No luck claying! Tried 2 different clay bars now + 2 different QDs!

Both times that I have tried claying my Acura NBP TL type-S, I have had no luck at all. At first I thought it was the Meguiar`s clay bar kit but now I`m not so sure. I replaced the Meguiar`s kit with a Uber blue fine grade clay bar and ONR diluted to clay lube lubricity per the directions on the bottle.

Today, in about 60 degree farenheit weather, I washed my car with Dawn dish soap via two bucket method and dried with waffle weave micro fiber drying towel. After the car was completely dry, I attempted to clay the car with the Uber blue clay bar and ONR clay lube. No luck. The clay bar just slides across the paint and doesn`t pick up any contaminants. I made sure the dilution ratio was correct and that my car was in fact contaminated by doing the sandwich baggy method. I can hear tons of noise and feel all kinds of stuff in the paint.

The best way to describe my problem is that the clay doesn`t have any friction whatsoever against the paint. It`s not dirty after I clay. It slides similar to the way a wet bar of soap would slide against the bottom of a bath tub.

What am I doing wrong? Is it possible that I have received two defective clay bars?

The clay should glide across the paint and you will only feel resistance when its removing contaminants. Is the Megs clay a fine grade clay? Also look at the paint where you felt it with the baggy test to make sure your not feeling small chips in the paint. It might also be over spray of some sort which might require a more aggressive clay (like the megs red clay), but if you have to go that route you will need to follow up with polishing the vehicle as the aggressive clay leaves marring.

Maybe it`s not contaminants you are feeling.
Try compound. What year is your car?

How much downward pressure are you applying when working

Here is an article.

How To Detail Clay Your Car - Auto Detailing Clay and Clay Alternative

In the article it says:
Gently with slight pressure glide the detailing clay bar over the surface of the paint in a back and forth motion. Do not apply excessive pressure; remember you are only hydroplaning over the surface to remove bonded contaminants.

It says "gently" but this is how I have done it.

What I do is first spray the area, gently work the clay up and down to get the clay and work area lubricated plus get a "feel" of the amount of contamination through feedback from the clay. Once you do this, then apply more pressure going up and down (or side to side) and you should feel a reduction in feedback until there is none.

The other aspect is you may need a more aggressive clay. The baggie test is quite tough.

Since you are new to claying, I would suggest working on one section and checking the area after to be sure your technique is good since you can mar paint if there is some technique nuance issue.

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Originally Posted by JJH

Both times that I have tried claying my Acura NBP TL type-S, I have had no luck at all. At first I thought it was the Meguiar`s clay bar kit but now I`m not so sure. I replaced the Meguiar`s kit with a Uber blue fine grade clay bar and ONR diluted to clay lube lubricity per the directions on the bottle.

Today, in about 60 degree farenheit weather, I washed my car with Dawn dish soap via two bucket method and dried with waffle weave micro fiber drying towel. After the car was completely dry, I attempted to clay the car with the Uber blue clay bar and ONR clay lube. No luck. The clay bar just slides across the paint and doesn`t pick up any contaminants. I made sure the dilution ratio was correct and that my car was in fact contaminated by doing the sandwich baggy method. I can hear tons of noise and feel all kinds of stuff in the paint.

The best way to describe my problem is that the clay doesn`t have any friction whatsoever against the paint. It`s not dirty after I clay. It slides similar to the way a wet bar of soap would slide against the bottom of a bath tub.

WTF am I doing wrong? Is it possible that I have received two defective clay bars?

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I prefer regular car wash to clay lube or ONR. I feel it is more slick and less damaging to the paint.

Sounds to me like there is nothing on your paint for the clay to pick up.

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Originally Posted by JJH

Both times that I have tried claying my Acura NBP TL type-S, I have had no luck at all. At first I thought it was the Meguiar`s clay bar kit but now I`m not so sure. I replaced the Meguiar`s kit with a Uber blue fine grade clay bar and ONR diluted to clay lube lubricity per the directions on the bottle.

Today, in about 60 degree farenheit weather, I washed my car with Dawn dish soap via two bucket method and dried with waffle weave micro fiber drying towel. After the car was completely dry, I attempted to clay the car with the Uber blue clay bar and ONR clay lube. No luck. The clay bar just slides across the paint and doesn`t pick up any contaminants. I made sure the dilution ratio was correct and that my car was in fact contaminated by doing the sandwich baggy method. I can hear tons of noise and feel all kinds of stuff in the paint.

The best way to describe my problem is that the clay doesn`t have any friction whatsoever against the paint. It`s not dirty after I clay. It slides similar to the way a wet bar of soap would slide against the bottom of a bath tub.

WTF am I doing wrong? Is it possible that I have received two defective clay bars?

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When you feel the paint with your bare hand (or better yet in a baggy) how does it feel?

Also some contamination can be extremely difficult to remove (particularly if the majority of the paint is clean but you see isolated little bumps of contaminate. While I am sure the Uber Clay is high quality, I am not sure of its aggressiveness. Sometimes we have to use a more aggressive clay for the real stubborn stuff.

I have never used a baggie on my hand and prefer to use my clean, dry, hand on the clean, dry body, not heated by the sun or lights; it has to be cool to the touch.
My finger tips are a lot more sensitive to irregularities in the paint than putting a piece of plastic between them and the vehicle.

If you feel no contamination on the cleaned vehicle body after washing and drying, then maybe you dont have any, as has already been offered above.

If your claybar is not removing any material that you DO feel on the body, then you might want to perhaps get the BlackFire PolyClay from this Sponsor here.
It is a great all-around claybar, will get the really dirty paintwork clean, and still be able to clean without marring less dirty or softer paintwork.

And then if you also get the BlackFire Claybar Cleaner and Conditioner, you will be able to clean the claybar everytime it gets really dirty and not just knead the dirt away the bar and eventually have to throw it away.

This is how it has worked for me for a long time now - years to be more exact.

Good luck with this !
DanF

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Originally Posted by JJH

Both times that I have tried claying my Acura NBP TL type-S, I have had no luck at all. At first I thought it was the Meguiar`s clay bar kit but now I`m not so sure. I replaced the Meguiar`s kit with a Uber blue fine grade clay bar and ONR diluted to clay lube lubricity per the directions on the bottle.

Today, in about 60 degree farenheit weather, I washed my car with Dawn dish soap via two bucket method and dried with waffle weave micro fiber drying towel. After the car was completely dry, I attempted to clay the car with the Uber blue clay bar and ONR clay lube. No luck. The clay bar just slides across the paint and doesn`t pick up any contaminants. I made sure the dilution ratio was correct and that my car was in fact contaminated by doing the sandwich baggy method. I can hear tons of noise and feel all kinds of stuff in the paint.

The best way to describe my problem is that the clay doesn`t have any friction whatsoever against the paint. It`s not dirty after I clay. It slides similar to the way a wet bar of soap would slide against the bottom of a bath tub.

What am I doing wrong? Is it possible that I have received two defective clay bars?

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If you can hear noise and feel contaminants and your claybar isnt showing anything I would say you most likely have a clearcoat overspray on your car.

Has it been in a bodyshop or had any paintwork done?

Like everyone has already mentioned a more agressive claybar or polishing with compound if its really bad are the next steps in removing it .

Or an easier method would be trying some laquer thinner in a small area to see if that works . Be sure to test and make sure the thinner isnt damaging the clearcoat . Some softer paints cant tolerate laquer thinner .

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Originally Posted by Bunky

The other aspect is you may need a more aggressive clay. The baggie test is quite tough.

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Agreed!

I have found on some stubborn paint that the "fine" clay is just not enough to remove the contaminants.
I have needed to use Clay Magic Medium (Red Bar) to clean out the crud and obtain a smooth paint finish.
There are other Medium grade clay bars that`ll do the same job but clay Magic is what I`m familiar with.
I prefer to use a fine/ultra fine clay for maintenance but you will need to remove the crud the first time.

Now for the bad part:
IMHO Medium clay leaves a micro-marring that will need to be polished out with a machine to be removed.

Just a thought... is the paint original? If not it could be dirt in the paint?

Clay bars should glide across the surface. It does sound like you are doing the process correctly.

After I clay, I have found that using a baggie increases sensitivity when checking for contaminants.

Again, "most" consumer (auto parts store) type clay bars are a finer grade so it will not mar the finish.
I have found that on some paint I need to use a medium grade to remove the stubborn contaminants.
My suggestion would be to use a medium grade of clay and see if that resolves your noise/feel issues.

If that fails...
You may find that the paint needs polishing to remove the grit and make the paint feel smooth again.

Always use the least aggressive method first.

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Originally Posted by mrclean81

Sounds to me like there is nothing on your paint for the clay to pick up.

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Bingo! Its what I`ve summarized

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Originally Posted by Todd Helme

When you feel the paint with your bare hand (or better yet in a baggy) how does it feel

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Bingo!