After using a clay bar should I wash the car again before polishing and waxing? Or can I just just go right to the polishing?

 

I always wash the car after using the clay bar. The clay is usually the first step in my detailing process.

 

I don't re-wash after the clay bar because my next step is polishing. The polish will take care of any residue left from the clay bar.

 

Same here.

 

Ditto. Clay baring is the single nicest thing you can do when detailing your car. Feeling the paint so silky smooth makes it irresistable to the touch. I'll be detailing my car all of tuesday this week.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. So I'll just go right on to polishing it.

This is the first time I have ever used a clay bar and I have to say I am absolutly amazed with the results. I kept yelling to wife to come outside so I could show her what this was getting out of the paint. She eventually just ignored me, I guess she wasn't as impressed.

 

Hahaha, I love that feeling of amazement. I can just imagine it: "honey! Honey! Look at this! Isn't it amazing how much crap my car had and I couldn't see it?" And she would just give you a blank stare.

Reminds me of that VW commercial with the auto windows via keyfob.

 

haha, same thing with me. my old girlfriend didn;t understand why I spent all day washing claying polishing waxing and overall detailing. then i told her to feel the pain

"cool" she said...

 

i think tomorrow im going to do a full detail before winter. last year i used a meguairs clay bar. i noticed now the auto parts store here has mothers clay bars too. should i get meguairs again or give the mothers a try?

 

I usually only use Meguiars products, (so far, but I'm not really hard core detailing yet. not till next spring...) Anyway, I went to checker and they only had Mother's so I got that. I loved the difference it made. Really easy to use and made an amazing difference. I have nothing to compare it to, but still. worked great, no complaints.

 

I use Mother's...mostly because they come with a small bottle of wax which saves me from buying a larger one!

 

^^^I didn't like the included Mother's wax. I use Meguiars for everything else except clay...for now.

 

I think I'll try Meguires when I finish up my little Mother's bottle!

 

I used a bar called Clay Magic that I bought at Autozone. It was $9.99 compared to $15.99 for Mothers and Meguiars.

 

Not bad, I paid $23 Canadian. Did it do a good job?

 

Well I don't have anything to compare it to because this was my first time using a clay bar but I thought it did a great job.

 

That is true. My gf tends to be when it takes me hours to detail but wont' complain when it's done.

 

I clayed my truck this past weekend and now wish I washed it again, left streaks on the glass and under panels. But what a great job it did. Paint is as smooth as a baby' bottom. GL