Why CLAY BAR is LETHAL to CAR PAINTWORK

Why Clay bar is more deadly than the British Rail Sausage Roll

In this video we show you why clay bar is potentially bad for your cars paintwork, we show you what clay bar can do and why you should consider perhaps getting into machine polishing if you are going to clay.

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#forensicdetailing #detailing

[ForensicDetailing]

Thank you guys for commenting really means a lot to me.. Ive read them all. Just picking some highlights reel

a) clay lube seems important for a lot of people.
b) consensus seems to be dont clay without machine polishing.. Was interested to explore the angle that it could be of benefit to a car still to offer like a quick, wash clay, and glaze AIO style hand polish?
c) agressive clays marr more than fine ones..
d) chemical decon can be usefull
e) Someone here has never tried the old British rail sausage roll.

[dasworkshop]

I think people have changed the "standards" over the years.  

As I understand it,  clay's role is to pick up the hard contaminants expressly to keep them from being picked up by the polisher pad and doing real damage.

[The.Steve.West.]

After owning a machine polisher for many years I decided to try a clay bar and I used Dodo juice Born slippy clay lube. I started with the bonnet so that I could easily inspect it and once it was wiped dry (having used a ton of lube) I threw the clay bar in the bin as the bonnet was marked or scratched far more than I had expected, and I had to compound (3M fast cut plus) the bonnet to remove the marks. It would have been far easier to just compound the bonnet in the first place as this does remove fallout etc I now use an Iron fallout remover then compound then finishing polish then wax or ceramic coat etc you don't need to waste your time with clay bars in my opinion.

[matthewshambler]

I have clayed and decontaminated paint before without any compounding etc. afterwards- just wax or sealant, this has been on daily driver vehicles that I know for sure were not, nor will not be washed and cared for very well once I’m done. With that said, the appearance and feel of the paint is always improved, even though there are perhaps a few more swirl marks than before. I guess what I’m saying is it’s all about doing right by what you’re dealing with.. change the approach as need be per vehicle/owner combination.

[spencersmustache]

I wouldn't clay a dark color unless I was polishing it too. I might try to get away with it on white or silver paint.

[danbosse]

Always machine polish after claying, I think claying is an important step in detailing car paint.

[waxondetails]

If going for a standard polish, say super resin polish, and then a wax, would you recommend just doing iron and tar sprays at the decontamination stage? Or should the car always be fully clayed and machine polished before a wax?

[SpoonGT]

Clayed my previous Civic which had Gtechniq coating - still left scratches on soft Honda paint. Never again without machine polishing.

[vgemini]

I have clayed three cars including a black one without polishing. All three came out great. I've looked at the car from all kind of angles and I could not see any obvious scratches to the naked eye. I've gotten advice from my friend that is a professional painter that only paints custom hotrods and he said unless you really neglected the car for a great deal of time then you may need to polish. Otherwise clay and sealant are good.

[scottbennington]

One of my customers works at a rail yard. Car gets covered in metal dust from trains/ tracks.
Clay barring one of his neglected cars (2001 Mecedes E55 AMG) was really difficult. I used 4 times the clay, normally used on a vehicle. On the trunk, I decided to go straight to wool pad and meguiars 101. The metal residue caked on my pad quickly. Switched to Meguiars heavy cut foam pad, still caked and hard to run the polisher smoothly. Not a fun experience. I went back to claying the rest of the car before polishing. Meguiars 101, then 205, then Pinnacle Souveran Carnauba Wax, customer was impressed with the results. Lots of extra work, however.

[willmaddox]

A foam pad on a da/rotary does a darn sight more damage with the contamination stuck in it than a clay bar sliding over it for a couple of swipes.

[vanillaice]

detailed by brother's car as a christmas gift. surprised his paint was rough to touch and I dnt have clay in my arsenal. I hand compunded and paint became smooth. finished it with a polish. Was that right?

[ianmoomoo]

So dont use bilt hamber clay bar which was advised in one of your previous videos. Just asking because I just ordered one

[AbdulSalam-xemd]

I think people have missed the point, clay bar removes contamination on the surface of the paint, this causes some scratching of course!

But then you have a contaminant free paint surface ready to polish to make it smooth.

If you didn’t clay then the polish wouldn’t be effective as the small contamination would saturate the pad and leave further swirls.

If you sealed the car afterwards with whatever you choose, wax, sio2 etc it won’t bond over the clear coat but rather over the contaminants if you didn’t clay.

[tomrafal]

I always de-tar and use a fallout remover before claying. I also use loads of lube (usually shampoo + water) and I've never noticed swirling like that after claying. Maybe it's down to technique?

[GMDetails]

Glad you showed this Jon, the amount of people you see claying without polishing 🙄
An essential stage in decontamination but if it’s only being done for a wax or sealant it’s really not worth it

[negativeimage]

I've used the soft bilt hamber with distilled water quite a few times on a black car and not had any problems at all

[Calendyr]

You are absolutely right. The only time I will clay without polishing is on a white vehicle with stained paint. The reasoning is that removing the stains and getting the vehicle really white again looks a lot better ever with the added swirl marks and leaving the stains on. For any other color, I will not clay unless it is followed by polishing. This is especially true on black car when they look like shit after claying.

[douggreen]

I think that the bird in the background heard you singing in previous videos and wanted to steal this show! Regarding the clay bar, I have 3 different grades and find that the course does an amazing job at picking up contaminants but boy does it ever leave a lot of marring, definitely needs to be polished after using a heavy clay bar. The mild ones seem okay, definitely isn't a guaranteed need to polish but i do try to avoid it when possible. Another good video John!

[luckypaco]

Will claying a ceramic coated truck also create marring? Does the ceramic coating layer provide some level of protection against clay scratches?

My truck was ceramic coated last year, and now the surface has lots of bonded contaminates. I removed the majority of them with Iron-X, but the paint still feels a bot rough so I want to clay it.