how often do you clay bar?

[alanra]

As a little test, I decided to clay bar my white '87 Honda beater this weekend.

It was pretty impressive; the paint is much smoother, the shine is great, and the white paint now has this much richer, luminant tone, almost bluish. :thumb:

So it's definitely great as a rescue operation. But I read an article on carcareonline that's pretty down on clay barring.

http://www.carcareonline.com/overspray_clays.html

They seem to suggest it's only a last ditch thing to try.

So I'm wondering... for people who have used clay bar, how often do you clay bar? And if you've been using it a while, have you noticed any long-term damage to the paint?

Thanks in advance.

[Guest84]

I've done it once in Sept, and just recently while doing my bi-annual major detailing 2 weeks ago. No ill effects. Depends alot on the clay. I used Griots clay, very very mild. I also have Jet Black so I'd notice if there *were* any side effects almost immediately.

Hey Alan, you don't by chance commute to Auburn about 4:45am in the morning, do you? I pass a white BMW every morning on the way to work...long shot, thought I'd ask :D

[in_d_haus]

Every 3 months.

[Intermezzo]

Once initially to the entire car and then spot clay areas that need it (usually horizontal panels) every 6 months.

alanra, although carcareonline isn't a big fan of clay and overspray clay has been around for a while, the new synthetic poly clays used to remove contaminants are a relatively new thing. Plus, pretty much ALL the OEM use clay now and have approved it as the safest method for removing rail dust & pollution(Chrysler, Ford, GM, Toyota, etc.).

Claybars (http://www.properautocare.com/usclaybartor.html)