so i decide to try to resurect the shine on my blcak 96 explorer, first thing i'm trying is clay bar. i bought the clay magic blue clay bar kit.i was amazed at the amount of dirt that came off. i'll have to wait till tomorrow to see how much better it looks because i ran out of daylight. i was at the fire station today and kept getting call after call. i'm pretty sure the paint is gonna need alot more than just clay bar and wax, but this is a start.
clay bar on the explorer
- Thread starter wheelc
- Start date
GearHead_1
Long Time Member
It probably won't look much better having used only the clay bar. In fact it may actually look a bit worse depending upon how abrasive the clay bar is (CM is pretty mild), how dirty the vehicle is and how frequently the clay was folded or exchanged. Many people notice more swirls once clayed particularly on a black vehicle.
I don't want to be all inclusive with my last comment. On a light colored car that had heavy surface contamination or a dark color vehicle that is oxidized, you will of course see some improvement. When you get the hang of claying the car you will likely not notice additional swirl marks following that step of the process.
Once clayed what you should notice is that it will feel much smoother and is now properly prepped to polish. Once it has been properly polished is when you will begin to see a big difference. The application of the Last Step Product (LSP) is when the greatest visual difference will be recognized, that's when it will POP.
I don't want to be all inclusive with my last comment. On a light colored car that had heavy surface contamination or a dark color vehicle that is oxidized, you will of course see some improvement. When you get the hang of claying the car you will likely not notice additional swirl marks following that step of the process.
Once clayed what you should notice is that it will feel much smoother and is now properly prepped to polish. Once it has been properly polished is when you will begin to see a big difference. The application of the Last Step Product (LSP) is when the greatest visual difference will be recognized, that's when it will POP.
that's what i figured. i did notice it feels alot smoother, it does seem to shine a little and i noticed some more swirl marks, on thing i did notice was i had to really bad marks from wear i left a drink sitting on the hood of the car, that after claying it they aren't as noticeable.