For silky smooth paint
Claying or clay bar treatment as its sometimes known seems to most to be a bit of an advanced treatment as its not a common stage of most peoples general car cleaning routine, but its not supposed to be, you don’t actually need to clay your vehicle that often just prior to a good polish and seal maybe as a yearly treat or some people like to do so quarterly. What claying will do is remove any bonded contaminates on top of the paint works surface that the wash stage doesn’t by “shaving” them off, the likes of tree sap, tar, iron and other Industrial fall out are some of the more common contaminates you will find bond them selfs to your vehicles paint out in the environment.
What you need
A clay bar, These come in many different types and grades, if your new to claying you want to go for a fine or possibly a medium, but we would not recommend aggressive for somebody new to the process.
Lube, you ca buy dedicated clay bar lubricants, some water based detail sprays (such as our finale) can be used as a clay lube also, and if you don’t have any of these available you can use a dash of car shampoo and water mix in a spray bottle.
A couple of drying towels, we find it best to dry as you go.
How to
Firstly you must ensure the car has been washed throughly, if this is going to be your first time claying we would suggest you also fully dry the car at this stage too, as on your first attempt this may take a while and water spotting is something to avoid.
Firstly break off a manageable size piece of clay from your bar and work it in your hands till playable, now flatten in to a small disc shape. Work in small sections to begin with, around 1ft x 1ft, spray the lube liberally on to the surface, now glide your clay across the paintwork and you will feel it working, don’t apply pressure let the clay do the work for you, you will feel the surface get smoother as you work, once you feel you have completed this are (around 4-6 passes should be sufficient) fold the clay, contaminated side inwards together, to reveal two more clean sides, repeat the process again on the same area till you stop getting any transfer from that section, dry and repeat across the entire car.
The best practise in our opinion is to begin at the top and work your way down.