i spent 4 hours ' clay-baring ' the XJ8 today...

[Brakebuster]

for those that havnt heard of a ' clay-bar' its a fine rubbing bar that removed small debris from the paint to leave it silky smooth ready for waxing..

it looks like a bar of plasticine , but is grey and made from a clay medium... its used to ' detail ' the paintwork

once washed try feeling your paintwork, it will be clean but i bet it feels a little rough/dry ,if you take a real close look at your paint you will see small bits of tree-sap and dead flies and tar splashes etc that dont come off with washing, the spots are less than 1/2mm in size, but make the car feel ' matt ', use the claybar with soapy water to gently rub over the surface, 30 seconds later it will feel a totally different finish , and as smooth as .......

once the whole car has been done use a high grade wax , i use autoglym carnuba myself, as it will go on easy and will brish off like dust once dry, and it wont bake on hard in the sun, but you do have to go round a week later with an old toothbrush to get small bits out of some trim, but it comes out a pop

so, now its raining, i can see the new wax coating is really working well, lol

BB

[bmc123]

I did mine yesterday and must admit you think your car is clean until you do it.

It's not terribly difficult to do, and it only took me about 2 hours to clay the car, but the time would vary depending on the amount of dirt built up on your car.

The worst areas for me were below the coach lines on the doors, you could really feel the clay working and the dirt that came off a supposedly clean car was unreal

However washing the car, claying the car and then polishing the thing takes a lot out of you and I don't recommend doing it all in one go without timely breaks and of course its now chucking it down so I cant get a photo (although the water is literally running off it

[JaguarKid]

I been thinking about doing mine, I see Meguiars do a clay kit so might get that one.

[bmc123]

That's the kit I used Its very good I must say - although as I mentioned above quite tiring. (and it does not remove "swirlies" ) that's a job for another day.....

[joejag308]

The dreaded swirlies you get with polishing the car are down really to what amount of work you put in to the job. Using the correct type of polish is another ........if you do a good clay job you can spoil it by using cheap polish to finish off with.
I have used recently the carnauba wax, which got into the dep clean job, then i went back to Meguiars Tech Wax 2.......a new innovation from the old tech Wax.........i now resort to using a low end electric buffer to put the polish on now as there is a bonnet to do this ........then using the micro fibre finishing bonnet to bring the shine through. Any shine though still needs a few car washes to even it all out and give the finish you crave for........Joe

[JaguarKid]

I have been looking on the other forum and think I might use the Swirl Remover 2 after claying, then a Dodo Juice Blue Velvet Wax, and see how that comes out, all by hand I think.

[JaguarKid]

I did mine last month go to my pbase website below to see my car

[joejag308]

The polishes and methods now used only 3-4 years since that last post are really eye openers......even the washing techniques are alien to the old methods.
A two bucket wash system with grit guard are the norm, no sponges are used today its sheepskin mitts and not many use chamois leathers either, its all drying towels now (i will not go back to a leather any more) these towels are great.....but after the washing using Magifoam, with a foam lance and a P/Washer give good results....then there is Iron X and Tardis for getting metal filings out of paint contamination along with the tar removal....then comes the clay bar i use the Meguiars with lubrication, its easy to use and gives a good finish.....but a new type of polish branded Optimum products is the one for me after the preping and if needed a paint correction is the way to get that perfect finish using a rotary polisher this will get out the swirl and scratches........but the Optimum products Hyper polish and car wax followed by Optiseal to seal the end product is the way to go....all Optimum prods are easy to use....us older members will love em.....sounds complicated but when done you can get a product which allows you to wash your car using just one bucket of water its called Optimum No Rinse great for going to shows ..
If you need a wax DoDo Juice Supernatural Hybrid...is the latest "thing"...on one application i found it to be very good.....i will have to wait until the beading and protection issues unfold though