Why Clay ?
 

I have always used solvents such as Auto Glym Intensive Tar Remover in the past to remove tar and similar nasties from my cars bodywork. However it now seems the 'in thing' to use clay. What is the advantage of doing this ? I can see that the solvents will possibly remove some wax/sealant but surely using clay will add swirl marks ?
If clay is the way forward, which one from Polished Blisses website would be best to use on a Jeffs Acrylic protected WR1 with a few tar spots ?
Thanks
Dan

Using the clay may strip the Jeffs,ive never used AGITR so cant comment.But as for clay you can get from mild to aggressive, these will take all the crap off your paint work such as tar, tree sap etc..... and it leaves a glass feeling on the body work. When buying the clay you can either get it with the lube or without BUT you have to have lubrication otherwise the clay will stick to the paintwork and then it will cause the swirls you mention plus marring etc...

If you want to try it get this Meguiars Quik Clay this has the clay and lube for a very good price,cos some clay will cost around 6 quid per bar.If you do get it check out the guide here Polished Bliss - Car Care Advice - How to clean your paint in preparation for polishing or protection

But remember to use plenty of lube.
Hope this helps

Scud

Thanks Scud:thumb:

With plenty of lube the meguiars quick clay will not induce marring. Claying a car leaves a fantastic glass like finish, but don't discount your AG tar remover! I find that a mild clay such as the megs quick clay is great at removing the tiny tar spots and 'invisible' contaminants over the car, but the tar remover is still more effective on the larger, more stubborn tar spots. I tend to find myself claying a car in full, then wiping down the lower panels with the tar remover to finish.

Matt

Meguiars Quick Clay is so easy to use and the finish speaks for itself. ALWAYS use plenty of the Detailer Spray and you can`t go wrong! :)

all depends on how soft the paint is - take honda paint for example - even with megs clay and loads of QD it leaves marks (god I hate honda paint)

Hands up, i've never actually experienced (yet) claying a super soft paint such as typical with Honda's. However, on the scoob I have not seen marring from Megs Quick clay. I have however experienced serious marring from 'Clay Magic' (see below), I gave this a try after buying a kit from Autopia, wouldn't recommend it personally!

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/4268/img27242iu.jpg

Luckily the marring was easily corrected with a couple passes of Megs #80, as the front door above displays

Yes same thing happend to the honda detail me and gav did - its only light marring but still you shouldnt have to PC the car every time you use a clay bar :brickwall

scoob paint is fine with the clay bar :)

wonder if theres cars with even softer paint then a honda :wonder:

I recently had my car professionally detailed. The guy doing it warned me against claying and the mis-use of it...

it has its uses, but its not the be all and end all IMO

i use tar and glue remover more then clay at work TBH

What clay did you use ? im using grren sonus fine clay and it was ok on my misses car - CTR

it was the megs normal clay - left lots of marks - which wasnt a problem as the car was getting PC`D anyway

I remember PB doing a type R and having the same problem of marring

The way I prefer to work is to wash the car, then use a glue and tar remover to remove the bulk of the tar spots, then rinse it, then refoam the car and then finally clay to remove any remaining tar and other bonded contaminants that the tar and glue remover won't shift (atmospheric particulates, etc). The advantage if this is that the clay doesn't get caked up with tar, which can induce marring. As mentioned above, claying can cause marring on soft paints or if done incorrectly. Keeping the bar warm and using plenty of lube are the golden rules - see the guide linked above for more onfo. I haven't ever been able to clay a Honda without leaving marring; good news is that one pass with a finishing polish lifts it no problem. Claying is a crucial step if a truly stunning finish is to be achieved, as no other process removes bonded contaminants (other than tar) so effectively and completely. :)