WOT IZ CLAY? not cassius ali plasticine soapy pipe

[mercrocker]

Being the type of bloke who only cleans his cars when seeing out becomes difficult or the birdshit gets on the wife's crimplene I am intrigued as to the use of clay bars in cleaning process.   My Cowley is now  out of OMGBARNFIND storage and its durrrty, like not being washed in 25 years.   Paint is poo but I reckon a good deep clean will improve things.   So wot does clay bar useage entail?

[Station]

It just removes tiny particles from the paint. I find polishing does the job, as however many times you clay it, it always picks up particles.

[vulgalour]

I was suspicious of clay bars until I used one and now I'm a complete convert.  I was given one by a shiter whose name escapes me (sorry) and I've still only used about half of it and done several cars.  You need a bit of lightly soaped water in a squirty bottle rather than the fancy specialist sprays and some time and patience, it's a job you'll enjoy or loathe.

 

Wash the car, rinse it off then use the clay in much the same way as you would cutting compound.  It's very good at lifting old muck and anything ingrained into the surface.  Then apply cutting compound and wax as normal.  My brother and I have been using it to good effect on the Xantia today whose bonnet has gone from parchment yellow to Daz white.  Best of all, claybars don't damage the paint like harsher cutting compounds such as T-cut do which can be particularly beneficial on old thin paint.

 

In short:  Claybars come with a Vulgalour approval rating of YES

 

Edit:  Proof of the efficacy of claybars shown below, the bonnet having been treated and the surrounding panels not.

 

[Cavcraft]

It is very good, you'll be amazed how much shit it brings off, even when your car looks quite clean anyhow.

[Richard]

Did the knock-off clay bars turn out to be any good the last time this was discussed and can anybody post an eBay link to one that works?

[New POD]

keep the patina

[mat_the_cat]

I dunno about eBay links, but I used one for the first time a couple of years back. This is what it removed from one section of the roof between the rubbers on the BX:

 

 

I went for a Bilt Hamber one as you don't need soapy water, just plain water. So it's easy to do after you've just washed it. Got rid of that rough texture of the paint a treat! Maybe someone with more experience of different brands can say whether it's better or worse than another type, but I'd buy one again.

 

I found the easiest way to do it was to have two pieces and a container of warm water. Rub one piece on the car until it was dirty, then plonk it in the water. Then take the other piece out and do the same. By the time that is dirty the first piece is nice and soft so can easily be folded over and flattened out to provide a clean surface again. Then repeat.

[Pete-M]

Clay is brilliant. A bit time consuming but worth it. Better than cutting compounds as clay removes shite from paint where cutting compound removes a layer of paint.

 

 

I spent a morning claying this SD1. It had been in storage for a good few years previously and then parked under a tree for a couple of months before I bought it. Clay did the job beautifully.

[Asimo]

Where do you get these things / this stuff?

 

I have found out that pan scourers and WD40 don't work very well and need to try to do it properly.

[Pete-M]

Halfords or similar.

[mercrocker]

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.    I think there will be enough patina left - like overspray from arches  repaired with plumber's lead, sunburnt roof and three foot wide petrol Niagara from the comedy filler cap and it sounds like a better idea than cutting paste which will destroy the look.   I might do one of those annoying-twat-at-car-show-stall half a bonnet jobs and just leave it like that!

[Rusty_Rocket]

It's best to get specialist cleaning stuff online.  I use http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk.  I suppose I top up my supplies on average once a year at a cost of £30-£40.  This is enough for all my cleaning/ paint recovery activities

Just buying a couple of small polishes or compounds from Halfords will set you back half that and it's nowhere near as good as pro stuff.

[fordperv]

I used some bilt hamber stuff on the saph to try it, but the thing is that well polished it picked next to nothing up so I couldn't see any drastic results