StickyMicky

had my first experience of a clay bar today (megs)

you lot SURE its not just BLU-TACK ?????

this is why i am always so warey of all these new "super duper" new products that come out
as soon as i picked up my mates claybar i told him it was blu-tack, i have a big *** new packet orf blu-tack here at home and im going to go into work tomorrow and blutack my car, there is very little contamination on the car anyway, but there are a few random white over spray marks which appeared on mine and my mates cars after the last local scooby meeting, he clayed his off yesterday with his new meguires kit, i did a small test on my back 1/4 today with his kit
i will do my other one tomorrow with BLU-TACK and i would be very, very surprised if it does not work

i even believe you do not need the quick detailer as a lube, anything soapy and wet will do, and i have some "showroom shine" stuff at work that comes in 5 litre tins for under £10 that should work as a lube, it is so runny its supposed to be sprayed onto a car with a trigger spray and has no cut that i could tell.

clay = not looking so good IMO

slimtim

you're right, you do not need a clay lube at all, as long as the surface is wet, soapy water is ideal.

However Clay lubes act as quick detailers, so are just helping give the paint a bit of a clean whilst adding the right amount of lubrication.

Meguiars clay bars are pretty poor though.

Rich @ PB

iTrader: (3)

A lot of pro detailers use a bucket of suds made up at 4 times normal strength to use as a lube - I prefer a spray, as it's less messy when kneeling down to do the lower panels. Blue tack will not do the same thing as a clay bar. Clay bars are actually made of different grades of polybutene, which is a synthetic resin that is mallable at room temperature. Within this matrix (which acts as the applicator) are suspended abrasive particles (again of different grades, depending on the brand of bar) - it is these particles that do the work in terms of removing tar and other bonded surface contaminants. As far as I am aware, blue tack does not contain polishing particles (!), and will therefore not remove firmly bonded surface contaminants. I did my car today in preparation for a machine polish, and some of the tar needed very firm rubbing, although I was using a mild grade bar. There is nothing wrong with the Meguires clays - in fact they are ideal for novices, as they are fine grade and mild, and thus not liable to induce marring. Coarser, more aggressive bars are good for pro's, as they do the work much more quickly, but they do often marr the hell out of the paint - not a problem though when you intend to machine polish immediately afterwards. Let us know how the blue tack goes!

Ninnybobs

Update please Mickey

scoobyverysoon

iTrader: (1)

mmm I would love to see how this goes

Cannot fault the megs claybar

StickyMicky

tried today on some over spray

i gave the dash a light coat last summer when it was fading and some had landed on the door shut

white car, black over spray

so i set about with the blu-tack and the blu tack did shift some, the tack also ended black and dirty so i folded it over and started again. i used quick detailer as a control

i then did another portion with my mates clay bar and the clay bar shifted it quicker, i am still not convinced in the price of a proper clay bar when you consider blu-tack is £1

i will be doing another test in the next few days with the blu-tack and some waterd down body polish, the theory is the polish cuts back very lightly while the blu-tack keeps the crap out the paint.
this should help the blu-tack remove the contamination a bit faster, we shall see