[armanm]

I want to clay bar my jet black F30 using Meguiars smooth surface kit to hide some of the swirling and give it a nice finish.

Have any of you worked with this kit before or possibly the Turtle wax black box black car wax system?

Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

[1bad335]

Originally Posted by armanm

I want to clay bar my jet black F30 using Meguiars smooth surface kit to hide some of the swirling and give it a nice finish.

Have any of you worked with this kit before or possibly the Turtle wax black box black car wax system?

Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

Don't waste your time, money and energy with the turtle wax Black Box kit. All it does is hide the scratches and swirls under a layer of black clay. After several car washes it all comes back. I know because I used it on my e90 BSM. Looked awesome when I was done. After a few short weeks and some rain and car washes, everything came back. You need to go with a product such as Meguiars or 3M products for swirl and light scratch removal. Than apply your favorite wax or sealer. My f30 is also BSM. That is how I did it this time and the results were great. It is an investment in time and a few bucks but it is worth it to do it right. I did it on my own because I was getting off the wall prices from detailers. I do not mind paying and I also do not mind paying someone for their expertise. But I was quoted anywhere from 600.00 up to 1000.00 dollars for paint correction and sealer (cquartz). I already had a polisher and bought the necessary polishes and Cquartz and did the job myself. Cost was under a 140.00 dollars. I did learn after much research and asking questions that all of the so called Black speciffic waxes are nothing more than fillers which are very temporary fixes.

[Teemo Panda]

I love using Megs products which are car friendly and easy to use.
When Claying a car, it dosent remove swirls lol, it just takes out debris molded into the clear coat :P

[TwinPowerF30]

Originally Posted by armanm

I want to clay bar my jet black F30 using Meguiars smooth surface kit to hide some of the swirling

clay bar will not hide swirls. it will only induce more marring.

[Kankles]

Originally Posted by CoolDude196

So you use soap rather than a proper lubricant when clay baring, does it make a difference?

I used the Zaino red clay bar on my EB2. It recommends using a solution of their car wash and water for lubricant. I did just that and it worked great...obviously after an initial wash of the car. Highly recommend it

"To use the clay bar, you spray a water-based lubricant (1/2 a cap of Z-7 Show Car Wash with 16 ounces of water) on a small area of your car and rub the bar back and forth with light to medium pressure. Z-18 ClayBar should glide across your paint like a hockey puck on ice. If the lubricant begins to dry, and the Z-18 ClayBar begins to drag, you'll need to spray more lubricant. Clay is fairly sticky, and cannot be used dry.
After a few passes with the ClayBar, rub your hand over the area to feel if the surface contamination was removed. Keep rubbing until all contamination bumps are gone. Finally, wipe the clay residue off with a soft terrycloth towel, and buff to a nice luster. Just like waxing, work in small areas."

[Kankles]

Originally Posted by CoolDude196

Thanks for that, after the clay bar do you just go straight to waxing/sealing or do you polish then wax/sealant?

I personally just go to wax and call it a day, but others on here get much more sophisticated. the Zaino site is really good at "detailing" the various processes involved.

I just want my car to look half way decent and be relatively protected from the elements so I do a spring and fall clay bar/wax and maybe a wax or two in the summer. I may look at adding a sealant to the mix as well.

[KevRyd]

When claying use a spray detailer.

Wash
Clay
Polish
Seal
Wax

Kevin

[RoundelM3]

I use the clay from Griot's Garage with Griot's SpeedShine as a lubricant. Has worked great for me since 2001. The clay removes sap, grime, and other paint contaminants by lifting them off the surface. I have also used both Griot's and Meguiar's paint cleaner, paint glaze, sealant, and carnauba wax products, applying them with an orbital polisher and foam pads, always buffing off the residue by hand.

[Red Bread]

For Jet Black you will really benefit from a polish, Menzerna makes great ones, before waxing. I did a clay, a light polish and a glaze before using a sealant and topping that with wax with our JB 135i and it was nearly swirl free for four years.

[KevRyd]

Klasse all-in-one polish is good and so is the Klasse sealant. Application is sometimes tricky as it takes so little to coat but the results are amazing. I usually seal twice then chernuba over top.

I use a flex orbital polisher with Lake Country pads.(Closed Cell). Usually use Maguires clay kit. Meguires Polish to remove swirls, will step up to a heavier cut if necessary. Klasse all-in-one, then Klasse (Final Coat I think) Sealant X 2 followed by a pure Chernuba wax.

Kevin

[Teemo Panda]

Dude use a detailer lubricant when claying the car, not only it makes it easier to take off the debris, not only that but it also reduces incurring swirls.

[Roy]

With jet black paint, you need a specific lubricant or detail spray, instead of using just soap and water as you clay the car. As others have said, claying will not reduce the swirls by itself, and you will most likely notice the light marring induced by the clay bar on that specific paint. Using a clay bar gets rid of the junk that's started to bond to the clear coat that doesn't come off during a regular wash, it will make the paint feel smoother. But especially after claying on jet black, you'll want to follow up with a light polish to get rid of the marring.

Suggestion: Chemical Guys Pete's 53 wax. Goes on and comes off super easy, it's a real wax that has some of the best water beading capabilities. Can't go wrong.

As far as polish goes, if you have a porter cable or a dual-action polisher and a finish polishing pad, I use Meguiar's M205.

[Red Bread]

Maybe it's because I know that when I clay, I'm going to be doing a full machine polish, usually two or three stages, but I just use the clay with ONR after I've washed the car. I find that the specific lubes make you use too much pressure to remove things, creating more marring than if you just had enough lubrication to make it pass over it, rather than fly over the top at a million miles an hour. But everyone does these things differently, so whatever works for you.

[fijigabe0]

Long-time lurker, but I would like to chime in.

Clay bar is one of the the first steps of a multi-step process for cleaning and polishing your car. Typically, you will wash the car, then using a spray detailer as provided in the clay bar kit, you will clay bar the car. What the bar does is lift dirt that is trapped in the paint. It is also good for removing little paint rubs from door dings, or when your wife accidentally backs up into a post, leaving some of the yellow paint on her fender.

After you finish clay baring the car, you MUST then wax/polish the car. The clay bar will leave your paint with no protection, only bare paint. Personally, I never bar the paint unless I know I have time to do a full wax job on it (cleaner wax, polish and sealer wax). I recently did this to my wife's X3, and it came out looking like new (BTW, her car is Black Sapphire).

[Vectors2final]

Originally Posted by KevRyd

When claying use a spray detailer.

Wash
Clay
Wash
Polish
Seal
Wax

Kevin

Fixed.

[PTek Will]

Claybarring with soap water is completely the same as using quick detail spray (so long as you dont over dilute it). The key is to provide adequate lubrication. Most professional grade car wash soaps, when diluted properly has extremely high lubricity. No need to waste expensive quick detailers to lubricate. Jet black, however, is very soft paint, and it is 100% likely you will induce marring from your clay process. This is the reason why you should at the very least do a light abrasive polish after your claying on soft paints such as jet black to correct clay induced marring. Hope this helps!

[Wo-Wo]

Originally Posted by KevRyd

When claying use a spray detailer.

Wash
Clay
Polish
Seal
Wax

Kevin

+1 for this! Simple process, job done!

[Bradley]

I also used that kit but not for F30 on a different car. and I got the best results.. you just have to simply wash your car first then use the clay bar to clean the rust from the body. After that use polish to and seal it with sealant and wax it for shine.