well i have heard some good and some bad about clay bar. I was wondering if anybody around here has used a Kit before and how did it turn out. Or should i just buff it and see what that does? I have never buffed my truck in the 3 years ive had it. im thinking its time. im buying a nice porta cable first And maybe some Adams polish. Ive heard nothing but good things about there stuff.

I clay bar'd, and it looked FANTASTIC! The first time takes fuckin FOREVER though. Took me almost 5 hours to do the whole thing, but I can knock it out now in less than an hour for the entire car. If you do go the clay route and still want to buff I would clean the car with dish soap, clay, clean the car with car wash stuff, use a scratch remover w/ a buffer, then wax buff and polish. Show car shine. Then i would reclay and rewax in the spring.

do both, clay bar is mostly used to clean dirt and dust out of deep scratches... it doesn't actually fix scratches,,,, so imo do a heavy clay bar and a mild buff without a cutting agent. because your paint is still fairly new. should shine it up quite a bit! also be very careful if your going to be using a cutting agent, some newer vehicles like yours have minimal clear coat... usually only 2 or 3mils. and can be burned through very easily!

I am a big fan of doing a 1500 grit sanding and a tripple stage buffing. Always turns out like new and it gets rid of those damn scratches.

+1 Mike. That is somewhat of a cut and buff variation which is the last stage to new paint on a car. I prefer to use the 1500 grit WET. it has the same effect and is a little safer for the paint. Using a dual action sander with a foam pad to reduce friction is best. I have an ACdelco power buffer and it works fine. No swirls. no problem.

yeah im thinking of buying a portacable buffer. i have heard tons of good about them. i watched a few videos of what they do. they claim to leave no swirls what so ever?? it was some new design they came out with.

Either way its about time you did somthing with your paint .

well i picked up a few clay bar kits today. hope i get time to clean it now.

Claybar FTW. I did it to my car this fall, and I too still need to cut and buff my car this spring.

Hey Shawn, if you need help or anymore expert advice, PM Carney. I believe he is still part owner of a detail shop in Ft. Collins and knows all the ins and outs of the trade. He is mine and dougy's roomate and long time good friend...we'll be glad to help ya out.

^is he willing to cut and buff my car?! LOL. Its only a little hatchback, with a carbon hood (that doesn't need attention) so its not a lot of area

Maybe, he'll prolly ask ya to pay him...but i wouldnt know how much. I'll tell him to get on and checkk out this thread.

Hey guys u need me to look at ur cars let me no i will clay bar and do all the good stuff to it just let me no my number is 697-9419 ive been clay baring cars for awhile and i enjoy it so if u have any doubts ask jd or doug they let u no how good i am so if u need help hit me up

Can you cut and buff? Without eating through the clear coat? I can claybar my car, but after another claybar-ing it def needs a cut and buff. If you want to come look at it I can give you a call sometime this weekend. I probably won't have it done until the weather turns back to moderately good, however.

i sure can cut and buff buddy i will have to do that let me no when ur free

i never really was into shiny paint, less for people to fuck with in parking lots. i painted my new car walmart flat black, so go ahead and scratch it, cause i will pull my extra can from the back seat and just touch it up on the spot. pretty dont make you faster, just more scared to go 80 down the dirt road to the track haha

you know if i had that truck, i would keep it lookin nice too, not too many around that are still in as good a shape as yours, everytime i see it, it looks clean and shiny to me

way easier to take care of it than to repaint it. hope to see you out this spring and summer

I have never used clay bar, but use a buffer and a semi abrasive compound. After that you hit it with polish and POW, super shiny.

I am going to buy a real deal polisher that rotates 2000rpm. That is how you get the scratches out.

I have watched a number of videos and most of them have the speed around 1500-2000 for cutting and around 3000 for buffing.

Hey mikey i have used clay bar lots man u should deffinatly try it out pal ur car will shine like crazy

hey i just am actually going through buffing issues right now because my car had tree sap on it from sitting under a tree for a year before i bought it and i am using the turtle wax bug and tar remover on the main stuff and once i get that off i will prolly go with clay bar then got some advice from my moms friend in denver that owns a classic restoration shop. his best advice was to wet sand with 3000 grit. if you want anymore advice from him just go to classicrestodenver.com

holy shit...you guys seriously go thru all that work? I hose mine down with a can of spray cleaner once in a while, scrape the rubber off, and call it good.

What kinda car do you have?

alright i'll chime in a bit here on my personal experience and my past work experience. Worked in body shops and detailed later on...

First off there is a big misunderstanding of the difference between polish and wax and different types of wax with crystals and count... i'll just keep it simple tho.

First off the claybar is AMAZING! however, after you pull all the nasty shit out of the clear coat you will really wanna cut and buff.
I was never a fan of electric buffers, too nervous of burning and i believe with a little elbow grease you can do the same job. maybe not 100% but more then good enough to the human eye.

here's my process...
1) Wash the car good... REAL GOOD! Wash from the bottom up. You can't miss a spot this way and you have no idea how many people don't do this. Use a leather sham only... fuck cloth and fuck vince from shamwow! it leaves stuff behind. so send your stepmother that garbage ass present back =)

2) next, STOP! Access the situation... look close and hard from panel to panel top to bottom. Pending on the current shape of car and your goals make a plan from here

3) Claybar claybar claybar. get one that comes with a lubricating solution. leave the dish and laundry soap in the house. wash after done. claybar more if needed. but make sure you wash the car to get all the solution off from claybar.

4)Now depending on how bad the damage is you can do some wet sanding... be sure to rinse the car again to get any microdebris from sanding.

5) Use a paint cleaner wax meguiars makes a good one in fact they make a 3 stage process i'm bout to speak of.

6) Use polish with mild abrasive. between step 5 and 6 the car will look like it just rolled off the production line. the color looks so deep. can't describe it... you just have to see it.

7) canuba wax to seal the polish and protect it.

8 ) Mother's makes a "back to black" for moldings and it's pretty amazing to really give the vehicle a final touch to give that extra pop.

9) touch up and tire shine

10) Get ready to break some necks =)


Now everyone has their brands they prefer but from my experience either Mother's or Meguiar's is hands down the best. Lil pricey compared to the cheap stuff like turtle wax but as is the story of life... you get what you pay for.

oh and by the way... i've never seen a buffer that couldn't burn a panel. It's just simple science of heat cause by extreme friction. Sounds like a gimic and some extra cash for the local body shops

here is example of a real life before and after of a 3 stage polish and wax system

before...

after...

and that celica has some years on it