Clay bar with spray polish?

[Therealmattlex]

clay hack... get some soapy water. Warm water and a good car wash solution. Wash down one panel with a wash mitt and make it real soapy. Dip clay into your bucket and use that for lubricant. Periodically dip clay in.

This came from a major wax mfg at a car show... saved me a $$$ of money in spray detailer lubricant.

This is what I've been doing for a few years. If you want to polish after you can but a good carnuba or ceramic wax and you're good to go. A decent car that doesn't need a full paint correction can be done in under an hour.

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[DFB5.0]

What could possibly be easier than that last one?
So I didn't get any paint protection from the Girots ceramic Speed Shine?
And while you're here, I'm going to ceramic coat my new gloss black Forgestar cf5v wheels before they get mounted and balanced.
What would you recommend for them?
Something that I can do two coats in the same afternoon, preferably.
Thanks for your previous suggestions!

Speed Shine is a "quick detailer" or "detail spray". These are used as drying aids, small spot cleaning of bird droppings and as clay lubricant. Can also be used for quick interior cleaning/dusting.

If you wanted to stay in the Griots family, look into their Ceramic 3-in-One. Otherwise, any of the products liked by Bikeman315 would be good.

For ceramic coating wheels, I would lean towards CarPro DLUX -

Simpler/more cost effective would be use the spray and rinse products like CarPro Hydr02 or Gyeon Wet Coat -

 

[Coyote 2121]

Speed Shine is a "quick detailer" or "detail spray". These are used as drying aids, small spot cleaning of bird droppings and as clay lubricant. Can also be used for quick interior cleaning/dusting.

If you wanted to stay in the Griots family, look into their Ceramic 3-in-One. Otherwise, any of the products liked by Bikeman315 would be good.

For ceramic coating wheels, I would lean towards CarPro DLUX -

Simpler/more cost effective would be use the spray and rinse products like CarPro Hydr02 or Gyeon Wet Coat -

Thanks for the suggestion on the CarOro Dlux.
I was leaning that way too.
I was looking over their application directions, and was wondering how bad the fumes/off gassing are?
I had planned to do the wheels on my covered front porch.
Will the open air be sufficient, or would you suggest a respirator too?
Thanks!

 

[DFB5.0]

Thanks for the suggestion on the CarOro Dlux.
I was leaning that way too.
I was looking over their application directions, and was wondering how bad the fumes/off gassing are?
I had planned to do the wheels on my covered front porch.
Will the open air be sufficient, or would you suggest a respirator too?
Thanks!

You will be fine. You can certainly smell the product but it's not overpowering. If you were doing this for a living, ideally it would be best to use a respirator.

 

[Coyote 2121]

You will be fine. You can certainly smell the product but it's not overpowering. If you were doing this for a living, ideally it would be best to use a respirator.

Thanks, I appreciate that.
Got it ordered, and it should be here Tuesday.

 

[Rapid Red]

clay hack... get some soapy water. Warm water and a good car wash solution. Wash down one panel with a wash mitt and make it real soapy. Dip clay into your bucket and use that for lubricant. Periodically dip clay in.

This came from a major wax mfg at a car show... saved me a $$$ of money in spray detailer lubricant.

Best one yet................... and sensible to boot, I like the thinking here.

 

[DFB5.0]

Thanks, I appreciate that.
Got it ordered, and it should be here Tuesday.

Nice one!

Being new, you wont need to polish or decontaminate them.

Make sure you have a IPA product like CarPro Eraser to thoroughly clean them before application. And you will also need 4 - 6 towels to do the job. Don't splash out on these towels, you want a fairly low GSM for ceramic coatings, something like these -

Edgeless 300 All-Purpose Microfiber Terry Towels | The Rag Company

It's also important to not use those towels on your paint again due to the coating curing in the fires and posing a scratching risk. Demote them to shop rags. The price of those towels also takes this into consideration.

If you need some added info, I wrote this post last year on the process of ceramic coating wheels -

Ceramic Coating Wheels | 2015+ S550 Mustang Forum (GT, EcoBoost, GT350, GT500, Bullitt, Mach 1) - Mustang6G.com

 

[Rapid Red]

clay hack... get some soapy water. Warm water and a good car wash solution. Wash down one panel with a wash mitt and make it real soapy. Dip clay into your bucket and use that for lubricant. Periodically dip clay in.

This hits every common sense & logical button. For the how-to & use of the clay mitt, there is really no argument for it not to.

Have a wax job coming soon for the 99 pickup, as it is parked in the weather, will be using this one.

Clay bars total waste of time and hard to manage. Used them in the past, no other choice.

The clay mitt is a really good product, works very well. Now a smarter method for its use.

Thanks for posting.

 

[Corporate_Rebel]

Interested in thoughts on using a clay bar with a spray polish as the lubricant.

Done this few times when in a hurry on the (non-Mustang) family car and seems to work fine and saves a whole step in the process.

Legit life hack or short sighted laziness?

Using local Australian product, 'Lazy Wax' (appropriate!) spray wax and Meguiar's clay bar.

