Claybar?

[93formulalt1]

I was thinking about it and reading on the site about it, and I was wondering whether claybarring my car would make it look any better than it does. I know Brians looks about twice as shiny as mine, but thats because I'm not about to take off my jacket to cover a mud puddle to keep my car from getting wet. j/k B Will it help? or should I just polish it again?

[93formulalt1]

Also, how many coats of polish is too many? I want to try some Zaino, but I think I will hold off until I can't get any better results with what I've got already.

[greenmachine]

the claybar made my paint a lot less fogy i would recomend it

[Orange Terror]

I've never even heard of claybar till recently on here. what is it, just a clay bar you rub on?

[SS4Matt]

It's "special clay" lol.... it's basically just clay, you use some kind of "spray wax" as a lube on the car and you just rub the paint... it removes all "fall out" and "road enviroment' like little tar dots...rail dust...and just about anything that gets imbedded in the paint. it does nothing for the "shine" of the car...it just makes it smooth. then you wax overtop of it for the smooth shiney look. claybar actually scratches the hell out of your car. you have to keep "kneading" it to make sure you are not rubbing the dirt that you get off your car back on (from when it sticks to the clay) like on a black car..you will notice you put some fine "towel like" scratches in it. but it's a really good thing to do. i usually do my car a few times a year.....i "high speed polish" my car once in the spring..and wax it constantly all year round!

[JoeliusZ28]

Also, how many coats of polish is too many? I want to try some Zaino, but I think I will hold off until I can't get any better results with what I've got already.

i have 7 coats of zaino on my truck right now, its all set

i also agree with everything matt said about claybaring, thats also why i rarely claybar my car... it doesnt make much of a difference on a black car anyway, whereas it makes a HUGE difference getting all the crap off the white paint on my truck. me and matt are detailing fiends, so if you have any more questions, do ask.

[meissen]

Agreed with Matt and Joel. I'm not a detailing fiend, but I do like to take care of my car.

[93formulalt1]

I use Turtle Wax F21 Car Polish now, and it works allright. Is it okay to put more polish on it? I already have 1 coat on it, but I want it to shine more!

[greenmachine]

its ok if its not a cleaner wax i think? some one correct me if im rong.

[93formulalt1]

I polished it again today, and it still looks awesome. It's not a wax, it's a polish. After the polish, it seems even shinier than before lol

[Orange Terror]

Ok, so my paint has swirl marks or whatever in it, and I know it needs to be waxed. but if I claybar it, then what polish it, then wax? What brands do you recommend, I've always used a carnauba wax of some sort. I think I used meguiars gold class last year for wax.

[93formulalt1]

Here are some new pics of my car with just 2 coats of F21 car polish. It looks pretty decent, eh? I'll let you decide what to use, but I swear to gosh that the F21 is the best polish AutoZone has! They also have other F21 products, like tire and wheel cleaners and I think they also have a wax with that name too.

[shawnc16]

impressive.....that cleans up pretty good

[93formulalt1]

There's a little rust on the pass. side quarter panel, but thats it. A couple of paint chips here and there, but I still get people staring all the time lol

[meissen]

Of course if you polish and repolish you'll get a better shine. Main thing to remember is that a polish has abrasives in it that removes miniscule amounts of paint -- kind of like the "dead paint" from the surface, so it helps remove oxidation and such like that. If you polish and polish and polish and polish, you'll have a VERY fresh looking paint job, but after doing it so many times for so many years, you literally can polish right through the paint. On my dad's porsche, the paint is actually so thin that it's very easy to polish right through, and he accidentally did in one spot. I actually polished through the clearcoat in a spot on my rear quarter panel on my car, and since then I've tried tons of different techniques to bring luster to that spot.

Ok, so my paint has swirl marks or whatever in it, and I know it needs to be waxed. but if I claybar it, then what polish it, then wax? What brands do you recommend, I've always used a carnauba wax of some sort. I think I used meguiars gold class last year for wax.

Gold Class is infact a layering wax, there's no abrasives in it. Up until I had my car painted, I loved Gold Class -- then it started to react differently with my paint, and made it a pain to get off -- but still a great wax regardless. For a polish, *personally* I recommend Meguiar's products, just because in my book Meguiar's is the top of the line for store-bought products. If you want to invest a little more and you REALLY want to detail your car, invest in a porter cable buffer and some Menzerna Intensive Polish II.