If after washing your car and u rub your paint and it feels rough or gritty, I highly suggest you follow this technique to renew the smooth as glass feeling your car had when it was new. I recommend doing this once or twice a year, more often if u live near a railroad track.

1) Well first off I would wash you whole vehicle with a quality car wash soap and a microfiber mitt using this technique .washing technique

2) Purchase a good quality clay bar from a local parts store or online (I like clay magic (blue bar), pinnacle poly clay, Zaino Z18 clay).

3)I suggest cutting the bar in 1/2 or in fourths and just using that section and put the rest in a plastic baggie. Use the Lube that comes with it and spray a 2x2 section with about 3-4 mists (make sure u are working in the shade or a garage!). Rub the clay in a back and forth motion (front of car to back of car) using little to no pressure. If you hear or feel grit fold the clay bar into itself covering the side u just used to expose new fresh clay. I personally would fold the bar twice every 2x2 section just to be safe. If you do not you can induce swirl marks or fine scratches that will have to be polished out with a buffer. Also If u drop the clay bar, immediately discard the clay. It is worthless once it is dropped on the ground because the dirt off the ground will scratch your paint if u try and use it.

4)After u finish the section you can opt to leave it wet or buff off the lube with a good quality microfiber towel (which can also be purchase at www.properautocare.com or www.neatitems.com, i personally prefer the neatitems towels, www.pakshak.com also has good quality towels) or you can leave the residue on the vehicle and just completely rewash the vehicle afterwards (i prefer this route, less of a chance of scratching).

5)Then if you have swirl marks and scratches i would buff the car following this technique buffing technique . Then I highly recommend sealing the paint with either a carnuaba wax( some good waxes are blitz, P21S, Pinnacle paste glaz and souveran) or a good quality synthetic sealant(Zaino, Klasse, meguiars #20). Zaino can be purchased at www.zainobros.com and all the other products listed can be purchased at www.properautocare.com www.autogeek.net and www.premiumautocare.com .

alternative lube: Instead of wasting expensive Quick detailer or clay lube I usually use this to lube the car instead, however this method REQUIRES u wash the vehicle afterwards. What I do is wash the car and leave it wet, do not dry it. I mix 1 ounce of Meguiars Gold Class car wash shampoo with 16-17 ounces of warm water in a spray bottle. And spray it on just like i would with the quick detailer. I actually find this way provides more lubrication and lessens the chance of scratching, plus its a lot cheaper

 

One question:
once you perform the claying process, how often do you go back and clay again? and do you do the process from A to Z ...meaning Dawn wash, clay and Zaino all over again or you clay and just add one or two Zaino coats? THNX

 

You can clay the surface when it starts to lose it's slickness. Some people like to do it every six months to one year. It's really up to you and the car's surface condition. If there is still Zaino on the car after you clay, then you can go right ahead and apply another layer of Zaino. If you think all the Zaino is gone, then do a quick dawn wash. Dawn does not remove the Zaino. If there is some Zaino left after six months, perhaps use some ZFX with your Z5 or Z2.

You must use ZFX every six months anyway (or every 10 coats) to keep the bond strong, so if Zaino is on the paint or not, it will bond in both cases.

 

do i wash with dawn again.

 

No, dawn is not needed. If you used a quick detailer spray as lubricant, you don't have to rewash, but it is sometimes recommended. I don't really think the added security is worth the effort (because it takes me so long to meticulously wash the car), so I don't rewash. However, I most often use car wash as lubricant (recommended), then you pretty much are forced too.

So basically, wash with your regular car wash and not dawn. Dawn is not something to be whipped out often, it's basically only used for first time Zaino prep. I prefer to use a cleaner to strip wax.

 

I've clayed cars before but my only warning is to avoid Meguires clay. It's probably the least expensive but it left a sticky clay deposit on the car and was not easy to remove. I know have the best luck with a clay based foam pad polish. Has the same effect as the clay bar but is faster and removes the swirl marks too.

 

what manufacture makes these clay based foam pad polisher?

 

griots does, I cringe at the thought of using a buffer with clay on it. Claying can easily induce scratches if not careful.

 

could u clay the car with out the lube?

ano0oj

 

you need some type of lubricant, the first posting gives step by step directions...

 

Thanks for all the info. Do you guys recommend using a buffer or hand-buffing it? If so, do you rec. the 10-inch buffer or a smaller 5-6inch one?

 

Don't use a large pad unless you really know what you are doing, the high speed of the edge can easily burn the paint if you don't know what you are doing. The smaller pads are much safer, I use a 6" that's 2" thick. The only time I use a 10" is with a wool pad for cutting through heavily oxidize or faded paint to remove a layer.

 

I've used the Griot's clay with their Speed Shine product as a lubricant - works great!


TJC

 

Meguiars clay WAS bad stuff. But--------

Last year Meguiars released a new clay, actually two new clays, blue medium and red agressive.

Really good stuff now.

 

Clay is bad. There is a new things out that's supposed to be better, wipe kinda thing with a towel. More data on this later on.

 

So just to clarify:

"If there is zaino left on the vehicle after claying then one can simply apply a new coat of zaino. If there is no zaino then one needs to completely prep the vehicle again." - paraphrased quote.

I suppose the question I'm asking here is does claying remove zaino? If not then I should very rarely have to use dawn again as there will always be zaino on the vehicle, even after claying.

Thanks for your advice

 

using the lube is recommended by most of the clay manufacturers because some soaps can cause the clay to deteriorate.

 

My zaino clay didn't come with any lubricant, any suggestions on what kinda of lubricant to use?

 

Zaino's clay instructions instruct you to use a diluted mixture of their carwash and water. Works for me.

 

I began claying just weeks ago using Mother's Clay Bar. It has not disappointed me as far as results, plus it comes with a lubricant spray bottle and wax, all for $17.

 

Any News?

 

You'll be better off PMing Kar Don about it. He might have more information, I'll try to contact him as well.

 

Ricky, this contradicts what you've been saying about the effectiveness of clay... now it's bad? It's abrasive, yes, but nothing remotely harmful to the paint itself.

 

That's what I was thinking as well. Kar Don first told me about this 'towel' thing a while ago, but we never talked about it again. Like I said, someone PM him, I'm trying to contact him about it through AIM.

 

Well let us know once you find out about it! Thanks!