Spray polish will work as a lubricant although not ideal. With a clay bar you are basically wet sanding your paint and stripping all protection off. Any time you're rubbing on your paints surface you want a lubricant on there to avoid further damage.

Clay barring should only be done when removing contaminants in the paint like brake dust, rail dust, etc. You're actually removing clear coat when you clay bar and polish for that matter. Think of it like this....

---\/----

The 'v' in my custom graphic above is a scratch, when polishing or clay barring you're wearing down the clear coat to remove the scratch or 'v' end result is something like this...

---v--v---v---

You're leaving behind micro-scratches in your paint that then MUST be polished out until you have a flat surface. Clay barring is kind of a last resort as your clear coat is a finite resource. If you're not going to polish afterwards and then protect your paint with a wax to float and fill in the micro-scratches you're really better off just going with a quick detailer alone or wax alone. Unfortunately there is no way to combine steps in this process.

If you're going to clay bar, it should be the following steps.
1. Wash
2. Clay bar
3. Polish
4. Wax

Not trying to flame you or anything, just trying to help. Moral of the story if you don't have anything you're trying to correct in your paint and just want shiny, a simple wash and spray detail is more than enough. Assuming you're not washing with any heavy detergents and stripping off your base of wax.

As far as a really solid wax I like Collinite 845 and have been using it for years, just remember a little goes a long way when using it.

https://www.collinite.com/product/no-845-insulator-wax/

If you want to dive deep into the rabbit hole, Ammo NYC has a great YouTube channel and Larry is one of the best in the world. He's the guy Seinfeld calls to do multi-million dollar cars.

 

[Coyote 2121]

Nice one!

Being new, you wont need to polish or decontaminate them.

Make sure you have a IPA product like CarPro Eraser to thoroughly clean them before application. And you will also need 4 - 6 towels to do the job. Don't splash out on these towels, you want a fairly low GSM for ceramic coatings, something like these -

Edgeless 300 All-Purpose Microfiber Terry Towels | The Rag Company

It's also important to not use those towels on your paint again due to the coating curing in the fires and posing a scratching risk. Demote them to shop rags. The price of those towels also takes this into consideration.

If you need some added info, I wrote this post last year on the process of ceramic coating wheels -

Ceramic Coating Wheels | 2015+ S550 Mustang Forum (GT, EcoBoost, GT350, GT500, Bullitt, Mach 1) - Mustang6G.com

Thanks again. Will read your thread on coating wheels, heck, I may have already read it.
ETA I DID read it already. Great write up, thanks!
My brain is suffering from overload!
Picked up some 3 in 1 ceramic wax today and a new California duster.
Got a new house going in across the way so I get to enjoy a nice fresh coat of dust every morning.
Found a touchless car wash, that actually got the car CLEAN today. I was thrilled because hand washing it in the Texas heat on a road base driveway is not my dream setup.
It was dirty too, had several days of dust then a quick rain, just enough to stick every on really good.
I'm convinced it was the speed shine that made it all wash off so well.
Anyway, it's got "protection" now!

 

[Coyote 2121]

One last question, will actual isopropyl alcohol work as an IPA cleaner before adding my coating to the wheels?
It's what I have in stock and what I was planning to use.

 

[DFB5.0]

One last question, will actual isopropyl alcohol work as an IPA cleaner before adding my coating to the wheels?
It's what I have in stock and what I was planning to use.

It will work, cut it 50/50 with preferably demineralized water.

There is some suggestion the IPA is not completely effective, this is a quote from CarPro on it's Eraser product blurb -
" Regular IPA's have been known to have a high evaporation rate, which only lifts oils to the surface without efficiently removing them."

However, IPA has been used for years, and being that the wheels are brand new and the fact you are not polishing them, I think a 50/50 IPA would be fine in your case.

 

[Rapid Red]

It will work, cut it 50/50 with preferably demineralized water.

There is some suggestion the IPA is not completely effective, this is a quote from CarPro on it's Eraser product blurb -
" Regular IPA's have been known to have a high evaporation rate, which only lifts oils to the surface without efficiently removing them."

However, IPA has been used for years, and being that the wheels are brand new and the fact you are not polishing them, I think a 50/50 IPA would be fine in your case.

Check the bottles, a 50 & 90-proof mix is sold on the shelf.

 

[Coyote 2121]

Finally got the rear wheels coated......
Two coats and it wasn't bad at all
I could have used better lighting and better eyes, but I think they turned out fine.
I'll get them mounted up next week then work on the fronts. I can only fit two wheels and tires in my trunk at a time!
Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[Rapid Red]

With so many choices of product that puts a shine on or cleans a car. We also find many methods for reaching that goal.

Having used both the clay bar and mitt, the mitt is most preferred. 2 reasons, the bar is not that great.

The first one very small working area, the second user needs to keep wadding & folding it as used.

The last bugs me the most, just where does the containment go? Will not or cannot be rinsed washed out.

So we now have the mitt, large working area a +, containment seems to be removed rising it + again.

As of late, resonantly read the following: first break in the polymerized rubber surface by rubbing it over clean glass.

Have only used the mitt 3 times, thinking this will make the mitt have a stickier surface feel when used.

my .02

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