Hey Folks,

I have no idea what claybar is. I have no idea how to apply it.

I have heard it is a good thing to do to a car when you first get it.

Can I get some help on this. Do I need to use this before I wax?

Will it make a big difference? How long will it take to do?

Thanks!
Roachman

Claybar is a product you would use on a pristine, unwaxed surface. It will lift impurities out of the paint instead of scrubbing them off like wax or polishing compunds.

It's not a difficult process, but tedious and time consuming. Meguairs, Mothers, Zaino, and other companies offer this type of product. As you're using the claybar on the painted surface, you need to keep it lubricated to avoid damaging the paint. Each will come with instructions, and you should follow them exactly. The reason for doing this on a new car is to remove material from the paint like rail dust and sea salt that gets on the car during transport. Dealer prep will not typically take care of this kind of thing. What you're left with afterwards should be a very smooth, very clean surface ready to receive polish and wax. Without the claybar treatment, you end up sealing the impurities right next to the paint. And they can't be removed until the car is stripped of wax and polish again.

You're best bet: As soon as possible post delivery, wash the car BY HAND with a good quality wash mitt. Use dishwashing detergent (I orefer Dawn) to remove any wax or polish previously applied; ***only use dish detergent if you intend to strip the wax off your car.*** Otherwise, always use a car wash specific soap. Make sure to rinse the mitt before putting it back into your wash water. This will prevent alot of the dirt from getting back onto your car, potentially scratching the surface. Carefully dry the car with a chamois (I like an artificial one called "The Absorber"), or thick pile towels to lift any remaining dirt. After the car is dry, you should park it out of the sun to let the paint cool, preferably in a garage. Check for water spots - and carefully take care of these with a damp cloth and dry the area immediately.

Once the paint cools, you begin with the claybar following the instructions for that specific product. After the claybar treatment, apply polish and wax. Be prepared to spend a full day with this whole process (even longer with Zaino), but the results should be excellent.

Check out www.meguiars.com www.mothers.com or www.zainobros.com for more specific details.

Sorry to be long winded...Good Luck

Excellent post, red_base. The only thing I would like to add to that is that I like to wash the car again after claying it. This will get rid of any residue from the lubricant used while claying the car.

Originally posted by m477
Excellent post, red_base. The only thing I would like to add to that is that I like to wash the car again after claying it. This will get rid of any residue from the lubricant used while claying the car.
Yes, that is correct, and even recommended by Zaino (for example). For the 2nd washing, however DO use a proper car wash.

Originally posted by red_base 95
Claybar is a product you would use on a pristine, unwaxed surface. It will lift impurities out of the paint instead of scrubbing them off like wax or polishing compunds.

...not so. claybars are abrasive as well, just to a far lesser extent than a polish: but yes, it's the softness of the clay which "picks up" the dirt and whatnot.

thanks to you punks I just spent $200 on the zainobros site.

I hope it makes it purty :)

Originally posted by pmacwill
thanks to you punks I just spent $200 on the zainobros site.

I hope it makes it purty :) I spent $80 last week... what the hell did you buy?!?!? :0

Originally posted by Hercules
I spent $80 last week... what the hell did you buy?!?!? :0


Z-6 Ultra Clean Gloss Enhancer Spray 1 $9.95
Z-7 Show Car Wash 2 $15.90
Z-10 Leather in a Bottle 1 $10.95
Z-16 Perfect Tire Gloss 1 $12.95
314 Custom Polish Applicator 5 $12.50
ZKIT-1 Total Protection Show Car Kit 1 $84.70

I bought extra Z-7 and Z-6 so I don't have to order again in a few months. I also ordered some fieldcrest towels that they suggested from www.royalvelvet.com (the official fieldcrest/cannon website) at $12 a pop. Sadly I didn't see www.fieldcrestcannonoutlet.com that sells irregulars for about $5 each instead. Since its for the car, I can't imagine the towels being irregulars can make a difference, so if you order I'd order from there.

