Clay Bars Rock!

[MarkVII88]

I bought my Pearl White 2012 Mazda5 Sport AT in October. After the first couple months, as I periodically visited the car wash, I noticed little areas of tiny rust spots on the paint, mostly on the lower half of the doors. With a little rubbing they would go away but when I looked this up, I found out about "rail dust". These small metal particles attach themselves to the clear coat and eventually rust. It's not harmful unless left on indefinitely. Being my car is white they showed up readily. Anyway, being winter in Vermont, it was impossible to keep the car clean enough to remove the rail dust. Until today! I got some IronX product from AutoGeek.com and then used the clay bar with some Meguiar's Quick Detailing spray. The IronX seemed to work well, loosening a lot of the metal and the clay bar easily took away the rest. I've never clay-barred a car before and I've never been more impressed with the performance of a detailing product. I recommend this to everyone on this forum.

 

[eyeballs]

Yup. Clay bars FTW. There was a time when I used to do that once or twice a year, and at least a few months since the last wax job since its a good idea to do that after the claybar. Now I don't even have time to wash my car, let alone claybar. Quick detailer is a nice and fast way for me to clean it in the garage in about 15 min if its not too dirty to start with.

 

[MarkVII88]

I know what it's like not to have time to wash the car. I've got three little kids but I've managed to make time for sprucing-up the car b/c I've basically been waiting all winter to do it.

 

[k8-5]

to those unfamiliar with clay bars, make sure you are protecting the paint with a sealant/wax after claying the area.

 

[Robotazky]

to those unfamiliar with clay bars, make sure you are protecting the paint with a sealant/wax after claying the area.

I'm curious if you're making this suggestion because the paint and clear coat is so clean that it's the perfect time to wax, of if you're saying this because the clay bar is somehow stripping something and exposing un-waxed paint to the elements in a detrimental way. I'm assuming the former, but I just wanted to ask.

 

[k8-5]

both actually, but the latter is most important as your clear coat is bare where ever you use clay thus more susceptible to damage/oxidation.

clay not only strips contaminants from the surface, but also all the protection of waxes and sealants.