Some questions about claying.

A

Acura_RL

New member
Hey everyone, I'm a new member here. I was referred to this sight from another forum.



I just bought the Mother's Clay bar kit for $15. I'm eager to use it, but I have a few questions.



First some details: the last time I waxed my car was 1 month ago, and I used Zymol carnuba cleaner wax. My car is always outdoors.



Now here are my questions:



(1) I noticed that some people used Dawn detergent soap to remove the old wax from the car before claying. I heard however that claying does this by itself--ergo you have to wax AFTER you clay. Since my car has been cooking in the outside weather for almost a month, should I just wash with regular car wash liquid and go straight to clay?



(2) If I want another clay bar but I don't want to buy another KIT, where can I buy a clay bar separately? It doesn't have to be Mother's.



(3) After you clay, do you wash the car again?



(4) Since I'm using Zymol and It's carnuba based, how often should I wax? And how often should I clay? Doesn't the wax barrier prevent contaminents from sitting in the paint?



(5) In and of itself, what's the point of the detailing spray? I know you use it as a lubricant, but as a stand alone product, what's the purpose it serves?



(6) After you're done claying, where do you store the clay bar?



Thanks for reading.
 
:welcome to Autopia. These are good questions. Let me see if I can help a bit.





Acura_RL said:




(1) I noticed that some people used Dawn detergent soap to remove the old wax from the car before claying. I heard however that claying does this by itself--ergo you have to wax AFTER you clay. Since my car has been cooking in the outside weather for almost a month, should I just wash with regular car wash liquid and go straight to clay?



Some people do and some people don't. You probably don't have to wash with Dawn in your case, but if you wanted to then it wouldn't hurt anything. Just don't do it more than a few times a year. You won't hurt it then either, its just not a necessary step 100% of the time. If it were me washing this car in the condition you say it is in then I would use Dawn personally, but that's just me.



(2) If I want another clay bar but I don't want to buy another KIT, where can I buy a clay bar separately? It doesn't have to be Mother's.



Clay Magic sells just the bar by itself. Kinda tricky to find it though. The 100 g bar with the lube is only $10 at most AutoZones. I hear WalMart carries it now too. Definitely look for one of those bars. They are awesome.



(3) After you clay, do you wash the car again?



Yes. Well, at least I do. Some just QD the car but I find that its easier to just wash the whole thing again. Lately I haven't even been drying it after I wash it the first time. I let the water standing on the surface be the lube for my clay. Then I just wash and dry it after I clay. It has worked out well for me for nearly a year now with no adverse experience.





(4) Since I'm using Zymol and It's carnuba based, how often should I wax? And how often should I clay? Doesn't the wax barrier prevent contaminents from sitting in the paint?



Which Zymol are you using? Are you using the blue stuff made by Turtle Wax that you can get at Target or a different kind? Most waxes will only last 6 - 8 weeks on a daily driver. I would suggest waxing your car around every 6 weeks if you want to keep that carnauba look going on. I wax about every other week but that is because I'm obsessed. ;)



You shouldn't need to clay more than twice a year. Do it whenever your car feels rough though. If you live in an area where you get a lot of industrial fallout then you may need to clay more than most. It doesn't hurt your car to clay. It will remove all your waxes and sealants though, so make sure you are ready to start over if you start to clay an area. You'll have to reapply the wax that you are taking off if its just spot claying on your bumper or something like that.



Wax does provide some protection, but not a whole lot. If you want real protection then you need to go with a synthetic sealant of some sort. Klasse, Blackfire, Platinum and Zaino are the forum favorites. You can't get those off the shelf though. You'll have to order them online or find a distributer.





(5) In and of itself, what's the point of the detailing spray? I know you use it as a lubricant, but as a stand alone product, what's the purpose it serves?



It doesn't really serve for much more than to quickly clean off waterspots or light dust from your car. Its faster than washing your whole car again if its not really that dirty. I use it for when my windshield washers spray over my windshield and hit my roof. Just quick stuff like that. Unless you are getting one that has carnauba in it then you aren't going to see a visual improvement with most. I know that Platinum's QD adds a bit of a sparkle to the car without adding any carnauba.



(6) After you're done claying, where do you store the clay bar?



I store my clay in an empty jar of wax. It works for me pretty well. There is a thread that came up recently that suggested you could use an Altoids box. You could use a cough drop tin or whatever I guess. Some just put it in a zip loc bag. Its whatever you have available to you. Just don't leave it out on a shelf to get all dried out.



Click to expand...



Hope that helps a bit. There is more than one way to skin a cat and these are just my methods and suggestions. Don't take them as gospel or anything. Have fun on Autopia!! :usa
 
:bow You guys are awesome. This site rocks!



BTW, I use the blue liquid Zymol which I bought from Wal-Mart. I didn't know it was a Turtle wax knock off. :confused:



Does it hurt if I use that? Mothers? I've heard of the brands you mentioned, but I never bothered to try them. Do they protect the paint longer than Zymol, Mother's, et. al?



Thanks! :cool:
 
What you are looking at are waxes. I'm talking about sealants. A wax will last you for about 6 or 8 weeks. A sealant can last for 3 months or more. Waxing has become more and more just an appearance item and not so much of a protection item.



Look on the back of a bottle of Turtle Wax and the back of that Zymol. The addresses of the manufacturer are the same. Turtle Wax makes that particular Zymol wax. If you want a great looking wax then I would go with Meguiar's Gold Class, personally. Its one of the best liquid waxes you can get off the shelf in my opinion. If you want to look into getting some of these sealants then all you need to do is look around online for them. Our sponsor www.properautocare.com carries Klasse and Blackfire. There are a lot of suppliers like that. Very nice stuff. They will definitely protect longer than Zymol, Mothers, Meguiar's, etc. Its the nature of a sealant to last longer and protect longer than a carnauba.
 
