Ok..so everyone is amped up over the claybar. I'm always looking for a cheap way to improve my Max.. .so I bought Meguiars Clay Bar Kit the other day. $18 at AutoZone. I thought my Max was in pretty good shape.. 2001 SE.. definitely many problem spots and chips and imperfections which aggravate me everytime I see them. "When I hit lotto, I'm going to get all this professionally fixed" I promise myself. Let's be honest. If I hit lotto.. I'm getting a new 360.

The past two days in NY were absolute perfection weather wise and car washing wise. 75 degress, low humidity and breezy. I washed the car and fired up the clay bar.

I thought about doing half the hood and then taking pictures of 1/2 done and 1/2 not done, but after completion of half the hood, I really couldn't SEE any difference. I could definitely FEEL the difference, but not see. So I scrapped the idea of taking pictures.

When I finished I realized that after you do the clay bar-- and then toss on some wax.. the finished product is nice. Check out the pics.

All are the finished product.. I especially like the reflection of the pole in the roof. The back bumper proved to be the biggest culprit---the pic of the clay bar dirty is after the SECOND pass on the bumper. It's still nowhere near as smooth as the rest of the surfaces.


http://www.cardomain.com/ride/831407/3

 

looks awesome man... i'd give anything to have that color max. What wax did you use?

 

Now I see why you was so happy after the claybar - on one of tha pictures there is quite a few empty beer bottles.

 

I use Meguiars cleaner/wax.. small red bottle. I used to be alot more intense about how the car looks, but with our fantastic Nissan quality paint, its really frustrating.


And yes.. I did toss back a bunch of Molsons. Tunes, Beers, Sun, clean car.. doesn't it all kinda go together?

LOL

 

I just used the clay bar on my bro's GSR. I split it in 1/2 and we did the car pretty fast. I used the Quickdetailer and he just used water. He said it worked fine but the instructions said not to use water? This was my first time. It took out some overspray that my buffer with Meg #2 didnt. Great stuff. We just did a quck buff with the machine and Cleaner wax. Not perfect but it took out 90% of the scratches. We aren't going to go the extra mile for the deeper scratches.

How long does the clay last anyway?

 

The clay lasts until the paint gets contaminated again. There is no protection with the clay bar. I use the clay once a year in the spring. I wash the car first and then while it's still wet and with plenty of additional water, I use the clay bar and then dry thoroughly and then polish and wax. This method of using the clay works great for me and doesn't take as long as using the detailer spray (also cheaper). Been doing it for several years and car is smooth as glass. Car is usually garaged. Clay is great stuff.

 

I was thinking of how many times I can use this clay bar before I have to replace it. From my searches, the ave is about 3 cars depending on how dirty the car is. If I can find just the bar locally, that would be pretty good. I hear just the bar is about $10?

 

I divide the bar into a few pieces (depending on how big the bar is) and use each piece about 3 times. I haven't found the bars by themselves. A while back, I went to clay magic website and found just the bar once, but when I went there recently, they were in kits. I may check again. The company that I work for is in an industrial area and cars get lots of junk on them. I cover it on dry days. The company will give us a bar to remove the contaminants, but they get them in bulk and there is no brand name on them. Eventually, I'll have to find a source.

 

Um GIVE you one? You need to send a few up to me!

NE good?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PROFE...QQcmdZViewItem

 

Yeah, they are good, but they ration them out. I'm due to get another one in the fall.

 

I used this and it made the car look really great.

 

Depends on the amount of contamination you pick up, whether or not the bar was dropped on the ground (automatic discard), and how you divide it. Normally, you can get 3-5 uses out of it.