OK... The Blackfire is going to arrive tomorrow. I just wanted to be different from most here on ACL.com, so I decided to go with something other than ZAINO.

I've been using Meguiars Gold Glass. While it shines my CL like a mother, it lasts maybe three days. One good rain or wash and it's already gone!

The paint is in great shape, as I wash AT LEAST once a week.

I was already planning on dawning the car to get rid of all the wax, but what about a clay? The Blackfire people recommend it, but everyone does it seems. What are the methods for determining whether the paint needs to be clayed?

I'll do it if I have to, but if it's not necessary, I won't bother.

Thanks!

 

A clay bar will remove all the dirt, debris, bug, tree sap and brake dust that regular washings can't remove. I will smooth your surface and create a better bonding surface for zaino or bf.

 

Do you need to clay? No.

Will you regret not claying? YES

The first time I clayed my car the surface went from feeling like sandpaper to feeling like glass. Now before I clayed it, I thought it was smooth, it was only after I clayed it that I realized how bad it was. One of the secrets of getting your car to look amazing is to make sure the paint is as clean and smooth as humanly possible before you start applying your polish of choice. Once you move out of the world of "cleaner/polishes" into the world of non-abrasive polishes it's up to you to do what it takes to get the surface prepared. The mild abrasives in the cleaner aren't there to do that for you any more.


Do the clay, it will be worth evey minute you spend doing it.

Ira

 

And how long should I expect this to take? I'm off tomorrow, so time really isn't an issue, I'm just more curious than anything.

I may do the claying tonight if my wife isn't around.

 

There is no penalty for claying half today and half tomorrow.

The first time I did my Camaro it took an hour or two. Clay is scary until you get comfortable with it.

Use lots of lubrication, a dilute solution of car wash and water works fine. In a perfect world the clay bar never touches the surface of the paint, it rides on a very thin film of lubricant.

On flat level surfaces it's ok to place your middle and ring fingers on top of the clay bar and use you pinkie and index fingers to trap the bar. This gives enough control for the roof and hood as long as you stay away from edges. When you get to an edge you should change your grip to one finger on each side of the bar.

I don't know about you, but my mind is still struggling with the essentially frictionless claying envrionment and so I hang on really tight whenever I'm near curves or edges.

After some amount of use the clay will get dirty enough you're not willing to continue using it on your car. My solution to this is to only use one side of the clay bar. when it get's dirty, I stretch the bar and fold the dirty side in on itself. That leaves 2 clean sides again. use one of them and repeat the stretch and fold trick when that get's dirty. If you're careful, you can get 15 or 20 sides out of 1 clay bar.

Oh, I forgot to answer your question. 1 to 2 hours the first time, 15 minutes or so every 4 months thereafter to keep it perfect. Depending on the car, it might take 4 or 6 sides the first time. After that, it only takes about 1/2 a side.

Ira

 

From that I gather the object is NOT to rub into the clear coat at all, correct??? The last thing I want to do is fuck things up.

My wife picked up my clay bar and lub from a local shop today. Should I use the lub, or would a combo. of water and dawn do the trick???

 

Right, more than light pressure is not necessary. Use their lube or soap and water, whichever seems to work best. Zaino recommends soap and water becasue it works, it's cheap and you don't run out.

I think I might have forgot to mention that you should wash the car before using the clay bar. You want the car as clean as possible before you start so the clay has the least amount of stuff to pick up and all that's left for it is really tiny stuff that will embed in the bar.

Ira

 

Thanks for all the replies Ira. My plans are to dawn, then clay, then dawn again. Then it's on to applying the Blackfire Polish and paint protectant.


I can't wait!!!

 

definately clay, better safe than sorry. surface prep is very important, it can make a big difference in the shine of the paint.

-briancl

 

Scrib, which brand of clay do u go with?

 

I picked up a Mother's clay bar last night. Got up bright and early this morning and went to town.

Dawned the car first. Pulled that Meguiars right off.

Side note... I talked to my Dad last night and he told me about a rather nifty trick. Put a plastic sandwich bag over your hand and rub it over the paint on the car. If you can feel grit, the car needs to be clayed.

So I did that, and for the most part, is was pretty smooth. The areas that were worse, were by the wheels, and front bumper.

I clayed the whole car anyway. The process was pretty easy. I didn't apply too much pressure, but I could feel the 'clicking' when I ran over something not part of the paint.

I then dawned again.


I'm now patiently waiting for the UPS man to bring me my BlackFire products. The car already looks great. I can't wait to see what she looks like after some BF love.

 

Could you post some pics? I want to see what results you get with bf

 

Yep... As soon as I get it and I'm able to put it on. UPS always comes later in the day here.