Clay Bar, Black

I have a "retro-bird" (Thunderbird) that, like any vehicle over the years, has collected a series of clear-coat scratches, discoloration, and lack of luster. I've had it detailed by a personal friend multiple times over the past 12 years, but the paint really needed a major "refresh". I began researching several "how to" videos on YouTube for auto finish restoration. I learned how to correct clear-coat scratches (with sandpaper, no less), use rubbing compound to remove discoloration, and to blend the clear-coat finish. Mind you, my lifetime experience ends with wash, wax, and protect. After correcting all of the blemishes, I ordered this Chemical Guys Medium Clay Bar after watching the company's "how-to" video. The detailer made it look easy as he demonstrated tips, techniques, uses, and explanations. I learned that the medium clay is their "go to" for most jobs where the finish is in relatively good shape but never had a clay bar before. I did purchase their lubricant, but.... opted not to use is as I was fortunate enough to be able to clay-bar the Tbird during a day of light rain. (note: rainwater is naturally clean, naturally "soft" leaving no hardwater spots, and offers a continuous lubrication and rinse action). You can really see and feel a difference in the clear-coat. It stripped out all of the rough contaminants, wax, oxidation from the finish. Lastly, I used Turtle Wax hard wax and laid down a heavy coat before buffing out. The end result was car-show competition finish! It took me about 4 days from start to finish, but the clay bar process was actually the easiest, fastest part of the process yielding the highest possible return on results. If you are like me and have never clay-barred a vehicle before, you owe it to yourself to strip the wax off, clay-bar, then use a good hard wax. you won't be disappointed. One last thing - I'd like to pass one of the most important tips the Chemical Guys passed along in the video. DO NOT USE THE WHOLE BAR OF CLAY AT ONCE. What I mean is, cut about 1/4 of the bar off and use that. If you DROP the clay-bar onto the ground, you cannot use it - throw it away immediately. It will instantly pick up and embed any grit from the floor, and will ruin your finish. Just cut another 1/4 of the bar and continue on. Trust me, I dropped two pieces during the process. If it had been the whole bar at once, I would have been sunk.

Works great on heavily neglected paint. BEWARE: THIS WILL INDUCE MARRING AND LIGHT SCRATCHING ON DARKER COLORED PAINT, IF IT IS SUCCESSFULLY PULLING HEAVY CONTAMINATES FROM YOUR PAINT! SO PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT MARK THIS PRODUCT DOWN BECAUSE IT CAUSED YOU TO SCRATCH YOUR BEAUTIFUL BLACK PORSCHE. This is more or less a specialty clay for really bad, old, neglected paint. So if you are using this clay bar on paint, you are 99% guarenteed to be following this with a polish or light compound. Chances are, if it's this bad to start with - you're gonna need to polish it out anyways. I follow a black-clay job with Chemical Guys V38 or V36. Something. Also be sure to clean, knead, and dispose of this properly. It's hard to see dirt because of it's color, so be mindful of this. Simple procedures will give you good results. But expect to be polishing or at least using a paint cleaner afterwards to get rid of find scratches. I also want to point out that this works WONDERFUL when claying glass. No you will not scratch your glass. It handles rocks at freeway speeds, sand, the sun, acid rain, everything else - bird crap, sap, leaves, whatever. It could care less about the clay. In fact I use old no-longer-for-paint use clay when I am washing a vehicle on glass. Recycling old materials is always a good idea! Cost effective way of removing light water spotting and contamination. Glass cleaner and car-washing will *not* remove sap and bonded contaminates from glass, but this will. This is what gives glass that silky smooth feel again. Heavy water etching will need heavy treatment, such as a dedicated glass polish. But this with your soapy water will remove 99% of whatever is on your glass.

I like this product but chemical guys is pricey stuff and I don't think it's really any better then cheaper competitors that being said what I like about this brand is you know when you buy it your getting a quality product and not some knock off junk like you all too often run into in the detailing products world. There's so many bad quality products out there that sometimes it makes sense to pay a bit more for a known good quality product like this. That being said this got my whips looking super sexy and especially after I applied the ceramic coatings to them!!!

Worked great

Nice clay. I’ve dedicated it to windshield duty and only bought it over others because it has a neat little plastic container to store it in. You’d be amazed at what claying your windshield does. If you’ve never done it I highly recommend it! Or polish but I think clay is easier/better on glass. You clay your vehicle’s paint why wouldn’t you do the windshield?

Does a great job cleaning the extra dirt off the pant.

My truck had light overspray on it from front to back, and other contaminant's. I only wash it maybe every couple months, so it was pretty rough. A friend that’s a professional body guy suggested I claybar it. Fully washed the truck, and used a bucket of water with a little dawn dish-soap, and a big sponge to repeatedly keep the area lubricated as I worked from panel to panel. It took roughly three to four hours at a slow steady pace. I was amazed how smooth the finish turned out. It did slightly stick to my fingers, but felt that it helped to not accidentally drop it. I only used 1/3 of the bar for the entire job. I followed up with a light compound for the minor scuffs/scratches that had slowly accumulated over the years, and then a final wax. Pro tip: early morning with the vehicle in the shade, and the Bluetooth speaker made this job a lot easier lol!

Fantastic- works as promised