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Cleaning : The Bhr Legacy


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Alittle knowledge is a dangerous thing...

So is alot.

Albert Einstein

 

 

*Please note, clay barring strips off wax, polish, whatever, you must reapply when done, factor this into how much time you have.*

 

 

Ok. Its time to start with some more guides. This will cover "clay barring" not known by many, but to those who use it nothing is better.

 

First I shall explain what clay barring is. Basically no matter how much you wash your car or wax it there is hardened dirt that cannot be removed, infact if you try to buff it with a buffer it can break free and then that same dirt can cause swirls. Clay barring is an extremely simple, yet brilliant concept. Basically you take a special cleaning lube (like meguiars quik detailer) spray it into the surface, and with moderate pressure glide the clay across the surface. What happens is the clay in gliding on a layer of lube 1/ 1millionth of a mm thick, but there is dirt, road tar, etc that is thicker. When the clay glides across the thick clay breaks it off, and then traps it into the clay. Now because the clay is much softer then paint it "absorbs" the dirt so you don't cause swirls or damage.

 

Now, this is the VERY FIRST step in both restoring paint and a true detailing. With my jeep which is kept outdoors and driven daily I perform this 4 times a year, however it would be best to do it in the spring and the fall at the least.

 

First you must wash and dry the car, no big deal there. Next in a SHADY, COOL!!!! PLACE you can begin. I cannot stress this enough, it must under all conditions be shady and cool, if not the lube cleaner will dry and the clay will ground into the surface.

 

Now when I say lube cleaner I'm referring to meguiers quik detailer. It is actually a ph balanced mild cleaner designed for waxed cars with small amounts of dirt (for example if it rained on your pride and joy after you waxed it) you can spray it on and wipe with a terry cloth to clean, or use with the clay.

 

Many companies make the "kits" but I prefer meguiers. Now the first thing you must know is that it comes in 3 forms, the first is the "aggressive" clay, this is a harder, thicker clay, it should ONLY, let me repeat that ONLY be used the very first time your doing this, or say you bough a car not that well maintained. It can be bought here

 

http://www.meguiars.com/?pro-auto-detailin...Clay-Aggressive

 

Now, let me make it clear, the above listed product should only be used ONCE, or once a year if you wash the car only a few times a year.

 

THIS!!!! IS THE PRIMARY PRODUCT!!!

 

http://www.meguiars.com/?auto-detailing-cl...etailing-System

 

This is the quikclay detailing system, it includes the clay and the formula. Now this is probably the best deal in auto detailing. The clay itself never wears out, simple knead every few body panels and store in a zip lock, air tight bag. GENERALLY speaking, 90% of the cars on the road can use this as a starter, let me say that again, 90%, so basically everyone who has washed there car at some point or another should just skip ahead and buy this.

 

Ok, now for the usage and supplies.

 

Get a car

Get the kit

Wash and dry the car

*Now rub the back of your pointer finger down a body panel and feel the roughness*

a large terry cloth towel (or clean luxury bath towel, same thing)

a smaller terry cloth towel or absorbent microfiber towel

 

The box has directions but this is the low down. knead the clay up into a ball, and then work back into roughly a 2x4 slap, or whatever works best in your hand. Now, going a single body panel at a time (or half the hood/half the roof) spray the panel with the quik detailer, and I mean spray. roughly a full pull at 10" spaced every 8-14" you have to "feel" what the right amount is for your car.

 

Now when this is done begin running the clay up and down or side to side. I like up and down myself. Now when you put the clay on the car do not press straight down, always press (with moderate force pushing down mind you) at an angle to make it glide. It you’re doing it right it should glide freely, but in your hand it will feel rough. If the clay stops or smears, your using WAY to little solution.

 

Your done when the clay glides so freely that you feel NO resistance in the clay. Imagine rubbing wet ice on wet ice, this is what it will feel like. Don't be alarmed if you need to do this a few times. If you've gone over the same spot more then 4-5 times and feel resistance, wipe briefly clean with the large towel (do not buff) then respray and keep at it. Now when it does glide freely take the large towel and wipe it down getting most of the liquid, then take the smaller terry cloth or absorbent microfiber towel and wipe the rest clean and buff it to make sure none remains. Be careful and look carefully from all angles, it’s a sneaky bastard.

 

Now simply repeat this process for the whole car, you can even do windshields, windows, sunroofs whatever. When your done find that same spot you rubbed with the back of your finger and do the same again, you will notice that the paint feels smoother then it EVER did, even from the factory.

 

Now the quik detailer has both put in some natural oils to the paint to deepen its shine, but the clay barring has stripped off ALL wax.

 

What this means is that you MUST rewax the car once done. I know this can take up a good amount of time between the wash, clay barring, and waxing, but it’s worth it.

 

Now you have 2 options. You can either just wax the car, or you can do a full restore, it’s a good idea to do this at least once a year anyway.

 

 

You have 2 options. both involve cleaning the paint, yes, we just cleaned the paint, but this are products designed to replace natural oils and bring it back to its original color.

