Having never used one before, I decided to attack my car with a claybar over the weekend

Really impressed with the results...



















I dumped it back in the garage after taking those photo...

...then got it back out the following morning to polish and wax 8)









Oh, and then i wasn't happy with those photos of it polished, as it was in full sun...

...so I took a few more after the sun had dissapeared a bit :P

 

wow!!! looks very shiny!

which clay did you use?

 

nice work mate! Still need to clay my new car. Plenty of elbow grease needed tho!


have you thought about taking the front fog lights apart and painting the chrome surround round the bulb black? Just looks a bit odd with the rest of the round lights

 

i used one on my car last year and was decidedly underwhelmed by my results. how long did you spend on it?

 

German paint work is harder to work on chap, plus if it was the BM then its alot older than the above motor

 

I used the Meguires one

 

I spent about an hour going over with the claybar...

...the good thing about having a small car

 

good one!
even the plastics look propper!

i remember claying the capper... propper old car and was very very very impressed with the result.

although i did spend ~ 3-4 hours on it--bout 30mins per panel, throughout an entire day!



can you see the difference



yes... claybar FTW

although i did run out of the lube halfway through... THATS how much time i spent on it!

 

wow that bonnet pic shows up what youve done really well!!!!

 

Got the car back from Ford yesterday with a new clutch, slave cylinder and heater control value...and...

...scratched wheels where they'd caught around the bolts! nice of them

 

Did this to my saph a wee while ago, still anint finished (have to do the bonnet and roof) but the results were amazing, it took off soo much shit, so i did the punto and Ka too. Would defo reccomend it to anyone.

 

I have 2 clays for my detailing, the megs one which is very mild, and a poorboys one which isnt so mild.

nice effort

 

I've done 3 of the family cars with the claybar this year, used clearkote then a 4 stage process:

Polish - Poorboy's Polish with Carnauba Blue
Glaze - Poorboy's Black Hole
Sealant - Poorboy's EX
Wax - Collinite No. 915 Marque D'Elegance

Fuck knows why but decided to the the front end of my escort:





Also did the missus MG:





And as punishment for getting trollied last Saturday night, ended up doing the inlaws car (finish doesn't seem as deep but put that down to the metallic flake in the paint):

 

nice results there

 

Thanks, the escort was the hardest to achieve, as its been sat out in the elements for a while now.

The bonnet actually had the feel of sandpaper, had to claybar that twice!

Now got quite a collection of detailing products, and have to admit find it very calming! (as long as she doesnt offer to help, then end up making more work for me! ).

Ps I love the way they look after a shower, the beading off the paint looks ace!

 

it iis calming indeed. even more so when you get paid to do it lol.

ive got a rather large collection of detailing stuff now. about Ł900 worth if you inclued the rotary and PC etc

 

Thats whats next on my list, a polisher:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=005

Seems like a good starting point...

 

OMG

Jase you are a Bufty!!!!!

 

Haha, wouldn't go that far Lee! On the outside maybe!

But beading does get me excited!

 

OliC - cool car mate!

 

Nice work there guys
But what does FTW stand for?

 

For
The
Win =)

 

Can Claybar seriously acheive that sort of shine without any polishing

 

You need to have good quality paint work to start with, but yes the polish and wax are only to finish the work you do with a claybar

 

Exxxxxcellent

I'm guessing its not for removing swirls then?

 

what the hell IS a clay bar,,, whats so good about it and how does it work

i understand polish and wax,,, claybar i aint got a clue about

 

no, Claybar will remove little spots of tar, tree sap, road grime, basicly any crap that sticks to your paint work that doesnt come off with normal washing.

I was amazed at what came off my car when i clayed it, even after washing it. Once it was clayed and the paint nice and smooth and clean your ready for the polish to have a nice clean base to start on, i polished it to clean the colour, sealed it with ex-p sealer to lock the polish in, then waxed it to give it a water resistance glossy finish.

For swirl removal you need a proper polisher machine and polishing pads with a swirl removing compound. From what i understand Swirls are small scratches in the lacquer layer that reflect light at different angles. by using a polisher with a light cutting compound the lacquer can be buffed and repaired to remove the swirls so that light relfects off the paint underneath and not the lacquer layer