Use a clay bar to take detailing to the next level
Photo: The News Wheel
Though you might be familiar with detailing your vehicle, this could be the first time you’re hearing about detailing clay. Discover what this tool is and how to use it on your car’s exterior when it starts to feel rough and grimy.
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What detailing clay is
Similar to a clay face mask you might use to detoxify your skin cells, detailing clay is a tacky substance used to remove impurities on your car’s exterior. Detailing clay removes bonded contaminants — like brake dust, road tar, bug guts, and acid rain — from your car’s paint coat. It comes in the form of a clay bar and you typically apply it as an extra cleaning step after you’ve washed and dried your vehicle and before you wax it.
You’ll need to gather the following items before you clay bar your car for the first time: clay bar, detailer spray, and microfiber towels. It’s also a good idea to protect your eyes and hands during the process by wearing safety glasses and rubber gloves and performing this task in a brightly-lit area so you can see what you’re doing.
For starters, you’ll need to wash and dry your vehicle so you have a relatively clean surface to work with, as The Drive’s Tony Markovich recommends. Next, remove the clay bar from its packaging and divide it into halves or quarters. Then use your fingers to mold a piece of clay into a flat square.
Beginning with a small area of your vehicle, like the front bumper, spray detailer on this surface then lightly brush the clay over it using back-and-forth strokes. Use a microfiber towel to wipe off any spray residue, then fold the clay into itself and mold it into another flat square.
Repeat this process until your whole car has been clay barred. Examine your work to see if there are any grimy spots that you might have missed. If the exterior feels smooth, however, you can wax the vehicle like you normally would.
Enhance your detailing skills when you browse these helpful tips for buffing and waxing your car. Then check out this article to find out whether waxing your car is really so important.
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Whitney Russell is a current resident of Dayton, though her spirit can be found beach-bumming in Puerto Rico (the land of her half-Puerto Rican heritage). When not adventuring through the exciting world of car news, she can be found hiking with her husband and their two dogs, motorcycling, visiting nephews and nieces, discovering new memes, thrifting, decorating, crafting, woodburning, researching random things, and escaping into a great movie. See more articles by Whitney.
