What is this ‘clay bar’, that you and others speak of?…
Car Wash or DIY
- Thread starter rusty_sandwedge
- Start date
I only use hand wash and mine does this. I set the keys off to the side since this issue is not specific to the LC or Toyota/Lexus Brand and seems common with these new cars.
… my side mirrors have not folded in.
So maybe that’s a setting somewhere?
My doors do lock every time water hits door handle - but my 2019 LC did the same thing
It's because you have the fob in your pocket and run your hand (or sponge or whatever) over the spot that locks the doors. I usually leave the fob in the garage while I'm washing it.
- Moderator
- #45
A clay bar is a lump of clay that is used before any type of protective coating is applied. It traps and removes any foreign particles etc.......... some people clay bar before each wax.
I guess I have been living in a cave way too long..
If you ceramic coat it and use a garden blower such as the ego with a soft rubber tip it works great. Cut down my drying time significantly
But will u need to “polish” to get any scratches out ? I think when the dealership did a fast detail and dried it, there’s real light swirl/scratches on it in a few places - I’m thinking of ceramic coating myself and I was going to use clay bar- but I would need to polish also right?
I’ve never done any of this before
My Cayman is hand wash only. I don’t care quite as much on the LC, if I have time when I’m washing the Porsche, I’ll do the LC too, if not, keep it dirty until I get tired of it and pay for a wash
- Moderator
- #50
Correct, in order to remove swirls, you will need to polish them out.
Paint correction should be done prior to application of ppf and ceramic. Then you just gently wash and dry.
For a vehicle w/o PPF & ceramic, a clay bar is good to prep a recently-washed car for wax application. Every so often though, you might instead use a light polisher (vs clay bar) before waxing.
For a vehicle w/o PPF & ceramic, a clay bar is good to prep a recently-washed car for wax application. Every so often though, you might instead use a light polisher (vs clay bar) before waxing.
As others have already responded. Best way to describe it is it’s similar in malleability to the putty you would play with in arts and crafts but with a tackiness of sticky tack.
Does a good job picking up embedded dirt that doesn’t come off with a wash. You would polish the clear coat after and apply whatever protective coating over
I buy the Meguiar's Clay Bar kit. It comes with 3 bars of very pure clay, a spray bottle of Quick Detailer for lubrication and a microfiber cloth. To use it you just wash the car, knead the clay bar to soften it up (it becomes a little sticky) and form it into a hocky puck shape. Then you spray an area (I do about 3' by 3' at a time) and lightly rub the clay over the sprayed surface. It removes any impurities stuck in the clear coat, like brake dust, etc. If you do a before and after rub on the surface of the paint, you can feel the little lumps and bumps that get removed by the clay bar. You can also see the grit picked up in the clay bar itself.
I only clay bar the horizontal and semi-horizontal surfaces of my car. That grit doesn't seem to stick to vertical surfaces. I don't know about other people. It gets that treatment once or, at most, twice a year. It goes so quickly that I can do the horizontal surfaces in just a few minutes.
I washed, clay barred and waxed my LC shortly after I bought it. But I didn't clay bar the roof because, well, who see the roof? Then a month or so ago, after washing the LC, I ran my hand over the roof and it felt like sandpaper. So I clay barred the roof (it took two goes) and double waxed it. What a difference! I'm never going to let it go like that again. Lesson learned.
I thought so … just havnt taken that on - guess I’ll watch some videos and figure out pad and combo best for that job - I’m literally trying to decide on paying someone 1200 to do it the first time (polish, clay bar, and ceramic ) and keeping up with it afterwards or a DIY on the whole thing. I am not afraid of hard work with my car. I just am afraid of messing something up since it would be my first time doing any of that that.
- Moderator
- #57
If you are hiring out a coating, they'll do all that before they apply it, even if you just did it..............Once you get the ceramic applied, most require you bring it to them for any corrections or it will void their warranty, so be so and ask them what you can and can't do and still keep their warranty intact.
One of the reasons I don't use the ceramic coating, my buddy who swears by it, has spent several thousands of dollars over the last few years with upkeep, reapplication, special soap and hand washes only.
Yiles
Geez, how bad are those swirls? Are they through the clear coat or, OTOH, do you have to be in the right light with your head tilted just so to see them?
If the swirls are barely noticable, you might be able to get away with just a good coat of wax to fill-in the microscopic imperfections. Of course, I'd wash and clay bar first, but that's just to get the paint surface good and clean before waxing. If the swirls are still noticible, then I'd go with a wax that has a very mild form of polishing compound in it, like Turtle Wax, followed up with a wax without any polishing compound, like Meguiar's Ultimate. You can do all of that for way less than $1,200.
You have to tilt your head to see them. I guess once you see them, you cannot unsee them so I’d like to try to take care of them. On my next detail.
