I think claying the headlight covers (plastic) may do damage, so I'm not gonna touch that with clay.. What say ye?

 

I clayed mine...the plastic gleams more than ever now

 

Wow, is there no end to this miracle product?

I'm still a little skeptical (by nature) and if I do it, Im gonna tread very lightly. Since I can't see anything on the lens, dunno if its really necessary on my car.. We'll see.

 

I dont use polish. I phoned Mguires and they said not to polish a new car. Wash, clay, and wax. Thats what I did and it looks fantastic.
I am not sure if clay will take the wax off though. Dawn dish soap is good to remove wax.
I used Mguires gold paste wax. I have a couple bottles on NXT. My frien did his Escalade with NXT and was stunned at the result.

 

Funny, I called Meguiar's and they told me the exact opposite. Said for lighter colored cars, you can come closer to the 'wet' look that dark cars enjoy by using a polish before waxing.

 

That is funny. I was told polish was for older, neglected finnishes that needed to be revitalized, or "polished".
Since my car was brand new, all that was needed was a clay bar to remove the rail dust, and other crap, and one or 2 coats of a good wax.
Their business is to sell product and all he had to say was ya you need to polish and I would have bought some.
Out of curiousity I will phone again and see what kind of answer I get.
I think that darker colors by nature tend to show a wet look more so than lighter colors no matter what kind of surface prep you do.
I washed, clayed, and waxed my red 8. I simply washed my mother inlaws black 03 Accord.
No wax ever, and has more of a wet look than my waxed 8. You can even count the drywall screws in the garage ceiling on her car hood.
When I used to work as a floor mainainence guy years ago the darker floors had a more wet look than the lighter color floors.

 

Yeah...and with new lighter colour cars, can skip the Z5 step altogether.

 

That's interesting that Meguiar's told you that, but I'm not a professional either, so I can't negate or affirm either way. I do know that Autopia advocates polishing to achieve the "perfect shine" (per their Autopia Guide to Detailing manual), and I have read throughout that site from numerous professional detailers that you should almost always include polishing/glazing to prep the paint prior to waxing. Plus, after even a few months of ownership, your paint is bound to develop blemishes, small scratches, etc., and a polish can go a long way to getting rid of or concealing those imperfections.

 

I guess the thing to do would be to go to one of those "old" car rallies. Some of the cars are absolutely stunning.
They would know what to do and would most likely be more than happy to tell you how they did it.

 

If you clay bar over existing coats of Zaino, does it remove the layers of Zaino (read do you have to start all over again ) or just the debris.

I clayed before my first Zaino applications, but not since....

 

I was told by Mguires that claybar will remove the wax. Not sure about Zaino's wax.
It cant hurt to wash, clay, and wax again though even if it doesnt take it off.

 

It's true. I think they strip, re-paint, and bake the car every weekend. :D

But yes, the clay bar is an absolute necessity if you're going to be trying to keep your paint looking clean and smooth. I actually don't even bother using the clay spray lubricant - just do a normal wash and rinse, and then keep misting the car while claying. The spray lubricant (quick detail, showtime gloss, etc.etc.etc.) can be used as a final dressing after you completely waxed and dried the car.

 

2 questions:

1) can you polish a clearcoat?

2) is "spot claying" bad for the car? I did it last night and there seem to be the slightest of discolorations. Not very noticeable at all but I was trying to figure out why my hood didnt seem absolutely perfect after wash/wax

 

1) absolutely, that's what Z2 was designed for

2) spot claying isn't bad for the car...it's how the clay should be applied...one spot after another. Try this...clay the hood again to remove the wax, then mix a few drops of ZFX into two ounces of Z2 and apply, wait 30 minutes, buff off and then apply Z6. Do another ZFX/Z2, Z6 application and then re-post with the results You'll have some ZFX/Z2 mix left over and it has to be used within a certain time (I think it's 12 hours) so might as well finish the rest of the car

 

1. Yes, just be sure it says on the bottle of whatever you bought, it is safe for clearcoat finnishes.
2. No. Just wax over after you clay. Better yet insteadof "spot" claying just "spot" clay a panel at a time.
I end up just claying the whole car. Pick a day and go nuts.

 

i went ahead and tried the clay bar today before waxing - im very impressed. I had a few spots of tree sap that would not wash off and thought was permanent; but believe or not the clay bar wiped it clean.

nice stuff - thanks

 

I use clay myself, I believe it. I thought it was a gimmick at first, now I do not.

 

Goforwand: Found this thread for you last night: http://autopia.org/forums/showthread...threadid=37939 . In short, clay barring will remove a minimal amount of Zaino layers, but you shouldn't have to start over completely.

 

i bought a blue claybar from autozone ($10, but comes with the spray bottle too).

The store guy wanted to know what it was good for. I told him to come out and feel the paint on my rx-8. He was amazed how smooth it was. I then told him my car sat outside for 7 months. He thought it was a brand new car.

 

Thanks markd!

I called the folks at Zaino and they said that claying will not remove Zaino, but I found a similar thread that is in agreement with the thread that you linked me to.

 

Good stuff. Happy detailing

Jason: What brand is your clay bar system? Meguiar's? Took me forever to find $10 clay (finally found it at K-Mart) b/c either a) I could only find the Mother's clay bar for almost $20, or b) someone had gotten to the auto detailing aisle before I did and stole the clay bars out of the box.

 

clay can not replace paint polishing. Clay removes contaminants on top of the paint while polishing/compounding removes defects and restore gloss. Claying and polishing does not work the same. They work totally different.

 

Jason's was probably the Mother's bar...but I'm not sure that is usually what autozone sells

I got the meguiars bar at K-mart too...shocked it was there same day I was going to buy it of the internet

but I still will so I'll have several of them

 

paint polishing?

I've been drinking so the answer to this is missing in my brain right now but...

you don't need to paint polish when you have a clear coat

that was for back in the day when you would actually polish the paint by removing some of it...then you would protect it with wax

now with this clay bar the contaminants are removed from the clear coat...well now you may have a small pit from the contaminant that was removed...this is where a good wax (polimer based) fills in those pits and smooths out the clear coat for a wonderful shine and depth like jason's car