Need to wax a car after using a clay bar on it?
April 6, 2013 2:49 PM Subscribe
First I guess I should say that I realize that a lot of the people who really know the answer to this question clean/detail their cars as a hobby and really enjoy fully detailed and immaculate cars. That being the case, I might need to ask those people to understand that I am not that way about my car. I'd love for it to look great and have perfectly maintained paint, but realistically I don't want to put in the work that it takes to do it "right". I really just want it to be "good" with the minimum of effort.
So, my question is about clay bars. I bought my 2002 car in 2009 and I've never waxed it. I think it looks pretty good. I wash it either by hand or in a drive-thru wash (the top-of-the-line option) every couple of months. I've heard about clay bars cleaning up the clear coat and I'm thinking about using one on it, but is it necessary to hand wax it afterwards? I'd like to just clay bar it and then run it through the top-of-the-line $12 wash/wax at the drive through wash. If hand waxing is necessary after using the clay bar, I probably won't do it and will just continue with my current "regimen". Thanks.
ps, any clay bar recommendations?
So, my question is about clay bars. I bought my 2002 car in 2009 and I've never waxed it. I think it looks pretty good. I wash it either by hand or in a drive-thru wash (the top-of-the-line option) every couple of months. I've heard about clay bars cleaning up the clear coat and I'm thinking about using one on it, but is it necessary to hand wax it afterwards? I'd like to just clay bar it and then run it through the top-of-the-line $12 wash/wax at the drive through wash. If hand waxing is necessary after using the clay bar, I probably won't do it and will just continue with my current "regimen". Thanks.
ps, any clay bar recommendations?
I agree, clay bars are not so much for instantaneous results, but to maintain the finish over time. As said above, it's basically silly putty with a very, very fine abrasive in it. What it does is glides over the layer of lubricant you put on the car and whenever it encounters a hunk of dirt, it either knocks it out, or abrades it down. Unlike an actual polish, it only knocks down the high spots. Which a polish won't necessarily catch. (Think about washing a dirty pot. It's way easier to scrape off the gunk, than to try and stand there and scrub the gunk off. This does that.)
And yes, you probably need to wax it afterwards to protect the finish. I would probably have a preference for a nice hand carnuba wax, but if you can't do that, use something like a nice thick detailer+wax to do *something*. You don't want more dirt getting into the paint the instant you spent an afternoon cleaning it up. I'm not entirely sure the wax in a carwash does anything.
For windows, try Mr. Clean Magic erasers after cleaning them normally. You'll be surprised at how dirty the windows still are. (I've been using them on the plastic headlights, but I don't know if there will be any long term wear, so I can't recommend it. But so far so good.) Seems to work well and not nearly as messy as other alternatives.
One way to make the job seem like less work is to do a body panel at a time, over a course of a few weeks.
posted by gjc at 8:42 PM on April 6, 2013
And yes, you probably need to wax it afterwards to protect the finish. I would probably have a preference for a nice hand carnuba wax, but if you can't do that, use something like a nice thick detailer+wax to do *something*. You don't want more dirt getting into the paint the instant you spent an afternoon cleaning it up. I'm not entirely sure the wax in a carwash does anything.
For windows, try Mr. Clean Magic erasers after cleaning them normally. You'll be surprised at how dirty the windows still are. (I've been using them on the plastic headlights, but I don't know if there will be any long term wear, so I can't recommend it. But so far so good.) Seems to work well and not nearly as messy as other alternatives.
One way to make the job seem like less work is to do a body panel at a time, over a course of a few weeks.
posted by gjc at 8:42 PM on April 6, 2013
A claybar is not a replacement for a wax. It's more of a surface preparation. If you're addiing a claybar to your car cleaning routine, the correct order is...
wash/dry > claybar > polish > wax
posted by Thorzdad at 6:36 AM on April 7, 2013
wash/dry > claybar > polish > wax
posted by Thorzdad at 6:36 AM on April 7, 2013
Response by poster: This is all good information, I'm sure, but let me rephrase my original question. What would happen if I did this
wash - dry - clay bar - take car through top-of-the-line drive-thru automatic wash/wax
instead of
wash - dry - clay bar - hand wax
?
posted by atm at 11:38 AM on April 7, 2013
wash - dry - clay bar - take car through top-of-the-line drive-thru automatic wash/wax
instead of
wash - dry - clay bar - hand wax
?
posted by atm at 11:38 AM on April 7, 2013
Response by poster: And also,
would my car be better off if I didn't clay bar it at all, rather than to clay bar and then not hand wax after?
posted by atm at 11:40 AM on April 7, 2013
would my car be better off if I didn't clay bar it at all, rather than to clay bar and then not hand wax after?
posted by atm at 11:40 AM on April 7, 2013
Best answer: I don't think using a clay bar will cause anything bad to happen if you don't wax afterwards. The wax just helps protect all the work you did.
