When is the last time you claybarred your car?
 

Did that today on the C6Z and this is the first time it's been done since I bought the car a year ago. I could feel a dramatic difference on the surfaces after the clay bar process was done. Feels very silky smooth to the touch, looks REAL pretty too, and I don't even have any finish layer on it yet. Of course, it's a back breaker getting down low to do those rocker panels.

But DEFINITELY worth doing! :thumbsup:

Did mine about a year and a half ago, and noticed a dramatic difference as well.
Might be time to do it again..........
Andy :wavey:

The easiest way to tell if it's time is by putting your hand into a Glad (or equivalent) sandwich bag and rubbing it across your hood lightly. You will feel all the bumps immediately that way.

Do mine once a year...

Just did mine 2 weeks ago...usually do it once sometimes twice a year.

I just did my silverado a couple of months ago very dramatic difference. I am planning on doing the vette here real soon while I have some time. I use a clay bar, polish, glaze/sealant, then two coats of carnuba wax all by hand no machine man am I sore after that.

Yeah, I did the polishing yesterday with the buffing machine and parts of my body are hurting I didn't know I had. :ack2:

I did my ElCamino just before I sold it so I can't say how well or long it held up. But I can say, that even though the car was all around pristine, the buyer seemed more taken aback with the smoothness of the paint than he was in the rest of the car. The clay I used was from Griot's. First, a good wash- second, a light mist of (Griot's) "Speed-Shine", which will act as a lubricant for the clay- the I used a (Porta-Cable) polisher for the clay. Then the usual polishing, waxing, buffing, etc Came out nice.

So this was a liquid clay, and not an actual clay BAR?

No liquid, a bar! One would shape the clay to conform to a "holder", of sorts and then attach that to the polisher. Works well.

I've never tried it that way. Sure seems like it would be easier on the arms!

Speaking of claybars, I discovered something maybe helpful to someone today. One of the problems with using the claybar is that if you drop it onto the ground, most people recommend that you just throw it away, because if it is contaminated with sand or anything at all abrasive, using it again can likely damage your paint job with scratches inflicted by the grit picked up by that dropped claybar. Well, use a rubber glove while using the claybar, and it's going to be pretty darn tough to drop that lump of clay, because it will tend to adhere to the glove. Matter of fact, you will likely have to peel the claybar off of the glove when you are done. So you don't have to worry about it getting slippery in your bare hands and slipping to the ground.

BTW, plain old H2O works fine as a lubricant for the claybar. Using anything fancy is really just a waste of time and money. Just keep the surface of both the bar and the paint surface wet, and you won't have any problems with the bar sticking to the paint. Just don't STOP moving the bar and allow it to come to rest on the paint surface, because then it likely WILL stick.

great advice about the rubber glove. I do use detail spray because it seems to lubricate and be slippier than water. Both work well as long as you don't let the clay bar sit on the paint for any length of time. And don't rub hard either.

WORD:iagree:

I know this is an old thread BUT.I've watched You Tube on how to clay bar your car .I won't start with the Vett but I will do my daily driver Ford Fiesta because it needs it,small and if things go bad :shrug01:

I don't think the clay bars are really all that abrasive to get you in trouble with using them. But it appears that some do come in assorted grits. However the only designations I've seen to tell you what sort of grit one bar might have instead of another is that some bars are recommended for light colored paint jobs and others for darker colors. Most don't make any sort of distinction, so I'm not sure if it really makes any difference, and any company making such a distinction is really just doing this as a marketing ploy to sell more clay bars to people who have both light and dark colored vehicles. :shrug01:

The only issues I have seen is that those suckers are slippery little devils when they are wet, and holding onto them can be a challenge. But the trick with using a rubber glove seems to have solved that.

Seriously, put your hand in one of those fold over closing plastic sandwich bags and run it over your paint surface lightly. If it's not as perfectly smooth feeling, then it's likely time to clay bar you car. Do this BEFORE polishing the paint surface. Otherwise the junk in your paint you feel with your hand gets into the polishing medium and can cause you some headaches.

Heck, now that I'm thinking of it, I probably need to check the cars myself sometime soon to see if they need the claybar treatment.

Yep it's time to re-do mine too. BTW I really like the glove idea. Will have to try that our this time.
:dancer01: