Why do clay bars scare people?

B

BobD

New member
I get into a clay bar discussion on a weekly basis and there is always someone who either says not to clay or to only clay a couple times a year. I have had cars where I clayed on a weekly basis do to certain evironmental elements. I never had a problem with it doing damage to the paint. But once a week someone will say how bad claying is tell of all of the damage it does to the paint if you use it too much. Heck, I even knew this guy that owned a detailing shop near factories and clayed his car daily! The car's paint was always top notch. But then one day my old business partner was up at a shop selling products and was going over how to use the clay bar properly and the dude flipped out! He went on a 15 minute rampage about how you never clay your car and it will scratch the paint beyond repair.





I was just sort of wondering if you all hear these same things all of the time? I don't know if it is just me or what but I have been using clay for years and years and have never had a bad experience from it.
 
I hear it all the time. People are just misenformed about clay. I do my best to educate.

If they dont wanna believe me i just tell them to go look at their paint and touch it and then go look at mine and touch it. They are ussually in aw at that point.

Then i say....i clay ALL the time.
 
I think I've heard a couple times from people on other forums who supposedly had bad experiences. You have to be pretty stupid, but I guess if you used too little lubricant and didn't bother washing the car first you could certainly have a problem. Kind of like saying that microfiber is bad because you rubbed a dirty car with it.
 
UnsanePyro said:
At least you guys are talking to people who know what it is, a lot of people I mention it to just look back at me completely confused
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90% of them i have to explain what it is and what it does. Its the other 10% that i have to damn near beat sense into about how harmless it is.
 
Almost every single person Ive ever mentioned clay bar to has never even heard of it, and consequently I usually give them the typical Autopian definition and instructions for a clay bar.



The only person Ive ever had tell me anything negative about a clay bar was the idiot behind the counter at the local AutoZone. According to him "Clay Barring will eventually cut all the clearcoat off, you should only ever clay your car once"
 
UnsanePyro said:
At least you guys are talking to people who know what it is, a lot of people I mention it to just look back at me completely confused
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I agree - most people never heard of detailing clay - and rightly so.... most people don't have a PC with an assortment of pads, or a stack of microfiber towels, or...



Heck, I'm convinced that most people rarely wash their cars or clean up the inside!



Now on the flip side, when I first caught the new car fever and started 'studyin up on detailin' I thought this detailing clay was just simply polymer modeling clay, not realizing it was loaded with abrasive compound(s). Without sufficient lubricant for the clay to gluide over, you could cause some serious marring. What about those that leave the car wet and/or just use car wash soap or Dawn as the lube - what if the amount of soap isn't right...

I'd venture to say that most Autopian types don't make mistakes with clay. For many others, it's probably best that they don't know about it, because it's likely they would only know enough to get themselves in trouble. But then most of the people that never wash the car, or wash it with a broom and dry with an old dirty bath towel, probably aren't gonna spend $10-$20 for a bar of clay anyway!
 
[quote name='Danase Heck, I even knew this guy that owned a detailing shop near factories and clayed his car daily!

[/QUOTE']



You're serious? The guy ran a detailing shop where he detailed customers' cars (ie worked a regular job), and he had the time (and more amazingly the desire) to clay his car EVERY DAY, which of course meant he had to wash it and dry it (at a minimum) every day too. So, if he worked 5 days a week at the shop and clayed his car every day, it means he washed and used clay at least about 280 times a year. That's a very odd anecdote :think:
 
UnsanePyro said:
At least you guys are talking to people who know what it is, a lot of people I mention it to just look back at me completely confused
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Same here.....not a clue. I've never heard an objection since no one knows what I'm talking about! A quick demo on a small (clean) area does the selling for me.
 
percynjpn said:
You're serious? The guy ran a detailing shop where he detailed customers' cars (ie worked a regular job), and he had the time (and more amazingly the desire) to clay his car EVERY DAY, which of course meant he had to wash it and dry it (at a minimum) every day too. So, if he worked 5 days a week at the shop and clayed his car every day, it means he washed and used clay at least about 280 times a year. That's a very odd anecdote :think:
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Um...my math says no more than 260 times a year (5 X 52)...but whatever...if he was doing it every day, perhaps he just gave it a quick QD and clayed with clay lube. If you own a detailing business, perhaps it was important for his car to look perfect every day, to reassure his clientele, and therefore worth it. Or maybe Danase took a little poetic license and the guy didn't actually do it every day...perhaps it just seemed that way.
 
percynjpn said:
You're serious? The guy ran a detailing shop where he detailed customers' cars (ie worked a regular job), and he had the time (and more amazingly the desire) to clay his car EVERY DAY, which of course meant he had to wash it and dry it (at a minimum) every day too. So, if he worked 5 days a week at the shop and clayed his car every day, it means he washed and used clay at least about 280 times a year. That's a very odd anecdote :think:
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Yeppers. He ran a detail shop but it was for a few car dealerships. Every day before he got started or before he went home he would wash the car up and clay it. And when I saw wash it sometimes he would just use a detail spray. And if it was raining out or snowing he would not bother. So maybe not every single day. ;)
 
Danase said:
Yeppers. He ran a detail shop but it was for a few car dealerships. Every day before he got started or before he went home he would wash the car up and clay it. And when I saw wash it sometimes he would just use a detail spray. And if it was raining out or snowing he would not bother. So maybe not every single day. ;)
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I see; bit of overkill, I'd say, but that's just me. :o
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Um...my math says no more than 260 times a year (5 X 52)...but whatever...if he was doing it every day, perhaps he just gave it a quick QD and clayed with clay lube. If you own a detailing business, perhaps it was important for his car to look perfect every day, to reassure his clientele, and therefore worth it. Or maybe Danase took a little poetic license and the guy didn't actually do it every day...perhaps it just seemed that way.
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Yes - perhaps, perhaps, maybe and perhaps again; your powers of supposition seem to be very sharp indeed!
 
Even here at Autopia, though not as often as on other forums, I see a lot of "claying will always strip all your LSP" :rolleyes: When I say that I spot-clay at every wash, and have for over a decade, I get "you don't need to do that" (then why would I bother...not like I do it for kicks) and "it stripped your LSP, you just don't know it" (yeah, right).



Danase- Glad to see you're handling the Sonus green now.
 
Accumulator said:
Even here at Autopia, though not as often as on other forums, I see a lot of "claying will always strip all your LSP" :rolleyes: When I say that I spot-clay at every wash, and have for over a decade, I get "you don't need to do that" (then why would I bother...not like I do it for kicks) and "it stripped your LSP, you just don't know it" (yeah, right).



Danase- Glad to see you're handling the Sonus green now.
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I thought you just did it for sh!ts and giggles. No? HAHA!



Thanks !
 
I think some people think claybar-ing your paint is like wetsanding. I think they confuse the two processes.



And yes most people don't have a clue about claying when I tell them about. I usually get a "Huh?" look or stare.
 
Thats why everything must be well lubricated, to prevent "sanding" with the crap you're taking off!



Without it, all that crap would still be stuck to the paint!
 
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