My first clay bar experience - Mothers

1

1andrews

New member
Just recently got into car detailing after buying my new 03 MINI cooper.



After reading autopia for a few months, I decided to get zaino products, and a clay bar, and 3M SMR (stupid dealership).



Picked up mothers clay bar kit, since it got good praise here and was easy to get. I was suprised by the small size of the bar, but its obvious that it will last a long time, so I'm happy, plus the package came with a bottle of detailing spray and a carnuba. My zaino hasn't come in the mail yet, so I decided to try out the package by itself. I was VERY pleasantly suprised.



The detailing spray is a class above meguiar's QD. I've been wondering why my car looks very dirty after just 2 days, I now know it was the meguiars, as my car stay clean looking a lot longer with mothers detailing spray (and wax combo).



I enjoyed the clay the most on the white parts of my car, as I had a couple of black specs that I couldn't get out by washing it, and the bar got these right out. On the darker parts of my car, its harder to tell just where the car needs clayed the most, and its hard to tell if the clay is doing anything. But the clay came off the car with some 'dirt' in it, so I knew I was doing something for the car.



After having used meguiars regular carnuba, I would now never go back to it in a million years. It turned my trim nasty white and did not look very good or last long at all. This mothers cleaner wax that came with the kit was very kind to the trim and had a VERY nice shine. I was impressed!



I would definitely recommend this kit to anyone.



PS. maybe this should be moved to the review section??
 
Did you know you had taken a picture of a UFO in the first pic? :D



Great work :up



There is some strange artifacts on your pictures



Steven
 
"There is some strange artifacts on your pictures "



haha, ya sorry about that. I think its just the very strong reflections off of the chrome, probably should have used a different setting on the camera...never claimed to be a photographer!
 
"LOVE the stripes! They look great on that car. "

Thanks gimp!



"Try some of your clay on the glass, it makes it very smooth and slick."



I'm a step ahead of you ;-)





--can't wait to get my zaino in, wondering if the shine will get much better.
 
Looks great!!



Mother's & Zaino make my top two favorite claybars. Some have complained they're tough to mold, but I haven't ever found that to be the case. I also like the fact that they never leave any clay residue on the surface.



Plus, that little bottle of cleaner wax Mother's includes in their clay package is a real sleeper. I was pleasantly surprised at its shine and ease of use.
 
CM is a good bargain, but I didn't like all the residue it left on my hands and paint. Maybe I wasn't using it properly or something. Plus, it falls apart if you ever run out of the QD it comes with and have to use a shampoo mixuture as your lube.



Anyone else experience this or is it just me? :nixweiss
 
Intermezzo said:
CM is a good bargain, but I didn't like all the residue it left on my hands and paint. Maybe I wasn't using it properly or something. Plus, it falls apart if you ever run out of the QD it comes with and have to use a shampoo mixuture as your lube.



Anyone else experience this or is it just me? :nixweiss
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i feel exactly the same way. i was told i got a bad bar so i bought another one but it also sucked(IMO!!!!). i just look at it this way: if i buy the mothers kit, then i'm paying 10 dollars for the bar, 4 for the QD(which is awesome) and 1 for the cleaner wax(which i can always find uses for). it's mothers for me all the way:xyxthumbs
 
mrdetailer said:
When you've put the Z on? It looks so good already.
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I'm guessing your saying why put it on when the car already looks good?



Because I already bought it! and from what I understand Z lasts a lot longer than carnuba and provides more protection: and it can be used on the trim and everything...and the MINI has tons of trim. That is its best perk in my mind!



I'm not gonna do the Z for at least 4 weeks now, going to enjoy this shine for a while and use that excellent mother's QD that came with the kit.



and something I forgot to add: I also only needed a 4th of the clay bar to do my whole car and its not even 'used' up yet. How long does the clay last before it dries out or goes bad??



I might end up doing my dads f150 truck with the rest of the clay...but he'd owe me big! I don't know how all of you with big vehicles can manage detailing all that metal and plastic!
 
I've had my mother's claybar going on 2 years now. I just put it in a ziploc baggy with a few squirts of the QD.



By the way I'm not a big fan of the QD that comes with the clay.. it smells like cinnamon and is sticky.. egh
 
I kept my mother's claybar in a small glass jar filled with a very mild shampoo solution for about 8 months will no ill effects. I'm sure it would have lasted much longer if I didn't need to use it and just kept it there.
 
emobob said:
I'm guessing your saying why put it on when the car already looks good?



Because I already bought it! and from what I understand Z lasts a lot longer than carnuba and provides more protection: and it can be used on the trim and everything...and the MINI has tons of trim. That is its best perk in my mind!



I'm not gonna do the Z for at least 4 weeks now, going to enjoy this shine for a while and use that excellent mother's QD that came with the kit.
Click to expand...



I was slightly sarcastic. It looks so good, I'll bet with the Z it will look even better. Personally I always put something on after I use the clay bar for protection and to avoid more stuff embedding in the paint.
 
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