Clay bar convert

strat81

New member
For those of you on the fence about using clay, get off the fence! Clay bars work! I clayed my 2004 Saab 9-3 today for the first time. The paint is in relatively good condition. However the 'plastic bag test' did reveal some problem areas. The worst spot on the car was the horizontal area where the rear bumper meets the trunk. Even without the bag, the paint had a distinctly rough texture.



Guess what... the paint is smooth as glass now! I did the entire car using the Mother's Clay Kit. I used almost the entire bottle of QD they include since everyone says to make sure you have the panel well lubricated. I split the clay in half, just in case I dropped it. The used clay looks downright funky now compared to the unused portion. The car was washed with NXT soap prior to claying and was washed only a week prior. It was driven only one mile in that week and garaged at night.



My only complaints center around the Mother's QD. First, it smells like Big Red. I hate cinnamon gum! It started to make me nauseous towards the end. The other thing is that since I slathered the car with QD, some of it dried on the car, staining it. I washed the car afterwards and it removed some, but not all of the stains. I had to use paint cleaner to remove it.



Given the size of the box it came in, I was expecting a bigger piece of clay, something along the size of a bar of bathroom soap. The clay bar was MUCH smaller, kinda like hotel soap. And it's wrapped in cellophane that was a bit tough to remove.
 
I never thought of the QD drying on the car while claying. Does anyone have any advice so this doesn't happen?
 
lex89 you shouldnt have a problem with the qd drying, try to work on a cool surface in the shade..then work a small area and keep it wet with qd. when that area is slick, wipe with a mf and move on to the next area



just be sure to re spritz the area if it starts to dry out
 
steveo3002 said:
lex89 you shouldnt have a problem with the qd drying, try to work on a cool surface in the shade..then work a small area and keep it wet with qd. when that area is slick, wipe with a mf and move on to the next area



just be sure to re spritz the area if it starts to dry out





Yeah, I'm an idiot, I didn't wipe down each area before moving on. Oh well, sometimes we learn the hard way. Luckily, there's Autopia so someone can learn the easy way from my mistakes. Sharing is caring, right?
 
I'm in love with clay. I try to explain it to friends but I can tell they don't get it at all. The first time I used it I didn't know what I was doing so it didn't accomplish much. But with that little bit of experience, and after reading up some more and trying it again I couldn't live without it. I can't wait to get a day off so I can do some spring cleaning.
 
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