Location: Yorktown VA..............., 570 RWHP and 545 TQ
Bad claybar experience
I posted here a few days ago about get out water spots (thanks for the help). I was out of my Zainos claybars and used Meguiar’s kit from a local auto store. The claybar scratched the chit out of my 3 month old Vette, I was horrified. It helped get out some of the water spots, but now I had a bigger problem, scratches. I ordered a PC, buffed it yesterday and started the Zainos treatment. It looks like the PC got all of the water spots out and about 90 percent of the claybar damage. I claybared before when I started with Zainos without any scratches and washed my car twice before using Meguiar’s claybar this time. I don’t want to use the PC much more as I don’t want to make it worse.
With so many talking so highly of claybaring, I am wondering if I got a bad batch or what happened. Yes, I followed Meguiar’s instructions and I have claybared with Zainios before without any problems. I am reluctant to ever claybar again.
No disrespect to Meguiar’s, I use a lot of their products. I am trying to figure out what happened.
Has anyone scratched their toy with claybar before?
What color was the Meguiars bar? If they bar was gray in color, it is the one that their company has had trouble with. It seems to be more abrasive than what they advertise.
Location: Yorktown VA..............., 570 RWHP and 545 TQ
Quote:
Originally Posted by KLO
What color was the Meguiars bar? If they bar was gray in color, it is the one that their company has had trouble with. It seems to be more abrasive than what they advertise.
Yes it was gray, my Zainos stock came in to include more claybars but I don't plan on using them due to the bad experience. I just hope I can get more of the deeper scratches out, most likely I will try a little ZPC by hand.
I don't know about the grey clay, I always use the white and love it.
For a new paint I would not use an aggresive clay as it may cause marring if it's too aggresive and not enough contamination or you press down too hard or dont' use enough lube....
There's a few factors involved but most of the time clay scratches the finish is due to opperator error. No offense.
Location: Yorktown VA..............., 570 RWHP and 545 TQ
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshVette
I don't know about the grey clay, I always use the white and love it.
For a new paint I would not use an aggresive clay as it may cause marring if it's too aggresive and not enough contamination or you press down too hard or dont' use enough lube....
There's a few factors involved but most of the time clay scratches the finish is due to opperator error. No offense.
Josh
No offense taken, I am new to detailing so I was wondering if I did something wrong or not, I followed the directions on the back of the box. When I bought the car I claybared to apply Zainios and didn’t have any problems. I only did it this time due to water spots.
Yes it was gray, my Zainos stock came in to include more claybars but I don't plan on using them due to the bad experience. I just hope I can get more of the deeper scratches out, most likely I will try a little ZPC by hand.
My last clay experience was with pinnacle, and that will never touch my car again. I have used clay several times, and these results were horrible. Tons of lube, never dropped, and light pressure.
I will never use any clay without planning on polishing after, but never again for the pinnacle.
At the least, you should get a PC.
You guys can be afraid of claying all day long, but I still love it. It is one of the best things you can do for a car's paint.
BUUUUUT you must inspect the paint first, thoroughly wash it and feel the surface with a plastic baggie over your hand, if it's perfectly smooth then you should not clay it.
Clay is designed to pull off contamintion that's bonded on so what happens if there's no contamination or just not enough??? You are just abraiding the surface and can leave marring behind. This can also happen if you're using too aggresive a clay for the level of contamination.
If you put too much down pressure on it while rubbing you may get marring, if you rub too long in the same spot after the gunk is gone then you get marring, if you don't use enough lube you will know it cause it will stick and not slide and you may get marring.
Folks, it's not that hard, just got check the paint and make sure claying is neccessary. You all think the clay is the problem, it's really not, it's opperator error most of the time.
Location: Yorktown VA..............., 570 RWHP and 545 TQ
Thanks for all of the info everyone, I think I will try the PC later when it is a little cooler working in the garage. It is protected now so I can wait until the weather is a little better.
Did you use a lot of pressure? It's easy to marr paint if your using a lot of pressure. I'm suprised the PC got it out, and not just covered it up.
If i'm detailing a customer car, and I need a claybar quick, Ill get a meguairs, etc at the store, and I've never had problems with them. Did you drop it before you used it?
Location: Yorktown VA..............., 570 RWHP and 545 TQ
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan777
Did you use a lot of pressure? It's easy to marr paint if your using a lot of pressure. I'm suprised the PC got it out, and not just covered it up.
If i'm detailing a customer car, and I need a claybar quick, Ill get a meguairs, etc at the store, and I've never had problems with them. Did you drop it before you used it?
I don't know what happened, it seemed to be nice and smooth when I did it. Used the spray that came with the package, nice and easy, seemed okay until I lokked at it under the light. I did drop one, but I threw it away and it never touched the car.
I used Zainios before without any problems so I don't know why this time was different. I will touch up with the PC to get out more scratches when I get the time and the weather is a little cooler.
Corvette Store
Bad claybar experience
