Street Dreams Detail - White Porsche 997 Turbo Complete Correction

[Preachers Sheets]

Aside from the bars that streak and stuff, do all clay bars perform on the same level?



I really like the Mother clay bar, but it's only the second bar I have used. The first was Meguiars and we all know how that ended....



I am about to use up the rest of my Mother's clay bar and I was wondering if I should mail order some new clay bars or stick with Mothers. What is so great about other brands, do they glide easier, pick up crap from your paint easier, last longer when filled with grime?



Thanks.

 

[old_gonzo]

I have heard only positive reviews of the following clay bars: Mother's, Clay Magic, Zaino, and Pinnacle.



Personally, I have only used the Mother's clay bar thus far, but would not hesitate to try one of the others that I mentioned. The nice thing about Mother's is that it is typically available locally, and it performs well. You may also be able to find Clay Magic at AutoZone type stores. (The AutoZone near me just started to carry the Clay Magic kit). The clay Magic kit was resonably priced at $9.99 for the kit.



And if you have already tried the Meguiar's clay bar....I need say no more. :down

 

[lovesolderplymouths]

JUST WONDERING - has anyone ever told you guys to use PLAYDOH instead of the claybar you're using?



When someone told me, I just , although it did make me wonder a bit about PLAYDOH

 

[ThePolisher]

I really don't think Pay Doh is going to cut it

 

[andrew43]

No, all claybars are not the same. Some are more aggressive than others. You can usually find the really aggressive ones at bodyshop's. Doesn't Meguiar's have a Red claybar that is part of their Pro line that is super aggressive?

 

[Jngrbrdman]

I wonder if silly putty would work too..... hmmmmm.... I really like Pinnacle. It is a step up from any other clay I've used. Meguiar's was a little crumbley for me. I've heard other people give it a :down too so I would be a little leary of their other products along that line. Even Armor All's finest product is still Armor All, ya know? The rest of Meguiar's stuff is good but unless they took a tip from Mother's or someone then I don't trust their clay. That's just me though.

 

[imported_Intel486]

Clay bars may be different abrasivly. I found that they Mothers Clay bar pull stuff out easily while the eagle one clay bar left a lot behind. Just feeling it, you could tell the EO clay bar was very soft. It also streaked badly.

 

[imported_Homer]

I've used Mothers, Meguiars body-shop line and the retail line, and 3M clay. The Meguiar's body shop stuff comes in various levels of agressiveness (I believe I used the white colored one). The yellow Meguiar's was my least favorite because it sometimes streaked. Whenever that happened, all I did was just spray on some QD and buff it off, no biggie.



I recently tried the 3M clay...works great! No streaks it did what it was supposed to. I paid a little over $20 for a small container with 2 bars in it. In terms of agressiveness, I would rate it equal to the Meguiar's white clay that I've used. After claying a car, the paint is so darn smooth!!

 

[Don2000g]

I'd have to agree with much of what others have already stated. I've had real good sucess with the Zaino and clay. Laters

 

[imported_capspackle]

which one do you use from pinnacle? the Pinnacle Miracle Clay Away or the Poly Clay Bar?

 

[Jngrbrdman]

I use the Poly Clay. It is really nice to work with. By far the best clay I've ever used. Granted, I haven't tried Zaino, but that's just a matter of time.

 

[Steve @ Guru]

Here's my take on the different clay bars: they usually fall into one of three categories for me.



1) Soft, pliable, conforms easily, folds easily, picks up contaminants and "grabs" them, generally a pleasure to use.



2) Hard, "elasticky", bendable, slightly tough, picks up contaminants and "holds" them, somewhat less pleasureable to use.



3) Rock hard or soft and crumbly, hard to work with, streaks, binds and grabs, "drags" on surface, not fun to use.



I've tried (in alphabetical order): 3M, Clay Magic, Eagle One, Formula113, Griots, Meguiar's, Mothers, Pinnacle and Zaino clay. If you ask me, I think that a lot of these clays come from the same place - they're so similar in a lot of ways.



That said, my very favorite clay is Clay Magic clay. It fits the #1) description above perfectly. Most of the others fit the #2 and only a very few fit the #3 description.



Just to complicate matters, many of the clays come in different levels of abrasiveness...generally speaking, for our uses/needs, stick with the "finest" or "gentleist" (word?) clay. For Clay Magic, I use their blue bars (fine), but I have a few of the red (med) bars too...HTH!