With one caveat: if the car currently has a functioning coat of wax and you strip it off in the process of using the clay bar, you lose the protection of the wax that used to be there. But that's probably not the case if you aren't regularly waxing the car. So if the only wax your car sees is the carwash wax, then yeah, just go through the carwash again and you are back to normal.
So I think the answer is that you can't hurt anything by using a clay bar (as per the instructions that comes with it) and the worst that can happen is that you don't help anything.
Another thing: claybars are sold as being miracle medicine for paint. They aren't. They solve one specific problem: gritty feeling paint. If you wash your car and run your fingers over the dry paint and it feels chunky, the claybar will get rid of a lot of that. But if the paint has swirls and scratches or oxidation, the clay bar will do nothing for that.
posted by gjc at 12:19 PM on April 7, 2013
With one caveat: if the car currently has a functioning coat of wax and you strip it off in the process of using the clay bar, you lose the protection of the wax that used to be there. But that's probably not the case if you aren't regularly waxing the car. So if the only wax your car sees is the carwash wax, then yeah, just go through the carwash again and you are back to normal.
So I think the answer is that you can't hurt anything by using a clay bar (as per the instructions that comes with it) and the worst that can happen is that you don't help anything.
Another thing: claybars are sold as being miracle medicine for paint. They aren't. They solve one specific problem: gritty feeling paint. If you wash your car and run your fingers over the dry paint and it feels chunky, the claybar will get rid of a lot of that. But if the paint has swirls and scratches or oxidation, the clay bar will do nothing for that.
posted by gjc at 12:19 PM on April 7, 2013
What would happen if I did this
wash - dry - clay bar - take car through top-of-the-line drive-thru automatic wash/wax
You're skipping the polish step. Honestly, I'd do the polish instead of the claybar, if you were only doing one or the other. Then wax. By hand. The automatic spray wax is ok, but just doesn't compare to a hand-applied waxing.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:38 AM on April 11, 2013
wash - dry - clay bar - take car through top-of-the-line drive-thru automatic wash/wax
You're skipping the polish step. Honestly, I'd do the polish instead of the claybar, if you were only doing one or the other. Then wax. By hand. The automatic spray wax is ok, but just doesn't compare to a hand-applied waxing.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:38 AM on April 11, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
The spray on wax is not very good wax, doesn't go on very thick and so it only really last a few weeks or till the next wash. When I hand wax (I use Johnsons Kit wax btw) it goes on pretty thick and usually lasts about a year or so, and I wash my car A LOT. So that 2-3 hours of waxing and clay barring once a year is actually a time and money saver over the poor spray on wax once a month or three weeks. I also don't get wax on my glass or plastic where I don't really want it.
The clay bar removes the dust and dirt that gets embedded in the clear coat and also fills in the small scratches that develop. (BTW i am pretty sure 'clay' bars are pretty much silly putty) and after you wash the car thoroughly with a wax stripping soap (dawn dish soap works pretty good) and then run a clay bar over it using the soap as a lubricant you will be amazed at how smooth your car feels. Then the wax will go on easily and quickly and buff off easier as well since you are starting with a smooth surface. I then use a paint brush with the bristles cut down to about 1" to get the dried wax out of the emblems and panel gaps (this task takes about as long as buffing the whole car).
The other thing that will amaze you with how dirty you didn't know it was is buying a glass polish cleaner and using that to clean all your windows. You may end up throwing out the towel you used to clean them (some people swear by using old newspapers but I don't want to harm the tinting and I am not sure if that would).
Doing the clay bar and good waxing are the difference in a car that looks great 10 years down the road and one that looks faded and worn out. I also use this stuff for the plastic trim that starts to look bad or discolored or the 'blackness' starts to grey out.
posted by bartonlong at 3:18 PM on April 6, 2013 [4 favorites]