Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Clay bar

Using a clay bar may be old news to some or most of you, but I just recently discovered the awesomeness and magic of using this stuff. I'd heard about it some time ago, but I thought it would be some complicated or time consuming process, or it was something that I could easily screw up my paint with. Wrong on both counts. Easy peasy. If you haven't used this to detail the paint on your bike or car, you're missing out. This morning, I also tried it on my windshields (Glass only! Probably not a good idea for plastic windscreens.), and it completely removed that micro layer of grunge and water spots that builds up where the wipers don't reach. I haven't tried it on chrome, they, but I'm fairly certain that it would do a great job removing water spots on that as well.

I can't imagine too many folks not having heard of a clay bar, but if you're curious about how to use it, there are plenty of "how to" videos on YouTube.

Just another thing I wish I would have invented.

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I only discovered it myself this year when trawling on OCD car detailing forums looking for the best car polish.

Which BTW is still 100% carnauba wax for looks but not durability. The later is now new polymer technology. The brand Opti-Seal seem one of the best. Puts a lasting shine (6 months) on paint, metal, polished aluminium like our mag wheels and plastics. Just wipe on a very thin layer. That's it. It is best used in conjunction with carnauba wax. The latter being the top layer. But if it is applied on top of wax it will migrate to the paint/metal underneath anyway. There's a lot of marketing bullsh1t out there but this one reviewed best in the aforesaid OCD detailing forums.

Never heard of it, Here comes Google....

Thanks for starting this thread, John. Ya see, just the other day I was noticing all the swirl marks in the paint(gloss black) of my Spyder. As I'm sure you know, black will always show those swirl marks more than just about any other color.

Well anyway, as I've also never used a clay bar and like yourself was a bit apprehensive about doing this myself, I was thinkin' I would just take it over to some local detailing shop and have them do it. But, now that you've stated that it's really not all that hard to do yourself, and that your fears about doing this yourself were somewhat misplaced, AND that YouTube has some how-to videos about this, I think I'll attempt to do this myself and save a few bucks.

Dwight let us know the outcome on the Spyder. Here is hoping it really works as well as all the videos show and just as easy.

Claying is extremely easy. Once you have the paint clean, go to town with a good compound and then polish, and then wax.