Mike you and I agree on the water blade!
Pat

 

I've tried several and Griot's is the best to me... plus the price is better than the others when you look at price per oz since Griot's gives a bigger bar. Combine their bar, their Speed Shine as lubricant, and their orbital foam holder for the clay and you can clay your car in no time!

 

Well, I went with Mother's and completed the clay bar today. I think it was FP who suggested to put a plastic bag on your hand and run it over the surface both before and after. I couldn't believe the difference. In fact, had I not done that I'm not sure if I would have been as impressed. But it looks great now. I am following up with the small bottle of wax that came in the kit. Thanks to everyone for their input on this thread.

 

Another clay bar tip is to tear the clay bar into multiple pieces. Of course, this all depends on the original size of the bar. You may only get it into 2 usable pieces.

The reason for this is that if you drop your clay bar on the ground you do not have to risk trying to use it with pebbles imbedded in it. You can then go with your backup piece of clay. If you've ever dropped your clay bar you can appeciate this.

 

Pat, I'm guessing your car stays pretty clean, the less contaminate there is on the car, the less abrasive the clay is. If you take a car that's in bad shape, i.e. the nearly 20 year old black 240sx i just did, and only use water, after a few minutes you might as well be using concrete to detail it cause that piece of clay's gonna have that many years worth of grit stuck in it.

 

Now just go buy yourself a PC orbital polisher and you can become as **** as the rest of us. I swear, detailing is just like golf, once you're into it, you're stuck for good and it will just leach money out of you for all eternity. But you CAN at least point and laugh at your buddy's dirty *** car with confidence.

 

Bryce - might have something to do with it but I've also done my wife's 04 Benz we got last September, A while ago a used Volvo that was in terrible shape and I also did Imafink with him about 3-4 weeks ago. Now the Volvo took an entire Zaino claybar which was cut into two pieces. Pat Fink told me it had been awhile since he waxed his car. These were all done using a spray bottle with good ol' H20.
I do small sections maybe 1 foot to a foot and a half square and I squirt the surface down real good and I've never had an issue and the cars have all come out smooth as glass, in fact that was the first thing Imafinks wife noticed. If you want or have to use the detail spray by all means use it, I'm just stating what works for me. Again it might have something to do with Zaino's clay. By the way it was an auto detailer by trade that told me that H20 works, he said that Mothers, Zaino etc just want to sell you more detailing spray. I was skeptical at first, just like you and Mike but it works for me. Oddly enough I've even clayed in direct sun. I agree on a really old, really dirty finish you'll probably have to use more than water but I never let my cars get that bad. The Benz wasn't here 24 hours before it was clayed, Zaino's and wheel wells and brake calipers painted. When we took it back to the dealer for a service the service writer told me he was amazed how much nicer the car looked, they had prep'd it when it came in and he said the difference was noticeable.
I have always kept a small piece of clay for emergencies like a bird who thinks my car looks like a toilet in a plastic bag, in a cool, dry place so it doesn't dry out but for the most part once its used I toss it. Zaino gives you two bars, I cut one in half and that's what I use, it only takes half a bar to do my car. I do appreciate the input.
Here's a question what kind of buffing pads does everyone use? I use a gray colored foam pad but I'm wondering if there isn't something that would be better to use? I tried a red colored pad but that almost seems too soft. I'm wondering if there isn't a cloth pad?
Pat

 

Bryce is spot on - a badly contaminated vehicle is going to run into problems if you don't use a lubricant with the clay, and a very lightly contaminated vehicle very likely won't have issues. But if you're going to teach someone how to use a product, it really is important to teach them best practice methods to avoid issues down the line. You would be amazed at some of the phone calls we get from people using all sorts of surface care products incorrectly and then being upset because they damaged something, no matter how minimal or correctable said damage is.

Nope. Zaino's clay is no different than anyone elses. We all use the same source and pay a licensing fee to do so. One of our competitors tried to sell clay while sidestepping this licensing issue, was sued, and lost. We can all specify levels of aggressiveness and even color, but all clay is basically the same stuff.

Just because someone is an auto detailer by trade doesn't mean he knows anything. Harsh as that sounds we see far too many people show up at our clinics and open garage sessions asking how to fix the problems caused by the "pro" who just detailed their car. I've talked to guys with very expensive cars who have paid $300 and more to have their cars "professionally detailed" only to point out the gross flaws in their paint, and then redo the vehicle with nothing more than a D/A polisher and something as mild as our M80 and the paint is near flawless. Why couldn't the "pro" do the same, or at least close, for $300?

And the comment about all of us just wanting to sell you more detailing spray is typical from guys like this. If all we wanted to do was sell more detail spray, why would we recommend that you NOT use our Ultimate Quik Detailer as a clay lube since it's our most expensive QD spray? Well, we don't recommend it because it's actually too slick and will prevent the clay from doing it's job. Our Last Touch detail spray is great for use as a clay lube, and it's only $18/gallon and you then dilute it 1:1 with water so it's really only $18 for two gallons (that's 7 cents/ounce compared to 40 cents/ounce or so for your typical bottle of quick detail spray). A little soap in your water is fine as a lube too, but you almost always have to rewash the car after doing this because soapy water doesn't wipe off as cleanly as a QD spray will. For the vast majority of the consuming public that just isn't acceptable, nor is the potential for soap residue. Consider the time needed to rewash the vehicle compared to the few cents in QD spray you'd otherwise use, and it's a no brainer.

Now Pat, I know you're thinking "well, I don't have to wash my car after claying because I'm using plain water" and I'm sure that's true. But if you're teaching others how to clay, you really should teach them proper technique.





Can you be more specific? Who's pads? There is no color standard in the industry for pads. Meguiar's just introduced new pads last week with a new backing on them so they are fully machine washable and dryable.

More importantly, though, is that our new cutting pad (W7207 - burgundy in color) is now recommended for use with the DA polisher. The foam on this pad is of a different construction than that of our previous burgundy cutting pad (W7006) so there's less tendacy for it to haze paint when used with the oscillating motion of the DA as opposed to the pure circular motion of a rotary.

Our yellow polishing pad (W8207) has the exact same foam of our previous polishing pad (W8006) but now has the new backing on it.

Our new finishing pad (W9207) is now black instead of tan (previous W9006) and corrects a sometime issue of pad chatter when applying certain glazes or waxes with a rotary buffer. This was never an issue with the DA but plenty of guys use the same pad on both machines.

Of course, the chemicals you use play a huge part in the whole process too and not all paints respond equally to the same chemicals.