Clay bar newbie... your car might not start afterwards!

[bluepeter]

Hopefully this will help anyone who has not yet used a clay bar in their cleaning routine...

If, like me, you have a few decades clocked up you may well have cleaned a fair few cars in your time. I have been a two bucket and wax polish man for that time (as well as glass cleaner, interior cleaning too - it wasn't always called detailing!). I have occasionally had the "you must have one of the cleanest cars around here" comments too.

The Scirocco and this forum have only added to my marginally obsessive activities. I read about clay bars on this forum and read around on the 'net. Eventually I thought I would have to give it a go.

I was not entirely sure about all this but I ended up buying a Meguiar's clay bar kit from Halfords - it was a case of having all the components (2 x clay bars, detailing spray/mist & micro-fibre cloth) and not try spending too much with bulk purchases. If I didn't think it worth while then I would only waste the one off spend.

I washed the car in the usual manner and made sure that any water traps (under headlights, bottom of rear screen etc.) were dry. The clay requires a small amount of kneading in your hand - then you simply spray this rather clear mist of detailing spray onto the car and wipe the clay across the liquid lubricated surface. The clay slides around as if nothing is happening. If you overshoot the liquid area the clay will suddenly encounter very high friction and you will see small traces of clay on the body work. A simple squirt of detailing spray and re-do with the clay will tidy that up.

You then wipe over the recently done area with the micro-fibre cloth a move on. You are only working on small areas at a time so it does take a while - for me it was more than 1 hour but less than 2 (I had a cuppa stop in the middle of it all, so no accurate time).

For a while, I thought this was going to be a waste of valuable time let alone money. Spray, glide, wipe - move on. Repeat. I looked the surface of the clay and there were some occasional spots on the surface. A quick knead of the clay and you you're good to do the next spray, glide & wipe. My Scirocco is a 63 plate in night blue and I had started from the roof. I was amazed by what you could see as I worked round the car even after I had thought I had given it a good wash.

Two things stand out for me. One was the driver's door which was best lit at the time. I had done half the door - the before and after was not going to stop a blind man in the street but it was quite noticeable - there was already more lustre and depth to the colour.

The other stand out was the comments I had read about the sound of using a clay bar. For the most part it was almost completely silent. When I reached the rear bumper and below that all changed - you could hear muck being picked up. The clay surface was dirty each spray, clay and wipe. I could not believe or understand why/how so much had been accumulated here.

By the time I had finished, I was ready to wax. I still use Autoglym Super Resin polish - I had a 1l bottle so was not going to bin it. The results were truly amazing. I can categorically say that I have never had such a gleaming machine - even garaged motorbikes never gleamed like that.

So, what about the car not starting? Wheels cleaned, inside hoovered and cleaned, leather fed, exterior gleaming - why would you want to put that on the road to get mucked up? I was loathed to take the car out. Then I went back a couple of hours later and our feathered friends voted their signs of displeasure. Out came the detailing spray after removing the bulk of their "material". Great - car restored to gleaming glory. Birds voted again. Thanks. Repeat cleaning.

The car is going to get dirty again very soon, driven or not. In any case it's a Scirocco and they are too much fun to leave parked up so the car will start today - it's had one night of imagined glory (imagined because the birds are busy from the first daylight hours - I am not).

Hope that helps - now I have to do my wife's car - there's too much difference now!

[Rob1]

Good write up have you tried the clay cloths, I heard they are supposed to be good and reusable


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