Clay bars and water

M

mikeforp

New member
I was clay barring a Buick Century the other day and it was morning and cloudy. Well I am about halfway done with the clay barring and it starts drizzling VERY lightly, but there are small small water drops all over the car now. Since that's all it was I continued clay barring. Shortly after the clay bar wasn't working as well as it had previously, it wasn't holding together and sticking to itself. Plus the fact that now my fingers were coated with the clay. (which took almost an hour of scrubbing to remove)



This has never happened before and I was wondering if the water did this to it?
 
Probably, or an excess of QD. It happens sometimes. You want to stop after each small section and re-knead the clay into itself to embed the grime you removed. That usually firms up the clay and prevents it from breaking down.



Another idea is to use a bigger hunk of clay next time so it will hold together better.



Final idea is to try another brand if the above ideas don't work. A new brand may use a better plasticene matrix that holds together when wet.
 
Thanks for the advice. I think the QD is okay, I just use enough so the clay bar slides across the surface, but now that I think about it I am using like 1/4 of a clay bar now instead of it all at once, alot smaller than normal. I do knead the clay after each panel, but suddenly after doing this it would not knead and sitck together like normal, it just wouldn't hold together, so I assumed water was the culprit, just wanted to know what you all thought.



I use clay magic blue bar BTW.
 
I've had a couple of different brands of clay get "water-logged" on me in the past. I discovered that if I dry the clay by dabbing it on a MF towel before I fold and reshape it, the problem doesn't occur. Just theorizing, but I think mushy-clay syndrome is caused (usually) by inadvertently folding/kneading too much QD or car wash solution into it.



Tort
 
Hi Guys,



I'm a newbee, so please excuse me if I say something ignorant.



I use the 3M clay bar with the hose running softly. So I don't think it is the water that is your problem. Unless of course your clay is different. The 3M Clay bar seems to be totally unaffected by water.:o
 
I used Mother's clay bar and actually used soapy water as a lubricant and it worked great. Found that the water did not affect the clay one bit. The soapy water worked much better as a lubricant than their QD--now I save that to use at other times!:xyxthumbs
 
Nosmo said:
My clay magic bar is totally unaffected by water.
Click to expand...



I use a car wash solution to wash, and when im done I use the same solution as clay lube. I actually drop the clay in the bucket until im ready to use it again. Its a clean place for it to sit and wait. I have done this with Clay Magic and Mothers and both seem un affected.



I dont think the water did that to your clay. :xyxthumbs
 
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