I did forget that 2nd wash step :o

The Mother's site has an excellent overview for detailing a car. Mostly common sense stuff, but good pointers to keep in mind.

pmac - $200!?!?!? Did you buy distributor rights in the process :D
It is easy to spend a lot very quickly, and $200 of Zaino products will go a long, long way. Be sure to follow their instructions very carefully. A big portion of the Zaino process is a chemical combination/curing process that yields terrific results. That's why you apply it in steps, allowing cure time for each step.

Regardless of the products you use, take your time and follow the instructions. Repairing damage done while cleaning can be very time consuming and costly. Keep in mind, dark colors show damage (swirl marks, scratches and chips) more readily, so those with black and blue cars take care.

Wow guys,

Thank you so much. I have already spent $80 bucks of Zaino products. Guess I need to order the Claybar to.

Thank you again for the great info.

Roachman.

yeah, I spent $86 at zainobros last week. My order arrived yesterday:
ZFX Flash Cure
Z2 SHow Car polish
Z6 Ultra Clean Gloss Enhancer
Z7 Show car wash
Z10 Leather in a bottle
Z18 Claybar.

I can't wait to use it in a month or more. Although, I will be using the clay bar this weekend to remove some paint that my wife's car received from a concrete post :)

Quik Clay Detailing System from Meguiar........ how is that compare to the claybar from Zaino?

Originally posted by EverRX8
Quik Clay Detailing System from Meguiar........ how is that compare to the claybar from Zaino? Probably very similar as they work on similar methods..

The polish is where Zaino will shine above the rest :) So get any old claybar (I got the Zaino one as it was a part of the kit) and use Zaino for your polish/wax.

Originally posted by EverRX8
Quik Clay Detailing System from Meguiar........ how is that compare to the claybar from Zaino?

just use the clay, don't use the spray unless your car is really really wet!!
use soap and water as lubricat is must faster and safer

pracitce on the glass first and you'll know what i mean

Roachman
haven't we gone thur this in PM :D

Originally posted by red_base 95
After the claybar treatment, apply polish and wax.

I thought the purpose of using the clay bar is to NOT use polish. If you've clay barred all the rough spots, and the paint surface feels smooth, why would you use polish on a new car surface? The polish will take off a small amount of paint surface, as I understand it. I don't see any reason to polish unless there's visible spots in the surface that are dirty, scratched, rough, or weathered. If it's clean and smooth to the touch, just wax it.

clay bar flatten out the "hills"

polish is to fill the "valleys" (scratches) of the paint

This confusion stems from the fact that the word polish is used to decscribe products that are abrasive, a true polish and non abrasive like Zaino. Zaino really is a synthetic polymer paint sealant. So the idea is use whatever you need to get your paint in the best shape and THEN lock that in with Zaino.

Originally posted by TerenceT
Roachman
haven't we gone thur this in PM :D

Yes we did. But I wanted to hear some other opinions. You scared me a little bit. I do not want to hurt my car out of ignorance.


Thanks for all the feedback and help everyone.

roachman

Wash it with dishwashing detergent (dawn)
dry it
claybar it
wash it again with regular car wash detergent
dry it
apply Z-2 from Zaino ( is this last step called waxing or polishing?)

Originally posted by EverRX8
Wash it with dishwashing detergent (dawn)
dry it
claybar it
wash it again with regular car wash detergent
dry it
apply Z-2 from Zaino ( is this last step called waxing or polishing?)

great to see soemone else uses dish detergent to wash their cars :D

to speed it up, i would clay while the car is wet and soapy. I almost F Up the first time because my car is dry and i was only using the squirt lube

I believe the dawn dishwashing detergent is to be used only if your car has wax on it, because it will take off the wax to prepare it for claybarring. Once your car is waxed, Dawn is a bad idea.

the reason not to use dish washing detergent is because it's designed for degreasing animal fat

car wax is something else forumlated for paint

reason we use dish detergent is because it's actually harsh enough to take everything off, before claying the car

I made sure my dealer did NOT wash my car. I made him promise to back it off the truck and not touch it again until I arrived. I helped them strip off the protective plastic, and I didn't let it out of my sight again until I drove it home. I sat there & watched the mechanic do the pre-delivery inspection and rode along for his test-drive.

