Dinhx8

had some time finally to clay the car. Used Zaino clay bar. worked really well. I had some paint overspray from somewhere (maybe road work) that had made the surface, even with many zaino coats, somewhat rough. The clay brought the super slick surface back, and then some. i highly recommend it to those with 4 hours to spare on a day off!

BigRed

Looks really nice and clean! Keep it that way! I think you could use the rest of the app. package too.
-BigRed

bruce_van

Looks good man. Really diggin those wheels too.

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

looks good. wheels are nice

bassy

Nice! Say, can you clay my car, too? It's also a Titanium gray.

I got a Mothers clay bar kit and DupliColor caliper paint kit sitting in my room...*sigh*

Ever Hernandez

Looks like you put a lot of elbow grease there..looking good.

A.Mair

i love those wheels so much

Silver_Mazda09

Wow! It really paid off....sexy looking 8! Very Nice.

Dinhx8

thanks for the comments guys-

claying was time consuming but well worth it! I considered my car really clean before I clayed it, but realized how dirty it really was after seeing the results.

Don Juan- i love your rims also man, those are so tight.

A.Mair

thanks dude, i think my next ones will def be the advans though, i just couldnt wait the three months for them. But now i have nice wheels i can wait

Rootski

iTrader: (1)

Glad to see you own the best color.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

looks hawt!

altspace

iTrader: (2)

Took you 4 hours to clay??? Wow you must have collected a ton of contaminants. You are talking about waxing after too right?

Dinhx8

yeah basically, i had to wash it 2x, claying being in between the 2 washes.

basically you have to wash the car first to clean it before you clay. So by the time i was done cleaning the rims and the first wash and dry- it was already like over an hour. Then you have to clay it- which took some time- and its recommended to wash the car after claying one more time so all in all it took a while!

In theory you can just clay and wipe and dry, but its much better to re wash after claying as some of the soapy residue you use to lubricate the clay bar will dry to the car, so rewashing helps.

A.Mair

i think im going to just pay someone out here, its too hot for that here in vegas. I would tho if the weather was good
how good would you say it looked after, im sure that pics dont do it justice

Dinhx8

Yeah, pics really dont do it justice. I'm sure others who have clayed share a similar experience, but to me the advantage is that the car 'truly' is clean. While wax and zaino can give a smooth surface, the smoothness after claying and the shine is a different level of clean, however hard it may be to imagine. Its hard to explain till you see it.

if you've got a few hours and some shade, it's a good way to spend a day imo!
its pretty humid here in DC but i was suprised that after a good wash and shade, the car gets suprisingly cool so you should be able to do it in vegas (maybe in the late fall!!!)

velociti

iTrader: (1)

i have to say, after having clay barred my car, along with the mothers 4 step ish...i wasn't terribly impressed. i don't know what i was expecting. i mean i took out some swirls from the finish, the reflection was decent but. damn, my sunlight silver wasn't the mirror i was expecting it to be. and short of your first picture, neither is yours. is it just that unless you have black or VR, maybe even WB, that we simply won't get that kind of response through waxing and claying?

don't get me wrong, btw. your car looks epic, and the up close shots make it pretty clear that you've put in a lot of time and effort. but do you feel vindicated in your hours of work? just curious. i don't know if i'm willing to invest time more than twice or three times a year to wax. the ROI is minimal for me, especially compared to simply just washing the damn thing.

Dinhx8

i hear ya man...well, my main goal was to remove the contaminants and get the smooth surface back. My car as I'm sure you and most of us on the forum was always shiny and clean, but over the 3 years even with several zaino apps, you could tell it just wasnt as slick and there were contaiminants stuck to it.

So after claying, the car is super slick again, and just feels a lot cleaner and richer. The difference in feel is significant, in shine, well I can tell, but to the layman, who knows. So in that sense, yeah its worth it, but I really don't plan on doing it more than say once a summer/spring, after winter etc.

dmc27

Love those wheels!! And they look like a color match to the TG until you get right up on them. Hawtness.

Nice pics.


The Zaino kit is def. on the xmas list this year.

Nemesis8

iTrader: (3)

I was going to do this also that day, but I worked my **** off in the attic...

Lookin' Smokin'

altspace

iTrader: (2)

Mothers is a decent product, but to truly obtain a top quality finish you need the pro tools and products. Scope out the show and shine threads.

Here's what I have done since I purchased back in March. Did not need to clay bar much since it had already gone through the dealer recon which was surprisingly decent.

Complete recon of exterior using Porter Cable 7424
- PoorBoy's SSR2.5 w/cutting pad
- PoorBoy's SSR1 w/light cutting pad
- PoorBoy's EX-P (by hand)
- Natty's Paste Wax blue (4 coats so far by hand)
- PoorBoy's Wheel Sealant

Also note that my car basically stays in a garage all day and night. I work from home. So it's not often I need to clay much.

altspace

iTrader: (2)

Reflection shot.

Dinhx8

thats a nice relfection shot that really shows the depth a cleaner than clean gives...
i dont have the camera skills you do, but that was kind of the depth the car had after claying- hard to see in my pics due to not having as good a camera- (and not the same tools you have, though zaino clay bar is very good).

Eddie13

Damn those rims are sweet. A nice spoiler would be the icing on the cake.