1-Minute Video: How to Clay Your Car

[fmahmad88]

Disclaimer: This is Fahad from Robust Auto Detailing. This is our second video in a series of several 1-minute videos to come. Hope you enjoy! The objective here is to quickly introduce customers to the concept of car claying with a short video.

Click on the picture above to view the video

This is an excerpt from the latest blog post and is meant to be a short tutorial on claying the car. I am sure most of you guys are all ready familiar with this process but I just wanted to add my 0.5 cents to this community which has often helped me a lot!

What Do You Need?

1. Washed Car:
For properly claying the car, it is required to have the car washed prior to using the clay bar on any of the surfaces. A two bucket wash method or a rinseless wash would suffice. You can use this method to wash your car if there is very light dust or dirt on it.

2. Waffle Weave Drying Towel:
Any highly absorbent towel works here but we recommend using a waffle weave drying towel since it can hold a lot of fluid while at the same time being paint safe. Double the fact that it can also be used for drying the car if needed.

3. Clay:
The choice of clay depends on what suits your needs and what works for you best. We personally use a clay block or a towel due to their versatility and being more user friendly but clay bars are definitely very good too.

4.Clay Lubricant:
A dedicated clay lubricant can be bought but with the advent of technology, using specific rinseless washes at varying dilution can also serve as clay lubricants. Water as a lubricant is a bad idea! We use Optimum No Rinse for this method.

How Should I Clay My Car?

Claying is performed by the following steps:
Note: Always park the car in a cool and shaded area while claying the car. Failure to do so may lead to marring and clay bar staining the surface. If your clay bar falls to the ground, discard it! For clay towels, blocks and discs, you can usually clean them using your wash detergent if they fall down.

1. Wash and Dry your car
It is critical to wash the car properly prior to claying the vehicle or else you may end up inducing scratches and swirls.

2. Perform The Plastic Bag Test
This test will ensure that your car needs a clay treatment. Horizontal surfaces usually acquire more contaminants.

3. Iron Remover (Optional)
This process removes nearly all the Iron from the surface of the vehicle. You can use products like CarPro Iron-X or Optimum Ferrex for this. This may cut down your claying time especially if it's a neglected vehicle while even further reducing the chance of marring the paint. These products are simple spray and rinse that are very effective in dissolving iron deposits.

4. Spray Clay Lubricant
Generously spray clay lubricant across the surface, usually a 2'x2' area. Ensure even coverage.

5. Rub the Clay Bar
The clay bar is then carefully glided across the area with the lubricant. The clay would extract all embedded particles from the paint.

6. Kneading the Bar
As you continue to clay the vehicle, you may notice that it absorbs a lot of gunk and dirt. Once you notice that, you may want to knead the clay bar to obrain a fresher side. If too many contaminants are visible on the clay, the clay should be discarded and a new piece should be used. If you are using a block, disc or towel, you can simply rinse off the surface as you switch panels.

7. Clay the Rest of the Vehicle.
Continue step 4-6 all over the surfaces that require clay treatment. This could include wheels, glass and chrome. You may notice enhanced gloss of the vehicle.

8. Seal the Car
Clay usually ends up removing the wax or sealant. You will have to wax or seal the car to mitigate future damage. If your car has been coated(eg. Opti-Coat Pro, Opti-gloss coat, cQuartz), you may not need to do anything.

Storage:
It is recommended to keep the remaining clay block/bar/towel in an airtight bag or container with clay lubricant in it. Keep the clay in a cool, shaded place and keep it out of the heat or extreme cool.
Pro Tip: If you are using a clay towel or clay block, you can generally store it in a bucket of Optimum No Rinse and Water as well.

Click Here to access the complete blog post. I wanted to keep the pointers here short and to the point!

Thank You for Reading!

[FinishingTouchA]

Nice post! The last couple weeks I've been working on a marketing game plan for 2016 that will include youtube and blogging. Glad to see others are doing it too. Keep up the hard work.

[Paul A.]

That's well done Fahad! Thank you for sharing it with us here.

[fmahmad88]

Nice post! The last couple weeks I've been working on a marketing game plan for 2016 that will include youtube and blogging. Glad to see others are doing it too. Keep up the hard work.

Thank you for the words! There were lengthy 5-30 minute tutorials about detailing and a lot of my customers are busy people who don't have time to go through that much information. The objective was to fill the void of short and concise videos. All of my customers gave me positive feedback on them. The written blog post, iterated and updated everytime I learn something new, adds more detailed information to the video. If you ever need any help with videos and blogging and you think I can help, please feel free to shoot me an email.

That's well done Fahad! Thank you for sharing it with us here.

Thank you so much! I am glad it helped! This community is amazing!

[FUNX650]

I couldn't help but notice that the below
process is not included in your write-up:

Even if it's a car-care product that's considered
of having just very light/mild abrasives...
I always polish after claying.


Bob

[fmahmad88]

I couldn't help but notice that the below
process is not included in your write-up:

Even if it's a car-care product that's considered
of having just very light/mild abrasives...
I always polish after claying.


Bob

Hey Bob,

Thanks for the feedback and I agree with polishing after abrasive products being used on the paint. I am curious what kind of product you are referring to?

[shagnat]

So I washed and used Iron-X on my car, then clay barred maybe half of it before it rained. (wasn't supposed to rain at all) then rain became too heavy to continue, so I packed up and quit. Do I need to wash my car again before resuming the claying?
Should I was the entire car again, finish claying, then start my polishing processes?
Is there any need to go back and clay bar the half of the car I've already done? TIA

[fmahmad88]

So I washed and used Iron-X on my car, then clay barred maybe half of it before it rained. (wasn't supposed to rain at all) then rain became too heavy to continue, so I packed up and quit. Do I need to wash my car again before resuming the claying?
Should I was the entire car again, finish claying, then start my polishing processes?
Is there any need to go back and clay bar the half of the car I've already done? TIA

It would be a good idea to wash the car if you had started the process especially since rain can bring debris and mineral on top of the paint. It would be nice to double check the areas previously clay barred(using the plastic bag test) as well to ensure that the surface hasn't embedded contaminants after the rain. If all looks good, the clay barring can be proceeded with polishing the car.

[shagnat]

It would be a good idea to wash the car if you had started the process especially since rain can bring debris and mineral on top of the paint. It would be nice to double check the areas previously clay barred(using the plastic bag test) as well to ensure that the surface hasn't embedded contaminants after the rain. If all looks good, the clay barring can be proceeded with polishing the car.

Thanks for putting it in focus for me. That's exactly what I did.