I brought it home, washed with Dawn, claybarred (new paint, freshly washed, the claybar was filthy when I was done!) , washed again, then applied one coat of Z5 and one coat of Z2 (both with ZFX). The car was stunning.

That was in early December and I'm up to 10 coats now. So far I have not had one parking-lot ding (knock on wood) and I firmly believe that one reason is how shiny it is! People really notice how well you keep your car and act accordingly. I had one guy say he didn't WANT to park anywhere near it!

The problem with Zaino is that it just looks so freaking good that you want to keep it looking perfect so you wash it more often. Then you put on another coat and see how much better it looks and you want to put on another coat. Before long you realize you're a Zaino junky and you start to look like this:

question about zino bro stuffs

their stuffs are numbered right? example, use 1 before 2 then 3

anyone can comment if they are basically stuffs like polish / wax etc??

are you guys using terry towels or other cloths to dry it out? i prefer terry towels...anybody have anything better?

Check out the advice at www.zainobros.com Use only 100% cotton towels made in the USA, Cannon is one of the two brands Sal recommends. Towels not made in the USA may say 100% cotton but still contain synthetic fibers that can scratch your paint. Many microfiber towels can also cause micro-scratches, too, so be careful!

I bought the kit $84, with delivery $92-93 in anticipation of my ETA of second week August. I wanted to get experience before my 8 arrives so I did my trade in vehicle. It still looks like a Piece Of Shit but a very shiny glossy POS. I'm sold on zaino! One piece of advise is to put it on as thin as possible. During my last coat I had some left over in the little bottle (I used the accelarator stuff), and I thought I go over some areas again before they cured (dried? turned white). That was a mistake. Although the removal/buffing between coats was very easy. The spots that I added more zaino were much harder to buff. When I say much harder I mean 45 seconds of serious rubbing as opposed to 10 seconds with a quick effortless wipe. One question is how much area should a dime size squirt cover. I think I was getting 4 to six sq feet per dime load. Does that seem about right to the more experienced people out there? Thanks in advance.

I bought the kit $84, with delivery $92-93 in anticipation of my ETA of second week August. I wanted to get experience before my 8 arrives so I did my trade in vehicle. It still looks like a Piece Of Shit but a very shiny glossy POS. I'm sold on zaino! One piece of advise is to put it on as thin as possible. During my last coat I had some left over in the little bottle (I used the accelarator stuff), and I thougt I go over some areas again before they cured (dried? turned white). That was a mistake. Although the removal/buffing between coats was very easy. The spots that I added more zaino were much harder to buff. When I say much harder I mean 45 seconds of serious tubbing as opposed to 10 seconds with a quick effortless wipe. One question is how much area should a dime size squirt cover. I think I was getting 4 to six sq feet per dime load. Does that seem about right to the more experienced people out there? Thanks in advance.

I typically do roughly one body panel per dime-sized drop on the pad; two for the hood.

One interesting trick I learned recently: Z6 interacts interestingly with Z5/Z2. I have been told that you can spritz Z6 on the applicator pad to make Z5/Z2 go on easier. I know from experience that, believe it or not, Z5/Z2 spreads much easier and much thinner if you Z6 each panel just before you apply Z5/Z2. I think the Z6 acts briefly as a solvent to loosen and prepare the previous Zaino for another coat.

So is Zaino a pure liquid? I thought the Meguires was a liquid but it is more of a paste :( Although I already spent like $80 on terry towels and Meguires so until I run out I'm using it.

Zaino is a liquid and goes on and comes off quite easily (as compared to wax).

Yah, all of the polishes that come in the kit are liquid. No pastes. They have a consistency just slightly thinner than hand lotion.

This is a great site for car product and info www.autopia-carcare.com might help you guys out.:)

I love clay bar! We use it on the car every couple weeks. We have had so many people ask us if we got the car re-painted b/c it looks brand new. It's 3 years old. Well, you can't see it good in the pic, but here ya go anyway.
http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Aug/20038198908884760389316.jpg