View Full Version : How to keep clay bar smoothness?
Stuff
05-18-2006, 05:23 PM
I clay bared and waxed my car last weekend. It was a the first time I clay bared my car(still new to this detailing thing) and I was very impresed with the smoothness of paint. However today I washed my car. After I was all done I felt the paint and it was not as smooth as it was last weekend.
SO is this normal? Has the crap that the clay bar got ride of already started to come back? Is it my washing technique? I did do some spray and whip and that seemed to help a little. It is by no means as bad as it was preclay last weekend but still not as good as it was right after the clay.
awahl63
05-18-2006, 05:33 PM
Do you have anything protecting you paint? Wax/sealant/polish?
A lot of waxes/sealants loose their initial slickness after the first wash or two...I`m sure that`s all than happened. Now if your paint felt "bumpy" again, then I`d say something else got on the paint (like overspray)...but I doubt it.
imported_truzoom
05-18-2006, 05:43 PM
Also make sure you aren`t parking under or near trees.. sap can ruin a smooth finish very quick!
Tasty
05-18-2006, 06:15 PM
Also make sure you aren`t parking under or near trees.. sap can ruin a smooth finish very quick!
Bingo! Thank goodness my new car is small enough to fit in the garage because my trees over the driveway were driving me nuts!!! Tiny sap drips over the whole car in about two days if left under its overhang. :angry
Stuff
05-18-2006, 07:10 PM
Also make sure you aren`t parking under or near trees.. sap can ruin a smooth finish very quick!
Interesting. I park in a garage at home but was near a tree at work. Plus it has not stopped raining here for the past 5 days so Im sure all that dirt has not helped. The waxing that I did was very basic just mothers wax and that was it. I have a ton of stuff in the mail to do it again and the right way. Going to be trying out the perfect shine system in the next couple of weeks.
imported_truzoom
05-18-2006, 07:17 PM
Sounds like you used the Mother`s Claybar kit? If you used the included bottle of cleaner wax, I would expect slickness to drop significantly after a few days.
Stuff
05-18-2006, 10:21 PM
Sounds like you used the Mother`s Claybar kit? If you used the included bottle of cleaner wax, I would expect slickness to drop significantly after a few days.
Wow you guys are good. Yeah I used the mother clay bad system and the wax that came with it just to try it out.
Accumulator
05-19-2006, 07:11 AM
Stuff- Nothing wrong with what you did, you just experienced the usual durability of cleaner-waxes. If you reclay, re-cleaner-wax, and top with something long lasting like Collinite you`ll be in good shape for a long time. THe clay/cleaner-wax will go a lot faster/easier this time and you might not even need to clay again.