Just an FYI... I don't think you can order it online just yet. I know the last time I checked, Sal still doesn't take credit cards. You can email him and get the number for a local distributor though. That saves you bucks on shipping. :D
 
Which Zaino wax should I use for my car? It's light gold paint with a clearcoat finish. Should I use Z2?



BTW, I thought you could only buy direct. I didn't know you could get Zaino from an outside distributor. I'm in the Tampa Bay area. Hopefully someone carries it.



Otherwise I'll check into the other brands, i.e. Klasse.



Thanks.
 
Check your PMs, Acura_RL. I found a great Z distributor in South Carolina -- not exactly "across the street" but ...
 
Just a bit of further clarification... Zaino is not a wax. It is a sealant. They are very different. Kinda like the difference between a dump truck and a Porsche. Well... maybe not that dramatic, but you get the idea. :D



Buying from a distributer is pretty much buying direct. Just go to www.zainobros.com and email them asking where there is a distributer in your area. I'm sure there is. I've never used it so I won't be much help in the recomendation of which to use. I'm sure you can find it in the forums though. :xyxthumbs
 
Hey gang, I forgot to ask: do you recommend claying the paint on the bumpers and trim, even though they're both plastic?
 
ejant said:
:welcome to Autopia AcuraRL
Click to expand...



:cool: Thanks! I really enjoyed the process of detailing a car. I used to spend countless hours on my very first car, a maroon 89 Acura Legend LS sedan.



Now I'm grateful to expand my knowledge with this community. You guys are awesome.
 
So do you all roll the clay into a ball, slide it over the surface in it's block form or what? When I used it on my truck I rolled it out like a rolling pin until it gets too long then I mash it together and do it again. I have read that using it on my PC wouldn't be a good idea so I am sticking to doing by hand.
 
Most people fold it into a resonable size for thier hand, which they won't drop. Be sure to fold the clay on itself, so you are always revealing new, fresh clay, and not just turning it back and forth inside out which would rub the contaminents you just removed all over the next panel.



I use Mothers Showtime spray after each car wash, and before shows if it's only dusty. It really makes the paint *POP*, and adds a minute layer of carnuba protection on top.

As the fellow from the parts store where I bought it from said:

"It's the love for your car".
 
Acura_RL- Welcome. On the "does clay remove wax/sealant" issue, Jngrbrdman and I have had diffrent experiences. In my case, I have found that GENTLE claying does NOT appreciably remove my wax/sealants. I spot-clay frequently during my washes without rewaxing. I believe David B. has had experiences similar to mine, while others say it HAS removed their wax, so there may be no hard and fast rule on this. It could very well be a matter of which clay, how much lube, and how aggressively you do it. Just didn't want you to think you'd necessarily HAVE to rewax any time you clay, you'll have to see what happens.



Also, you can clay just about any surface on your car. If you work carefully and use lube/wash solution, you won't have any trouble. Brightwork, glass, you name it. I've even clayed rubber, but I'm not sure I'd recommend THAT for everybody :rolleyes:
 
I pretty much agree with Accumulator. Last fall, I got about 5 coats of Z2 on the white Jag. Last month, when the weather warmed up so I could finally give her a good hand-wash, I could tell the Zaino is still there, but the finish wasn't as slick as it had been. So I clayed her. (Happened to use ClayMagic this time; in the fall I used Mother's. ) Both times, I used veryveryvery light pressue and lots of lube. I don't believe the claying removed the Zaino. But :nixweiss maybe I'm just blowin' smoke; all this is just "feel" not "data."
 
I can clay three or four cars depending on the size of the vehicle with a Mothers clay bar. I usually cut the bar into 3 or 4 equal parts. I store the unused parts in a baggie after spraying the bar with QD. The smaller size is easier to work with and if I drop the bar then I still have a spare to use. I like the Mothers show time QD as a lube plus you will have a very nice shine when you finish claying.



Tip: If you chose to use Klasse AIO then after claying with Mothers there is really no need to do a wash between claying and AIO. The excellent cleaners in AIO is all you need. I like to wash with dawn,clay with mothers using the show time QD, then AIO. It is so simple you feel guilty that you did not have to work harder.
 
Well I clayed my car last night. All I can say is that, right now, I just think the improvement is only psychological. I mean, the moment I sprayed the lube and ran the clay bar over my hood, I didn't notice it picking up much. It just glided back and forth. I even applied a lot of pressure to see if that would affect anything. Not much.



The clay bar seems only dirty because of touching the black trim around my car and picking up pieces of of those seeds that fall from the trees.



I dunno. Maybe my paint wasn't that bad. Can anyone share any input on this?
 
I usually don't see much difference -- unless the finish is really neglected. The dramatic difference for me was "feel." In fact, the way I'd know if I was finished with a section was to feel the surface after I dried off the lube. If it felt like glass, I'd know I could move on to the next section. Also, it's how I could find which section hadn't yet been clayed: lightly moving my hand across the surface, the unclayed section would almost feel like sandpaper by comparison. (Yeah, I know that's a little bit of an exaggeration.)



But ... maybe you're right, and your finish was already contaminant free.



By the way, you mention removing little seeds. When I'm doing this, I lightly brush off each section with a MF before I start to clay it, because I don't want any particles that might scratch during claying.
 
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