Biggy

Yeah that's worded badly ain't it, although it does say a flatbed is recommended, should really expand on that part shouldn't I lol

Glad to be of help

I use a bit of diluted last touch as qd

finally someone else who uses black hole

Claying is the process of removing contaminants that are on your paint surface. It should be done after you have washed your car, before polishing or waxing. Using clay is necessary to remove dirt that is trapped in the paint finish. Waxing without claying results in the trapping and sealing of this dirt on to the paint surface.

It is not necessary to clay your car after every single wash. A rough feeling car surface indicates paint contamination. There are two ways to get rid of this- by either using a polishing compound or using a clay bar. Using a polishing compound removes a lot of paint material in the process, therefore using a clay bar is recommended.

Why use a Clay bar

Clay bars have the ability to trap tiny debris. An appropriate lubricant is used together with the clay bar prevents abrasion of the paint surface. Any particle that protrudes from the top coat surfaced will be caught by the clay bar. The clay lubricant then prevents the debris from scratching the paint coat. After this process, the paint will feel smooth and shine brilliantly.

Debris sits ontop of the paint

While clay is common used for other purposes, it is relatively new in the car detailing market. Clay bars are actually made of fine clay particles in a soft and malleable medium which allows the bar to be kneaded. Clay makers add colours to make it more creative or as a label for differing strengths and coarseness.

Clay "feels like" and "looks like" plasticine

How to use a clay bar

The entire clay bar should not be used at a single time to prevent contamination. One way to prevent this would be cutting the bar equal pieces, kept in seperate clean bags for future use. Each piece can be used at least twice, depending on the amount of dirt present on your car. Do not exceed the recommended amount of times as a dirty clay bar can do more harm to your car's paintwork. Before discarding however, use it to clay the car rims.

Simple steps for using a Clay bar

1. Use soap and water to wash the car. Do not dry the car yet.

2. Use a quick detailer to moisten the clay and keep the bodywork 'wet'.

3. Roll the clay bar into a ball then flatten it so that it fits nicely in your palm.

4. Hold the clay bar on one hand, and the detailer in the other. Spread the detailer on the car,move the clay back and forth with medium pressure. Place more detailer if the surface begins to dry up as clay is sticky and cannot be used dry.

5. Check the clay bar frequently for hard particles and remove them. Occassionally knead and re-form the bar so that the entire clay is evenly used. Should you drop your bar on the ground, discard it.

6. Check the areas you have clayed by running your hand over it. It should feel smooth. When the entire car is completely clayed, wash the car with shampoo. If the clay can still be used, keep it in a clean plastic bag. Remember it should be kept damp.

7. Dry the car completely.

Your car is now clayed. There should be no more surface contaminants on your paintwork if the car looks shiny and feels smooth. You can now proceed with waxing to seal in the gloss.

The following conditions below indicate other contaminants that only can be removed via polishing

1. Random, isolated scratches

2. Cobweb-effect

3. Buffer Swirl

4. Oxidation

5. Pore imbedding stains

6. Chemical etching

7. Acid rain spots

8. Etching from bird droppings

A good started kit would be http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/detailing-cl...t/prod_226.html

So as you may have heard the two bucket method of washing your car being mentioned. So here I have made a quick 'How To' for you.

1st rinse the car off with a nice light stream of water. This helps to remove any light bonded materials and lubricate the bodywork:

Then prepare the 2 buckets. the first bucket you have clean fresh water and a grit guard, the RINSE bucket, then in the second your normal wash solution, and another grit guard if you choose, the WASH bucket.

Now every time you go to dunk your wash mitt back into the wash solution, first dunk it into the clean water bucket, dragging the mitt across the grit guard to release and dirt particles, trapping them at the bottom, and also removes the dirty water from the mitt.

By the end of the car your wash bucket should have little water left, and your rise should be about the same.

Now here is the main reason why you should use this method.

The water in the wash bucket will stay clean throughout the washing process, so you will only be washing your car with clean lubricated water:

The Rinse bucket on the other hand will contain all the dirt matter removed from the car, and buy rinsing your mitt in the water after every pass, you are reducing the chance of swirl marks and scratches.

Most jap cars have really thin paint, if there's anyone in the w-mids who wants to know there paint depths then let me know as I got a paint depth gauge which measures this

Ni there, what you need is two buckets with grit guards, a decent wash mitt, such as the dodo short hair wookie, a jetwasher is essential too, then buy some dodo born to be mild shampoo, I would clay it even if is new, as you don't want any contaminants under the wax,

I do have a few guides which I can post up explaining the two bucket method, claying etc etc, which I'll do later.

heres a good article that i've just read:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/spo ... 57820.html

Stunning car

best way of getting swirls out of a car is paying for correction, once thats done its preventing the swirls thats the hard part,

Firstly clean and clay the car then i reccomend Poor Boys black hole for the job you want it, i'd concentrate more on masking up the swirls, which this is one of the best products for doing that, then give it a good layer of wax after,

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/glazes/po ... d_494.html

I like the George, good for giving your matts a good soak and scrub then extracting the water out of them leaving them good as new

 

Off topic.

 

Biggy are you using my rear end as your sig?

You need some clay bars! and some megs last touch, but good collection!

/\ another off topic

 

biggy are you 'Dan Lowrie's' mate (euro'd mk1 clio with L&J audio setup)? Think Ive met you at a few midzmodified meets?

yes that is freaky, i live round the corner from him now

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.207-7015.aspx

Looks like a bargain!

I like the George, good for giving your matts a good soak and scrub then extracting the water out of them leaving them good as new

Loved this car at modified nationals,

i also remember tez162003's orange escort as well

What kit has this got on it? I believe it's the V1 Spoiler, is it the V1 Bumper too?

 

Thats a really nice example of a ZED there!

wheelmania actually went bust about a year ago, but they reopened the shop as wheelmaniacs,

So just be careful on who you get them from,

Mega endurance gel, but, you need to properly strip back and give the tires a good clean using a brush and some apc, then apply, I use a bit of cut up sponge to apply usually.

Wow, that looks more a work of art rather then an exhaust

A good product to use after you've cleaned and dried your windows is dodo juice red mist.

Nice work there dude

Yeah, I used to be staff on there 2 years ago, but that was back when the car was silver

Yeah you most likely have, i whored the shows last year

Car was meant to go into have a complete custom dash floors roof, front seats back install in it, but i've owned it for 5 years now and lost the love for it a little bit, so i'm putting my old interior back into it and the misses is goin to be driving it when i get the 350

Heres what i want to put into the 350

should be loud lol

You got any finished pics of yours andy?