Clay brick?

Ben M

Ben M

Ben M

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Chester/ Bristol uni
Well my car is in desperate need of a good clean. Generally I use autoglym body shampoo in a bucket of hot water and give the whole car a wash with that (including wheels) and wash off with the hose. Then give the wheels a good scrub with the shampoo and a wheel brush thing. Then shammy the car dry.

Then (if I can still be bothered) i use autoglym high-resin polish on the front 1/3 of the car.

Now it looks beautiful, and the front of the car is polished, so the paint there is protected a little.

The next day it rains and the car looks stained again.

Now I've seen pictures of people having used clay bricks on their cars, and they look really, really shiny, better than new even.

So what's the deal with these clay bricks? How much do they cost? How long do they take to apply (to the whole car)? Do they look any better the next day, than if the car had been polised?

Cheers.
 
Ben, after polishing you really want to protect the paint work... polishing is abrasive hense why it improves the look of the paint work.

Instead of writing it all up here are some good guides (plenty more on the website if you are interested);

Washing;
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4637

Claying;
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4829

To give the car a complete once over,

Wash, clay, polish then one or two coats of wax to protect the paintwork and keep that shine sooo much longer!
 
Clay bar, brick sounds too.... hard :)

It's kind of like blutac (I think I've heard you can use that as an alternative?) that with a lubricant you wipe over washed paintwork to remove surface contaminates. Very effective stuff :)
 
Claying is something i'm a bit skeptical about but do it anyways.

You just apply the lube, rub the clay over the paintwork and wipe off with a cloth.

Polishing the front is doing nothing to protect the car. Polish is a mild abrasive that removes a thin layer of paint to ground out scratches (and in the case of the resin polish, filling in pits with resin I believe). Effectively you are removing protection, not providing it.

You should be using a wax to seal the car to protect it. Collinite is highly regarded as a long lasting, high performance wax.

Saying that, if you can't be bothered to even polish the whole car then forget about claying it as its another stage in the process.

Polish the whole car if necessary and wax it all. If you can't be bothered to even do that, you might as well forget about it. The grime your car picks up will probably provide better protection than what you are currently doing!
 
thanks guys, some interesting information and articles there (ethos those 2 are great =] )

but it seems like wash+polish+clay etc etc etc could take forever, and not really be worth it, as it'll be dirty again soon (damn you british weather)

so I think I'll stick to just washing my car (I think i'll invest in a lambswool mitt) and then drying it, until such a time where I have the time/inclination to spend an afternoon beautifying my car

thanks for all the help guys =]

I have one more question though, what's the best way to get wheels nice and shiny? i've heard a lot about cleaners being too acidic and damaging your wheels, what's best to use?
 
If you are using that white polishing cloth that comes in a roll and falls to bits then it will be hard work. Work the polish in with a proper sponge applicator, dont use too much polish and then buff off easily with a microfibre cloth.
 
Ben M, it sounds like a lot but in total it's really only 4-5 hours work and if you wax it twice with a good wax it'll last 6 months+

Also when it has been waxed you'll find it a lot easier to clean :)

As for cleaning the wheels, I find if you clean them every week with some shampoo in warm water / microfibre cloth it will bring them up nicely. I find that you only really need the cleaners if you leave the brake dust on too long. You can also polish and wax your wheels to bring them up...
 
ethos said:
Ben M, it sounds like a lot but in total it's really only 4-5 hours work and if you wax it twice with a good wax it'll last 6 months+
Click to expand...

so I can wax it twice a year, and the rest of the time just use shampoo? this sounds like it could suit me =p
 
last time i washed my car is was damn cold and cba to use normal wax. Had some spray wax that i normally use on the wheels and its done a pretty good job. Water is still beading nicely and it only took about 15mins to do the whole car.
 
For the wheels use Big Orange by Turtle Wax combined with a brush such as this: http://www.heritage-homeandgarden.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=939_953_980&products_id=7811

Big Orange Around £4.95: http://www.turtlewaxuk.com/results.asp?txtrange=Big Orange#

You can also use Big Orange all over the paint work to remove grim that normal washing won't remove such as tree sap etc...

And when I'm feeling lazy or a job needs doing quickly I use Sparkle to quickly polish the car. Don't bother using the shammy just leave the car for 5 mins for the water to run off and then spray Sparkle all over the car. I usually do it in four sections. Front/side/side/rear. Spray on then wipe over by the time you have wiped the whole car the front will be ready for buffing. You can do the wheels with it too.

Sparkle doesn't leave a white residue so over spraying into gaps isn't a problem.

Sparkle Around £1.15 - £1.30: http://www.heritage-homeandgarden.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=8745

I have been using sparkle for around 4-5 years and first used it for cleaning fly guts off the windscreen on the helicopter because anything else would scratch the windscreen as it's acrylic. Then it progressed to using it all over the helicopter and then onto cars.

It's also handy for using on the front of cars in the summer to remove fly/bee guts as usually the rest of the car is clean and they are the only things making the car look dirty. Spray it on and leave for 2-5 mins for the sparkle to soak into the fly splat and then wipe off and buff.

Here's a picture of a Range Rover I did on Friday with Sparkle, picture isn't the greatest as it's taken on the phone: http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5179/11012008248ng5.jpg
 
Yeah I can understand the raised eye brow comments but Sparkle works differently to other furniture polishes. It certainly won't cause any harm to the paint work.

I do recommend a proper polish and wax but he seems like he doesn't want to spend the time doing it so I suggested something else which is quick and easy.
 
If you polish, *always* wax afterwards.

A waxed car is so much easier to keep clean as well. Dirt will practically fall off it it - even with just water from a hose or a heavy rain shower.
 
NathanE said:
If you polish, *always* wax afterwards.

A waxed car is so much easier to keep clean as well. Dirt will practically fall off it it - even with just water from a hose or a heavy rain shower.
Click to expand...

Not only that, but the BEADS!!!

I remember the first time it rained after I had waxed my car and saw the beading, I shouted to the girlfriend to come take a look. She wasn't as excited as me tho :o
 
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