Clay Bar and Polish

[MKSpeedlab]

Not very often I can be the first one to post in a new subforum. But saw this open up and figured I would share my little project with the car over the last little bit. The car had been sitting in a garage with a cover for many years, and the paint was feeling kinda gritty so it definately needed some love. So I ended up picking up a clay bar to decontaminate the paint, and then took some time with a polisher and some friends to finish it up. The clay I used was the chemical guys medium clay with their clay luber. It took likely the whole afternoon to go over the car and the whole bottle of lube but even that alone made a massive difference in the feel of the paint.



After that, I ended up picking up a new Griotts G9 polisher along with a couple of their compounds and went to work with those. 







It took a while but man what a difference it all made. After the compounds we finished the car with just some Meguirs wax and it looks SOOO much better than before. I am going to go over and repolish some of the car since the first time I didnt know as much about what I was doing, and now I feel a bit more confident with the polisher. But definately love the results and it wasnt as intimidating as I thought it originally was.

 

[RocketFoot]

Looks GREAT!!  Thanks for cracking open this new form too! 

I'd like to clay bar my car but it looks pretty demanding!  I am sure I'd have arthritis by the time I was done!

 

[Stanglover]

Looks good!

Clay bar and a light polish has been my go to for many years. I generally use Mothers Clay Bar with Mothers Quick Detailer as the lube. Other brands are out there as well. It really does give a very nice feel to the paint and removes all that gritty crap and tree sap that we all seem to get on our cars at car shows.......... oh wait, what's a car show!!!

 

[Stanglover]

Looks GREAT!!  Thanks for cracking open this new form too! 

I'd like to clay bar my car but it looks pretty demanding!  I am sure I'd have arthritis by the time I was done!

 Actually not  too demanding at all. I can do a "quickie" job on mine in about a 1/2 hour. Do a small section at a time, clay bar then buff by hand. Using the power polisher obviously will take more time.

 

[MKSpeedlab]

I was always really worried about claying a car, but honestly its not too bad. I went to a local detailing shop and talked to them about it and got their recommendations. Its mostly just time consuming, and I wont lie, my hands and arms were a bit tired by the end. But with mine needing a bit more work it likely took me a few hours to clay bar it. After that when we first polished it we did it at a friends house with a Torq polisher he had some finished it with the Meguirs Ultimate, and it looked really good. But I realized I hadnt done as good a job on the second half of the car. So thats when I decided to buy my own polisher and got the Griots one and it works great. I went over the hood again using the Griots Correcting Cream and then their Finishing Compound, and then by hand with their Wax and I was much happier the second time. 

I think I was much more apprehensive about using a power polisher on it, but it was a good learning experience and Im really happy with the result. The clay was pretty easy, and just take your time with a polisher and it should turn out great. 

 

[MKSpeedlab]

Looks GREAT!!  Thanks for cracking open this new form too! 

I'd like to clay bar my car but it looks pretty demanding!  I am sure I'd have arthritis by the time I was done!

Just ignore that poor front splitter. Im hoping to replace it this winter. 

 

[Tnfastbk]

https://www.ultimateshowglow.com/

This is a company owned by some friends of mine and he was telling us about a new clay bar mitt he was working on. I don't see it on his sight but if you scroll down toward the bottom I was actually surprised to see my car and motorcycles (the two in the garage) on there. I had just sent him random pictures on his cell after wiping them down.

We met them at the Rod Run one year and they actually came to the hotel and demonstrated the product. I could not believe how it worked in the hot sun on dark colored cars. I'm going to text him about the mitt. Your post got me to thinking about him talking about it.

Your car looks a lot different than when you started for sure. It's nice to see fruits of your labor pay of

 

[Kilgon]

Looks good.  I have been using clay bar on my vehicles for about the past 20 years now.  Found out that if you park out side you need to do it at least once or twice a year to keep your paint in nice shape.   I do the cars that are kept in the garage once a year.  I use Mothers clay bar and make a mixture of a few drops of Dawn dish soap mixed with water for the lube.  Amazing at the dirt and grit that comes off the surface even if it already feels smooth.  I follow up with  Meguiar's Gold Class Carnauba Plus Premium Paste Wax.     

 

[Spike Morelli]

Just ignore that poor front splitter. Im hoping to replace it this winter. 

I'd say, just spray the spoiler with EZ Off Oven Cleaner ( remove it first ), to take off all of the blue paint, and re-attach it. It appears to have some argent ( silver) peeking through, and would look great in argent with the body stripes.

 

[luxstang]

I love clay bats. It’s the only real car care product I ever use as I hate detailing cars. But clay bars make the job so much easier. Parked under a tree? Clay bar. Bird ****? Clay bar! 

Plus they rock when it comes to windshields!!! 

Great result on your car!! 

 

[MKSpeedlab]

I'd say, just spray the spoiler with EZ Off Oven Cleaner ( remove it first ), to take off all of the blue paint, and re-attach it. It appears to have some argent ( silver) peeking through, and would look great in argent with the body stripes.

Sadly I think mine needs more than a fresh paint job. Im just going to try and figure out which company makes a repro one that works the best and likely get a new one and give it a coat of paint. Im a little torn as when the car was repainted in the 70's, they painted the lower front valence body color along with the splitter. So I feel like If Im doing the Argent splitter, I need to also repaint the lower valence to also be the argent. 

 

[Stanglover]

From the pictures only, that splitter/spoiler (whatever you want to call it) looks very fixable to me. If there are small cracks, the material will either be ABS or Polypro, so it's weldable. ABS is a solvent based plastic, so it can be glued. Polypro does not glue well, but a hot solder iron might do the trick from the back only to save the texture. If you have some other scrap in PP, you can use that as a filler, Just cut into strips about 1/8" sq. Check it out before spending money. 

The aftermarket one I have came from NPD, but was on the car when I bought it in 08. Looks very similar to yours.

 

[Big Red Mach 1]

I'm a clay bar guy as well. These photos were taken after clay bar and waxing the car. Last painted 1994 or 1995. 

 

[Idaho Chris]

Chris- Absolutely stunning!

 

[Big Red Mach 1]

Chris- Absolutely stunning!

Thanks Idaho Chris!

 

[Spike Morelli]

I'd say, just spray the spoiler with EZ Off Oven Cleaner ( remove it first ), to take off all of the blue paint, and re-attach it. It appears to have some argent ( silver) peeking through, and would look great in argent with the body stripes.

Just a follow-up here. E-Z Off Oven Cleaner, i have just recently found out, has changed it's formula. The stuff used to work well removing old paint from plastic, but no longer is strong enough to do the job.  I have been building model cars and airplanes since I was a kid, and used it to strip models way back. Recently, I had the need to strip a model car.....but the new EZ Off didn't even touch it. My local hobby shop verified that it no longer will work. 

Oh, hey Alberta Blue Mach,.....I forgot to tell you, I'm diggin' those GT-40 style wheels on your car too... 

 

[MikeGriese]

You can still find yellow-can versions in places like Lowes or perhaps Amazon.  If you think you need it in the future - stock up now.

 

[midlife]

The version of Oven-Off that works contains lye, so look for that in the ingredients list. 

 

[SteveO_71]

Chris, nice looking car! What type of detailing do you use on the tires?