How to pick a clay bar by grit (light/medium)

[Ron4543]

Forgive me if this has been answered often, I did a search for clay bar and it yielded a ton of results that I didn't find to fit my topic.

I am in the market for a new clay bar, as of right now I have the Meguiar's bar from Auto Zone or Advance Auto, been a while so I don't exactly remember. I do not mind using this on my Civic as it is much newer but my wife has a white 2007 Yaris and the oxidation shows big time. She had never maintained the car very well and it is about time I start doing it for her. I tried using my Meguiar's bar but it is extremely difficult to remove the oxidation without working a surface for a long time. For instance, I was working on the trunk earlier and after an hour I am still seeing a lot of spots. I am going to polish after the clay so would it be ok to move up to a medium, or should I even try heavy? At this point the car needs a lot of love and I have the time to put in.

I have looked at the Chemical Guys products and see that they offer the different bars, are there any other recommended companies?

[riles32807]

Don't know about the clay, I have a white 05 Carolla and I've noticed a lot of little pin-point rust spots on the paint too, especially the horizontal surfaces. I've tried clay (same Autozone/Megs) with similar results. I hit mine with compound about once a year and it clears the rust spots up. Might be worth trying a more aggressive clay though.

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[allenk4]

You might try a product like IRON X before claying

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Maybe post a picture of the vehicle and areas that you are working on so we can give better information on what needs to be accomplished.

[Bill1234]

typically, When you by the kits, I think its always light clay. However you can also buy kits with medium clay. Medium might mar when not enough lube is used

[Ron4543]

I did some research on the Iron X. I am going to order a bottle and try it out. It is definitely iron deposits that I am dealing with, I'll get pictures along when the stuff comes in. Going to do a full detail and ordering a PCXP kit along with the Iron X. If they Iron X works as it looks like it will I should be able to clay within a few hours and avoid any mistakes with a medium clay bar.

Thank you all for your replies and hopefully I get the order quickly so I can post up the results.

[oldmodman]

You might try a product like IRON X before claying

I tried it both ways.

Claying first the Iron-X would be able to reach the rail dust without having to go through a layer of other, more easily removed contaminants.

And Iron-X first might not be able to penetrate through the "crud"

The claying first worked better.

I performed my test on a single stage white Toyota that had sat outside for two years with no attention. The side I washed and clayed first allowed the Iron-X to reach all the little red rust spots and remove them.

The side I clayed after the Iron-X still had a few really deep rust spots left.

[ken tuep]

Are you trying to remove oxidation with the claybar? Or is it not removing above surface contaminates?

If so, that's not gonna cut through quickly enough. I'd suggest a cleaner wax to remove the oxidation, which should also remove the above surface contaminates.

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[Ron4543]

It has both oxidation and surface contaminants. The claying was really not helping both though it did remove some of the oxidation or at least it appeared to. The products should arrive Monday, I'll get the pictures loaded up, though the interior lighting in my garage leaves a lot to be desired. I have purchased Meguiar's UC and from what I read I get mixed reviews on if it will be too aggressive. After that I will probably use Swirl X then polish and wax.

[FUNX650]

The grit size (nm) of the abrasives in auto-clay was once controlled through the clay patents.
[The "type" of abrasive(s) used in auto-clay was likewise determined.]

I just seek out the auto-clays' whose descriptions and MSDS's are provided through detailing products Companies.
A couple of these Companies' that willing provide my above requirements are Meguiar's and AutoWax.

Light/medium auto-clays often contain calcium carbonate as the abrasives.
More aggressive clays will include "types of silica" abrasives, along with the calcium carbonate.

The % of these abrasives in the auto-clays go a long way in determining their 'aggressiveness'.



Bob