[QUOTE]Originally posted by mwilly
[B]The HD cleanse works just the same as a clay bar but with less worries. I dont have to worry about the clay bar scratching my car and it seems to do the same job. No yellow on my rag after two times.

 

so which will scratch, clay bar or HD cleanse?

 

I guess neither, DJ. I hope... My "paint on the rag" experience with HD Cleanse on an old car may not be instructive. If anyone knows any better, please chime in.

My experience with the clay bar was that it could scratch the clearcoat, but I think only if you got anything trapped in it. I guess that's part of what's so unnerrving about using it. However, keeping the area well lubricated (understood, that's difficult in the desert, DJ) makes it very obvious if something's trapped...

Best wishes from New England. Today's a magnificent driving day so enough online stuff and time to go play (I only wish)

 

I looked up some stuff on the HD cleanse, and it seems that it only uses natural products, like citric acid, and natural oils. Hmm, I'll prolly stick with this since I'm doing the whole Zymol treatment. I'll do claybar when doing the Mother's treatment.

 

I just emailed the technical supervisor at Zymol, waiting his reply...

 

The "polishes" and "cleaners" are meant to clean the paint. They clean the paint either chemically or by abrasives. Either way they remove a bit of paint to clean it. This is what they were designed to do. The other thing that "some" polishes will do for you is too freshen your paint with a dose of oils designed to make your paint look and last longer. I'm speaking very generically and am not talking about any one product.

As far as I know the clay bar DOES NOT remove any paint.

Having said that, I have no idea how much paint is removed each time. You might be really hard pressed to measure it. I frequent numerous car detailing forums and they have a lot of wonderful information on them. I wouldn't lose any sleep over the way the cleaner's work, but I would make a conscious decision about how often I used them.

DJ, your situation sounds a bit challenging with the heat. I have heard of some people using soap/Dawn to keep their clay bars lubricated. I know that a lot of people in the Phoenix area do their outside work very early when it's hot. I don't know if that would work for you ro not? I would be tempted to stand there with the hose running slowly.

Good luck,
Bob

 

I used the Meguiars (sp?) clay bar on my 2000 S2000 last summer and scratched the heck out of it. (real fine scratches which a polish should remove. You can only see them at an angle in direct sun.) I used the detailing spray included in my Quick detail kit. The whole process scared the heck out of me, especially when the clay sticks to the paint.

I don't recall if I dropped the clay bar but I could have. I used the same clay bar on my wife's Volvo XC and don't see any scratches in it, and I did if AFTER I did my car.

I've yet to polish the clear coat to remove the scratches but might work on the car this weekend. Anyway, just a word of caution and experience to let you all know to be careful with your clay bars! :-)

-Mike

 

whoah, if the clay was sticking the car you were not using enough "lubricant" When i do it, i use liberal amounts, since i use the zaino one, lubricant is just a mixture of Z7 carwash and water. For my car i use around 8-12 ounces of lubricant from a spray bottle, to clay the entire car

 

Spray like a madman; keep the area wet. Mike's experience might be instructional here for the Meguiar's crowd... The Zaino car wash / water mixture really makes it obvious if you're not properly lubed in a given area. I would recommend it. Maybe Mike's scratching was because of improper lubrication.

What kind of force are you guys using? I feel like most of the time, I was using very little downward pressure against the bar. Maybe just a little more than dead weight of my hand on teh bar. If you're really leaning into the thing, maybe that's not the right technique???

 

Yup always use plenty of water/lubricant while you clay the car.
Stupid question: I've got 3 layers of Zaino on my car but would like to clay bar the car again. Will doing this remove any Zaino layers? Should I do the Z1/Z5 process again after the clay bar or can I just apply Z5 only?