 

First option - Zymol paint cleanser. It works well for non-metallic paints in near perfect condition, if you have a newer car or are ocd about washing and care then you can use this.

 

Second option - applies to older cars with some water spots and neglected finishes.

 

This is what it is

http://www.meguiars.com/?auto-paint-cleane...m-Paint-Cleaner

 

Now for a side note relevant when this is all done.

 

Think of your paint as an open grass field, this is the smooth ideal paint finish how it came out of the paint booth. Now when it’s preclay imagine that same field with lumps and bushes. If you were to flood the level field it would take very little water, but with bushes etc it would take a lot more to cover everything up. This is what happens with the paint, when its dirty there are actually ridges and valleys which must be filled with wax, and create resistance when buffing. This means you use more, and have to remove more, and work harder doing it. The clay barring will make the entire process INSANELY easier to apply and remove any polish or wax, do not be surprised if you start using less.

 

Now back to the paint cleaning. The above mentioned paint cleaning product, using any app pad (also sold on meguiers website) apply as you would wax. a small amount of 1oz or so on the middle of the pad, applying in a circular motion working outward, a single body panel at a time.

 

No I myself like to apply this to the whole car and then let it sit for 30 mins or so. The most recently applied gets 30 mins, where I started could have up to an hour. The reason I do this is to make sure the paint absorbs as much or the natural oils as possible and the cleaning agents work there magic.

 

AGAIN, THIS MUST BE DONE IN THE SHADE, SUNLIGHT WILL BAKE IT ON!!!!

 

you know what, just do all this indoors if you can.

 

Now, take another larger towel or terry cloth, and buff lightly as you would any wax. you will notice a difference in the ease, once you have done the first sweep on the panel flip the towel, and do it again, then mix it around to a semi clean area (or a finishing towel as I use) and do the final buffing, again, observe at many angles with a single light source, its a sneaky little bastard and if you miss it, it will just laugh in your face on a hot sunny day.

 

Once your all done with that you can either wax, or to take it up another notch, you can polish it. See step 6

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  • 7 months later...

I could do that, however on someone eles car, mine will be flawless, if I drive the Millenia, M, or the .....

 

Swirl marks are in the clearcoat, not the paint, they can be buffed but this is expensive, removes clearcoat reducing the depth of the shine, and generally not done correctly.

 

The best thing to do is start with a good base and build up, after washing and drying the car claybar the surface of the hood (hood used as template for rest of car) once claybarred and cleared apply a healthy coat of polish, this will do the most to fill in the swirl marks, after buffing most of that off but leaving it filled in the swirl apply a good coat of wax, I do NOT recommend any nano or synethetic wax for the millenia, for whatever reason it just doesn't take as well as with others, meguiers gold class or meguiers professional cleaner wax works best.

 

after that is buffed off you'll have a final result

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Actually I plan to use zaino z5 pro. How is that?

http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/mercha...Product_Count=8

 

 

I could do that, however on someone eles car, mine will be flawless, if I drive the Millenia, M, or the .....

 

Swirl marks are in the clearcoat, not the paint, they can be buffed but this is expensive, removes clearcoat reducing the depth of the shine, and generally not done correctly.

 

The best thing to do is start with a good base and build up, after washing and drying the car claybar the surface of the hood (hood used as template for rest of car) once claybarred and cleared apply a healthy coat of polish, this will do the most to fill in the swirl marks, after buffing most of that off but leaving it filled in the swirl apply a good coat of wax, I do NOT recommend any nano or synethetic wax for the millenia, for whatever reason it just doesn't take as well as with others, meguiers gold class or meguiers professional cleaner wax works best.

 

after that is buffed off you'll have a final result

 

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Which meguier do you use? Is it hard to apply, buff. How much elbow grease? Zaino claim it is easier to apply and last longer. I concur zaino stuff looks a little plastic, your baby looks glassy though :thumbup1:

 

its pretty good, alot of people like it, and its great for lighter colors and simple waxing, but when you go higher up and deeper colors I still perfer meguiers

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actually the ease of applying and buffing wax depends on what condition the paint is in, not the product so to speak.

 

A "regular" wash car will have rifts and valleys of dirt that you simply can't see, but you can feel, the wax will get into this and make it much much harder to buff, this is all on a microsopic level, but still.

 

a well claybarred car will be much much easier since its a smoother surface with only paint, you get a deeper shine and much easier to buff since when you wipe your actually wiping only the wax and nothing thats stuck onto the paint.

 

I do NOT recommend the NXT synethetic waxes, for whatever reason on dark colored cars or cars with no ghetto sparkles its much harder to buff totally clean then the regular meguiers professional cleaner wax or gold class.

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  • 1 month later...

You can use claybar on pretty much anything, but I would never recommend claybar on your wheels. You need a good strong wheel cleaner, scrub them clean with a wheel brush, then just keep up on it using the same soap and water you use on the rest of the car, maybe a thin layer of wax. The key to keeping things clean isn't the cleaning itself, its how often you can keep it up so you only have to do very little to keep it looking amazing

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