HELP... clay bar has scratched my car!

[J@mes]

Hi there,

Today I planned to give my car a good clean ready for the winter. I have been planning this for a few weeks now, and thought it would be a good idea to clay my car before waxing it, seeing as I have heard good things about clay bars! My black 05 LCR has never been clayed before so I was looking forward to the results!

I bought a Bilt Hamber Regular Clay Bar as it won the Auto Express clay bar awards the last two years running and I liked the fact that you could simply use water as lube for it... http://www.bilthamber.com/pro-introduction.php?cname=Clays, Wax :: Polish&name=auto-clay regular


So back to today, after I washed the car as normal I dried it quickly, not as thoroughly as normal as I would be wetting it to clay it!

I started on the roof, and I used lots of water in my spray bottle wetting the roof and the bar, I rubbed the whole roof and then dried it with a microfibre towel.

Well I was horrified by the result, there were cloudy white spots here and there and in particular lots of little tiny scratches all over the roof! I thought oh no what have I done?!

I then decided not to carry on with the clay bar (obviously!) and spent the next two hours polishing the roof and its 95% better now, so I am happy.

What I want to know is were did I go wrong with the clay bar?

I washed the clay before using it as per the instructions it came with and I used lots of water on the car as lube. TBH the clay bar only got slightly dirty, a bit of green on it, but i thought it would have been a lot more soiled!

I have just looked on you tube for a guide to using clay bars, and one person said make sure you don't push too hard with the clay bar or you will scratch the paint. Well I don't think I pushed hard at all, but certainly harder than just using the weight of the clay which is what the person on you tube said to do. Is he right?

The only other thing I have read on the internet since is not using "special detailing lube" will cause scratches, but Bilt Hamber say you can simply use water as this is designed to work with water as a lube!!!

So what are peoples' thoughts? Did I simply push too hard? I really don't know what else to think!

I certainly wont be using a clay bar again, unless I can be convinced otherwise!

Thanks,

James

 

[UncleFester]

Marring i think - you pushed too hard

 

[J@mes]

Really? I honestly don't think I pushed hard at all though Pat!

Are you literally just meant to use the weight of the clay to rub over the paint and not push down at all?!

If so, I guess/hope this is why!

 

[UncleFester]

Yes - it's to remove contaminants, nothing more. Almost needs no pressure at all!!

 

[J@mes W]

Did you warm the clay bar in hot water before you used it? could be it wasnt warm enough.

Also claying your car will remove most if not all of the contaminants from the paint so it will show all the imperfections.

Im far from an expert on claying, im sure some of the pro's will be along soon to add their thoughts.

 

[Matt-V5-Duffy]

Claying can cause marring no matter how careful you are or how much lubricant you use, I had the same issue when doing my brothers Astra last weekend but that was heavily contaminated.

 

[J@mes]

Yes - it's to remove contaminants, nothing more. Almost needs no pressure at all!!

Yea I know claying is purely to remove contaminants so you have the perfect surface to polish/wax etc.

Almost no pressure at all, well then I obviously did do it too hard!

Did you warm the clay bar in hot water before you used it? could be it wasnt warm enough.

Also claying your car will remove most if not all of the contaminants from the paint so it will show all the imperfections.

Im far from an expert on claying, im sure some of the pro's will be along soon to add their thoughts.

Yes I forgot to say, I also warmed the clay up in warm water for a few mins before using it!

Claying can cause marring no matter how careful you are or how much lubricant you use, I had the same issue when doing my brothers Astra last weekend but that was heavily contaminated.

Thats interesting and worrying to read! In hindsight I think I should have gone for the "soft" Bilt Hamber clay bar instead of the "regular" one. I chose the regular one because it came first in the Auto Express awards and the "soft" version came 3rd I think, and also because it says on the website;

"auto-clay regular is ideally suited to cars not previously clayed, heavily contaminated or for the removal of overspray"

also I have just seen it says;

"auto-clay is provided in regular and soft grades. Regular for intensive cleaning of moderate to heavy contamination and / or summer use. Soft clay is designed for more frequent and / or winter use. Both grades contain exactly the same particle size and low moh's hardness pure mineral filler. !

So that implies to me the regular clay is harsher/more course?!


I wonder if I should give it another go but be very VERY careful and light this time?! What do people think?

 

[n_d_fox]

My only advice i can give when claying is to use plenty of lube, be gentle (dont use pressure) and work in small areas at a time, checking your progress before moving on. you also need to keep kneeding the clay, folding it and working it in your hands keeping it soft and clean.

Always, always make sure you are using a clean surface of the clay on the paint.

Regardless of what they say i wouldnt use just water as a lube, imo you need something to help keep the paint slick so it helps the clay glide. The marring and marking clay makes is through a lack of this slickness between the clay and paint where it tacks slightly on the paint.

