I'm planning on using Mothers clay bar on my car this weekend and I had some ?'s:

1) I've read in previous posts that you should wash ur car with Dawn first, does it have to be Dawn? why not Palmolive (sp?)? Is there something in Dawn that makes it better for removing old wax?

2) If I have stickers on my car, would they come off or if I were to remove them later, would there be an imprint of what the sticker used to say?

3) I'm new to this, how long on average does it take to do a complete job?

4) I've read that you're supposed to use some kind of lube before applying the clay bar, does the Mothers kit come with some sort of lube?

thanx in advance...

 

I used Mothers clay bar to do my car...

1: Dawn is one of the only very strong detergents that wont harm the car. Remember the old Dawn commericals? "Cuts through grease, gentle on your hands"

2: I have pinstriping on my '99, even with the lube and the pressure of the clay bar it was no problem. Stickers shouldent be a problem either.

3: Get comfey. If you wanna do it right, your looking at an hour and a half at least for the entire car. Then you have to wash it AGAIN after your done eheheh

4: Yes, the lube in the box. Its a spray bottle. The clay bar is just this tiny little thing, like the size of a bar of hotel soap. Your gunna open the box and say "how the hell is this going to work" but it does!!!!

You wont regret it dude, after i did it to my '99 i noticed a huge difference, and it tottaly got rid of ALL the overspray the ghetto dealership parking lot guy that painted my bumper left there as a present ehheh

 

The lube is essentially soapy water, so if you run out you can make some of your own. Be generous with the spray to avoid scratching the finish. I remember a guy who posted that he clayed his car dry and was complaining that there were deep scratches all over his car. dumba$$.

Also, like the directions say on the container, periodically fold the clay into itself to expose clean clay. This will also help prevent scratches from the tiny particles the clay picks up.

Most importantly, if you drop the clay on the ground it's done! toss it in the trash. that stuff is like a dirt magnet and I gaurantee it will have crap in it even if you can't see it.

You will be amazed how much stuff comes off your car.

Have fun,
Iggy

 

my 99 TL has a fair bit of scratches on certain areas around the car...the only thing i have tried to far is a fine-grit compound / scratch remover, and it was too fine to do anything. is a clay bar going to do anything? what is my best bet for removing these scratches.

 

www.autopia.org

 

ok thanx for the replies im gonna post before and after pics after i do it tomorrow. the main thing im afraid of is dropping the bar...that would really suck:o
but yea i got the box and everything is explained. the bar is sooo tiny

 

Can someone explain to me, please, what clay bar is?

 

its like a little bar of clay that you rub on ur car to get off dirt and gunk.

 

Where can I get it? And is it the entire car that you need to do or just parts of the car that have scratches?

 

you can get it at any auto store like pep boys or autozone. i beleive you have to do the whole car, it would look weird to only have one part of ur car all shiney n the rest all dull n ugly

 

julian - http://www.zainobros.com/files/application.htm

 

so would you need to buy a new bar of clay everytime you want to detail your car? since it picks up all that gunk.....

 

that suks ballz man!!
i only have two of them too(zaino) and i'm sure i'll drop one of them when i do it this weekend.
maybe i should cover the ground with plastic bag or something.:p
these sh*ts are expensice also!

 

good idea! i might cover my garage floor w/ plastic, even tho it is carpet

shimbo: no it says you can use it up to 3 times on "regular" sized cars..

 

Cut the bar into 4ths. You won't need the whole bar for the car. Plus, if you drop it, you won't be dropping the whole thing. And yes, it makes a HUGE difference (I just clayed and Zaino'ed last weekend!!!!!!).

Jung

 

It makes the paint smooth and clean more than anything.

 

Question? I have my TL-S for only 3 weeks, should I clay it now or wax first. Don't you usually clay after you have the car for awhile?

 

frainc:
i'd clay it anyway but you dun reallly need too since its new.

 

The general school of thought is that you SHOULD clay a new car. Most cars are transported via the rail system which exposes them to rail dust. Rail dust is pretty nasty stuff and is microscopic so you can't see it very easily, but it loves to eat the finish on nice new vehicles.

Claybar will help to remove this stuff better than most anything. Maybe someone more knowledgable can chime in.

FWIW,
Iggy