 

[Sharkie]

Have to give the clay magic a shot. Only used 3m and Mother’s so far. I went to take a peek at their website. I’m sorry but the “clay magic power system� looks insane!! Smoosh a bar of clay into a pad and use your favorite DA polisher!?!?! LOL

Maybe it's great but I'm not trying it 1st


http://www.clay-magic.com/products.asp


I think the clay magic mascot musta been hanging out with towlie from south park.

SJS

 

[vettefan67]

Who is towlie?

 

[Sharkie]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' >

<em class='bbc'>Originally posted by puterbum [/i]
<strong class='bbc'>Who is towlie? [/b]</blockquote>

Sorry was kind of an obscure reference. He’s a towel that is a stoner….towlie kinda looks like the clay magic dude. His tag line was “wanna get high?â€�


http://www.southparkstudios.com/show/other.html?min=3#101


SJS

 

[Steve @ Guru]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' >

<em class='bbc'>Originally posted by SJ Sharkie [/i]
<strong class='bbc'>Smoosh a bar of clay into a pad and use your favorite DA polisher!?!?! LOL

Maybe it's great but I'm not trying it 1st
[/b]</blockquote>
Someone should tell this to Richard Griot as well...power tools and clay don't mix! Just say "no"!

 

[MikeLS]

Good post Steve! Excellent evaluation IMO. Actually, I agree, I think some clays are the same, or come from the same manufacturer. Clay Magic is a good clay and a great deal too. AutoZone just started carrying the CM kit for $10. :up



SJ Sharkie,

Come to think of it, the CM bar does look a lot like a smurf blue towelie. LOL! I think towelie was the towel that loved to do drugs. What a trip!

 

[z driver 88t]

That was a great post, Steve. I have the Griots clay and like it, but I used to have Meguairs...anything is better than that!!!



The "power-clay" thing must be a trend, Griots has it in their catalog.....:scared Ain't gonna go there...

 

[Street Dreams]

White 997 Turbo in for a complete detail and paint correction.

Main issues:
-Very poor hand washing by previous owner
-Glazed paint finish
-Serious lack of gloss

Onto the detail

The Porsche was prepped using Autoglym CWC on the wheels & tires 1:1, wheel wells scrubbed with OPC 4:1.

Paint was foamed using CG citrus soap and then washed using the 2BM and a mixture of CG cirtus soap and FK1 shampoo

Some shots of the paint finish in early morning sun BEFORE even washing, not in great shape by any means, swirls, RIDS and machine holograms... the triple crown of paint issues.

While the car was still wet I pulled it inside to use Iron Cut, sprayed on and left to sit for 3-4minutes.

After dwelling you can see all the iron particles running off the paint, it would have taken 5-6 passes with clay to remove maybe 1/4 of these contaminants!

After claying I took some paint readings, nothing abnormal so I moved onto paint correction.

This car had a bunch of different issues and certain areas were far worse than others so 1 combo wasnt the best idea because Id be going to aggressive in places I didnt need to.

Correction process went something like this depending on the area:

Meguiars M105 w/ Surbuf pads
Meguiars D300 w/ Microfiber cutting Discs
Menzerna 106FA w/ Detailers Domain Green Foam

Before

After

Working 106FA... again I like to open the hood so I can polish all the way to the edge of the fender without running my pad onto the adjacent panel thus causing a mess, especially if I already polished the hood.

50/50 between Front fender and passenger door

Defects on the hood, yum

Under the LED after compounding

Hood after compounding and final polishing...

Passenger door made for some great correction shots

Front bumper was one of the key areas that had a serious lack of gloss, looked out of place with the rest of the car

A 50/50

After a few combos which failed miserably on the rear wing I landed on Surbuf and M105 which worked great

Less damaged areas I used the Megs MF cutting disc and D300... very smooth cutting with residue that buffs off like butter, or if you want to stereotype all the people of NJ into one vernacular you would say "BUTTAH"

Cleaning up marring by the Turbo badge, before

After

Choose to rotary the smaller areas that had heavy defetcs

50/50 on Drivers side

Final polishing on the taillights with 106FA, compounded with M105 and DD yellow cutting pad

After all paint correction was finished one final IPA wipedown was done before applying protection. Menzerna powerlock was used on the paint. Rejex sealant was used on the wheels.

Thanks for reading!

-Dave

 

[BIOLINK]

David, You're amazing. But I'm sure you've heard that before. Reading your posts is a virtual clinic in detailing. Nicely done!