krazybartender

My friend has a yellow 1995 BMW M3 and i came over the other day and he was washing it and then applying Meguire's Cleaner and Polish. When he was done i ran my fingers across the paint and said "what is this all over your paint?". It was like little tiny pieces of something all over the car which the wash and cleaner could not get out. He told me it's always been like that and he has no clue what it is. I told him to try a claybar and he said "huh? a piece of clay?". I came over to his house today with my old beat up claybar (should have been tossed) and told him I would try it on a tiny inconspicous section of his car before i throw the claybar away. I sprayed some lube down, and slid the claybar across the paint. A few seconds later i told him to come feel it... he couldn't believe it (i couldn't either)... the paint was smooth as glass, amazing. I thought the car's finish was shot from it being a 1995 but it just needed a little claybar. I have claybarred 3 cars and had phenomenal results with them all. If you're debating about buying a claybar and have little "crap" all over your paint that just won't come off TRY the claybar. It's about $10-$15 USD. Hope this helps anyone.

Ernie

I couldn't agree with you more. I just love the stuff.

Triple-H

I'm waiting to do this to my car this fall, so I have the winter storage time to do a complete Zaino application. I'm one of those people that secretly worry about doing the clay bar to my car; it just seems like it must do more harm than good. Thanks for your post, I love hearing stories like this, it is giving me strength!

And as an owner of a Spa Yellow S2000, I must admit, even though I think BMWs are great, and M3 are incredible, that BMW Yellow is terrible. What a wimpy, faded shade of yellow...

Ernie

Triple-H..I've clayed a 1998 Suburban, a 1996 Probe, a 2002 CR-V, and a 2000 Prelude and haven't seen any issues at all. It is wonderful stuff. The paint on my sister's Prelude was gritty when I started on it and when I was done it was glass smooth.

I am going to do my S2000 in the next week or so. I have been busy getting miles on it before it is time to store it.

stenoslave

No need to worry. The clay bar is your friend. Just take your time. Go slowly. Put newspaper or towels under the car so if the clay bar slips out of your hand, it has a better chance of landing on the towels/newspaper. However, if it ends up in the petunias, you gotta throw it away. Use LOTS of "lube," and you'll be okay.

krazybartender

I agree.. and half the car is one shade of yellow, the other half is a lighter shade of yellow. In fact, my red S2K's hood is a lighter red than the rest of the car... only noticeable when the car is really really clean and polished though.

Homer2

[QUOTE]Originally posted by stenoslave
[B]No need to worry.

STreece

You should not worry about the clay bar doing more harm than good. It will get the surface cleaner than you can by any other means. Clay "pulls" contaminants out of the surface, while "cleaner waxes" and buffers shear off the tops of these contaminants taking a little bit of clear coat with them.

Haven't had the pleasure of claying the BMW Yellow, but I would wager that clay would brighten it up somewhat. Haven't seen a finish yet that clay did not improve the appearance of. Wish I had the pics of the Red 360 Modena Spyder I finished today. Awesome!

Hamada

man the clay bar just didnt work for me. I used on my dads car that had a rough nasty a** feelin to it(it made a scratchy noise when I rubbed it) so i got all exited and started working on it. I went through one whole bar used the whole zaino lineup and it felt like sand paper?!?!?!

Homer2

claybars dont make noise when used . . . what did you use to lubricate the surface while you did it ?

and how much of it did you use?

im guessing, if you had noise, you didnt have lube ?