I've never had experience of clay scratching a car but i have seen slight marring which has then been removed during the polishing stage.

The ideal clay for a beginner is the meguiars clay kit from Halfords, its really mild clay and the lube is perfectly suited to it, you cant really go wrong with it to be honest.

I use DoDo SN clay usually although i have just got some new AutoFinesse clay to try. Lube for me is always Meguiars Last Touch cut 50:50 with water and i use the best part of a litre of lube on my leon just claying the bonnet, wings, front doors and roof

 

[J@mes]

I may give claying another go but not in any time soon as I simply wont have the time! (I bought the clay bar about 2 months ago, and only just got round to using it!)

 

[Loud]

Lots of fair points made here so no use repeating them. What I will add however is that whenever I have clayed a car it has been as part of a prep stage prior to a polish. Of course polish will remove the marring caused by the clay. Many times I've been claying a car and the owner would be watching with a look of terror on their faces at all the marks

All gone after a polish. If you're polishing by hand just grab some SRP from Halfords and it will help remove the naffness left behind. And yeah I use BH clay sometimes.

 

[tony323ci]

The ideal clay for a beginner is the meguiars clay kit from Halfords, its really mild clay and the lube is perfectly suited to it, you cant really go wrong with it to be honest.:

that's the one I used being a clay virgin It was really easy and only used water for lube some areas took bit of extra time but made a great job of it obviously followed by a nice layer of wax

 

[J@mes]

Lots of fair points made here so no use repeating them. What I will add however is that whenever I have clayed a car it has been as part of a prep stage prior to a polish. Of course polish will remove the marring caused by the clay. Many times I've been claying a car and the owner would be watching with a look of terror on their faces at all the marks

All gone after a polish. If you're polishing by hand just grab some SRP from Halfords and it will help remove the naffness left behind. And yeah I use BH clay sometimes.

Yea I was planning on polishing and waxing the car after claying it, I just did not realise that marring will happen regardless and the fact I obviously did it too hard and despite as advised just used water, and lastly maybe using the regular grade instead of soft grade didn't help me either because I pushed too hard?!

IF I decide to give it another go I wont use just water as lube and I will certainly be doing it as light as possible!

 

[Stuiemc]

Did you buy the soft or regular bar? Also i would add a cap of shampoo to the water just to be safe.

 

[Stuiemc]

Sorry just seen you used the regular bar. From what av heard theres pritty much no car the soft clay wont do so a wouldnt bother with the regular.

 

[tony323ci]

so far I've only used soft clay but then my car is nearly new
adding some shampoo to water helps I did that with mine and put it in an old spray mist bottle that previously had some sort of cleaner in it (yes I did rinse it well first)

 

[Greegiecee]

ok I'll be honest, this post has me cra myself. I just bought a fine claybar and thought like J@mes I'd do a bit of pre-winter pampering. My clay also said it's ok to use water as lube (definitely won't be doing that!). I only have some soapy water but was wondering is that devil shine that you spray on a wet car would work as a better lubricant? Before I screw up my car can someone confirm that I literally just let the bar glide over the paint, no pressure at all?

 

[mick-fr]

ok I'll be honest, this post has me cra myself. I just bought a fine claybar and thought like J@mes I'd do a bit of pre-winter pampering. My clay also said it's ok to use water as lube (definitely won't be doing that!). I only have some soapy water but was wondering is that devil shine that you spray on a wet car would work as a better lubricant? Before I screw up my car can someone confirm that I literally just let the bar glide over the paint, no pressure at all?

Suppose you could use that, but you could just use some car shampoo with water. Yeah just let it glide over the paint, don't apply anymore pressure than whats needed to slide it along.

 

[Blanco92]

Some good tips in here.

If I was to add anything, it'd be this. The Bilt Hamber clay you bought was probably 200g... I'd always cut the clay up into approx 50g sections (like the Meguiars ones), then use them, passing lightly over the paintwork. I'd never take a 200g clay bar and start using that on the paint.

 

[J@mes]

Some good tips in here.

If I was to add anything, it'd be this. The Bilt Hamber clay you bought was probably 200g... I'd always cut the clay up into approx 50g sections (like the Meguiars ones), then use them, passing lightly over the paintwork. I'd never take a 200g clay bar and start using that on the paint.

that's exactly what I did!

As advised in the instructions I cut the 200g into quarters and used just one piece!

 

[J@mes]

I'm thinking of giving claying another go but with the the Meguiars Quik kit... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Meguiars-...le_Oils_Lubricants_Fluids&hash=item51a2732b09

Do people think this is a good soft kit? Am I likely to get scratches again, even if I hardly push hard at all?!

Thanks.