First experience of claying

[Taylor22]

Yesterday I was in Halfords and decided to take advantage of the 3 for 2 offer of cleaning and got myself a clay kit along with meguairs tire gel which I've been after for awhile now after seeing the results on another forum. I have to say if you haven't clayed your car before it's definitely worth doing. It's very time consuming but the results are definitely worth it. 

This is my car after washing with meguairs ultimate wash and wax.

I think most people would agree it looks clean.

On closer inspection however you can see this. 

This is all the crap off the roads and other polutants. Polish did nothing to take this off.. However the clay worked wonders and after now claying the entire car followed by polish and wax it literally does look brand new. As mentioned the meguairs tyre gel is also amazing I also picked up some spray on ultimate wax also by meguairs and all three for £30 is definitely worth getting for anyone wanting a truly clean car. 

[m1tch]

I agree with the claying, I have done it a few times on some of the cars I have had, its amazing how much the stuff pulls off the paintwork - its best to go all out on claying and cleaning the car, then add on the protective waxes etc on top. This will then mean that the dirt just attaches to the protective wax rather than the paintwork so when you clean it next the muck should come off much easier.

If you are into cleaning check out the snowfoam lances - really good to dissolve muck from the road before cleaning it so that you have the least time in contact with the paintwork.

[JSMarsden]

Kinda regretting getting panther black now, its a pain when its dirty (Gets dirty too fast) and it also shows every minor scratch! On the flipside though, the panther black looks great when its actually clean and reflecting the sunlight! 

 Snow foamed mine yesterday (Looked more foamy than this, took the pic after 5 mins!)

 

Then after that I polished it with Poorboys black hole filler, and then went over that with a Meguiars Carnauba wax

 

The only issue I had was that I noticed a form of scratch/chip around my rear arch (Rear right), Its either where somebody has hit it with a trolley, or a load of stones/grit have eventually worn through the paint? Can tell where the lacquer is missing on the paint and come away - needs painting as it definitely won't polish out.

 

Also must have had a bit of dirt on my drying cloth, as soon as i went to dry the bonnet, I noticed about 4/5 light scratches just in the area I dried. Luckily some poorboys seemed to fill them in - and should look great after another going over with. Definitely need to clay bar it - going to wait until the summer though when I have a guarantee (kinda) that there will be more than 2 consecutive days of sun - no doubt mine will be filthy again come Friday...

Yours is looking great, guessing white hides a lot more! :( 

[Taylor22]

Yea I'm wanting to get a pressure washer and snowfoam next but I've got about £600 worth of mods to do first. There's literally nothing more I could of done today in terms of cleaning apart from wheal sealent which I need to get a hold of. 

Yea black is the absolute worst colour to keep clean and hide scratches etc but it's the best colour when clean and polished! My last car was black and I hated it but loved it when it was clean. White isn't as bad as everyone goes on about although still does take some cleaning. 

Bad thing about cleaning is noticing all the scratches and marks etc. My bonnet is so badly chipped and really shows now it's extra clean so I've contacted chips away. 

[JSMarsden]

11 minutes ago, Taylor22 said:

Yea I'm wanting to get a pressure washer and snowfoam next but I've got about £600 worth of mods to do first. There's literally nothing more I could of done today in terms of cleaning apart from wheal sealent which I need to get a hold of. 

Yea black is the absolute worst colour to keep clean and hide scratches etc but it's the best colour when clean and polished! My last car was black and I hated it but loved it when it was clean. White isn't as bad as everyone goes on about although still does take some cleaning. 

Bad thing about cleaning is noticing all the scratches and marks etc. My bonnet is so badly chipped and really shows now it's extra clean so I've contacted chips away. 

Yeh, wish I had left mine dirty when I saw the mark on the rear arch. Its literally on the edge of the arch (just behind the rear wheel) - so either some @@$! has hit it, or some stones have been thrown up, missed the small mudflap and caught the corner :( . I nearly cried when I saw the light scratches from the drying cloth, just felt like giving up. But I guess after a few polishes they'll disappear, but no doubt others will appear! 

 

Love the sparkle from the black panther, usually stays like that for a day until it either rains or i hit the motorway haha. Can't wait for a full day in the summer, to just spend a good few hours with a clay bar and machine polish etc, to see how good i can get it! I saw a KA the other day, with a sparkly white? (Guessing thats slightly different to yours?)

[TomsFocus]

I find more dents and scratches everytime I clean mine!  But the worst part is theres now a 'crinkle' effect on the front wing, it's only recently happened but looks like a bad paint reaction.  Can't work out whats caused it but its really annoying.

I need to have it properly sorted out really as I just cant get anything more than swirls out by hand.  Thought the ultimate compound I used in Feb had removed a few light scratches but it hasn't.  No point atm though as I keep driving country/farm tracks, it was cleaned Monday and already looks like it hast been cleaned for a year!

[Taylor22]

4 hours ago, JSMarsden said:

Love the sparkle from the black panther, usually stays like that for a day until it either rains or i hit the motorway haha. Can't wait for a full day in the summer, to just spend a good few hours with a clay bar and machine polish etc, to see how good i can get it! I saw a KA the other day, with a sparkly white? (Guessing thats slightly different to yours?)

Try the meguairs ultimate wash and wax. It's expensive but totally worth it, it will keep your black car clean for about a week just on its own which is a good result for a black car. Or I would recommend the spray on ultimate wax from meguairs I just bought which literally took 5 mins to wax the entire car which should keep it cleaner for longer. 

Yea I think it might be a different colour cause mine is frozen white which is just matte. A lovely colour though. 

[Taylor22]

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

I find more dents and scratches everytime I clean mine!  But the worst part is theres now a 'crinkle' effect on the front wing, it's only recently happened but looks like a bad paint reaction.  Can't work out whats caused it but its really annoying.

I need to have it properly sorted out really as I just cant get anything more than swirls out by hand.  Thought the ultimate compound I used in Feb had removed a few light scratches but it hasn't.  No point atm though as I keep driving country/farm tracks, it was cleaned Monday and already looks like it hast been cleaned for a year!

I'd get the paint looked at by someone sooner rather than later just incase it's something that could get worse if you leave it. 

[Philf1]

Get some iron x on as well and watch the s**t glow purple on your bodywork you'll be amazed

See my parts for sale on thread "philf1s Spirit Blue Fiesta ST180 parts for sale"

[m1tch]

This is what my old Volvo looked like when it was properly cleaned: