Iron-X'd it last fall before my winter prep since I was applying Opti-Coat to some panels. As you can see after a winter of not being able to hand wash the truck, still went touchless washes when I could, the iron still comes back. The majority of it will likely be from your brakes.

EODK9Trainer

I need to check out the Clay bars. But I have to admit the idea of something that sounds abrasive on my truck paint sounds really strange. Is there any chance of doing any damage to one's paint using a Clay bar?

=Route 66=

You can also use a quick detailer with the clay bar as well.