Clay query

[A7 UFO]

Right, I am not and never have been a car detailer.  To me a sponge, chammois and basic autoglym range sufficed.  But, I have tried to change attempting with a whole day detailing the family zafira.  It has never been garaged overnight, done just over 62k miles and only ever been cleaned at my local Sainsburys carwash.  To say it was grimey was an understatement.

Wheels cleaned with autoglym wheel cleaner.  Body cleaned two bucket method with autoglym shampoo.  Then washed again two bucket with dodo juice born to be mild - decided to clean it twice a.to use up some of the old AG stuff and b.because it was that dirty.  Then dryed with my new drying towel (why did it take me so long to find this product?!?!).  The problem then arises...I cracked open the box of meg's smooth surface kit...worked a 1 inch bit of the clay until it was warmed up, sprayed on a mist of the spray stuff and rubbed the clay on.  Not a single bit of black stuff on the clay and the car has loads of bug stains and glaze in the paint.  A mate was with me so we both read and reread the back of the box a number of times but still the clay was as white as white.  What am I doing wrong?

In frustration I gave up on the clay and rubbed on a coat of dodo lime prime (which is really hard to get off!) and then a coat of collinite 915 which went on easy and came off even easier.

The car is still just a 62k mile zafira but it is shiney.  I'm just disappointed about the clay.  Please help.

[waxamomo]

This sounds very strange indeed. How big of an area did you use the clay on? Did you try it over a whole panel? Some panels will be much much dirtier than others, for example the bottom half of the doors will be covered in contaminants such as tar, the clay should be black after doing the bottom half of a door if it has never been clayed before.

I'm not questioning your technique, however it may just be worth watching the video at the bottom of the page on the following link, just to make sure you were doing everything correct:

http://www.waxamomo.co.uk/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=115&idcategory=4

As for the Lime Prime, how long did you leave it on before buffing off?

Chris

[A7 UFO]

I only did a 6" squared area on the bonnet (the most bug hit area) and then a wing mirror which was equally as marked.  I'll watch the video link you provided and see where I went wrong.

[A7 UFO]

hhhmmm when I was doing it I was worried that I was applying too much/not enough mist and rubbing too hard/not hard enough so did both on different areas and didn't get anything off.  Having watched the video I certainly didn't do any different.  Any ideas?

Re the lime prime, the polish was applied in the shade but then the sun came out...so I presume the sun may have been the reason behind it being hard to get off?

[Dan J]

if any product you put on the car gets baked on by the sun you will find it very hard to remove.

[waxamomo]

Right, the Lime Prime sounds like it has baked on and this will be the reason it was hard to remove. A quick spritz of a Quick Detailer such as Last Touch will soon ease it for you.

As for the clay, try it on a bigger section, you cannot have too much lube so don't worry about that. You only need very light pressure, if any at all.

Let me know how you get on,

Chris

[nogrille]

Si - if you need help with this still give me a shout.

Cheers

Paul

[A7 UFO]

paul, you going to ed38?

[Guy]

paul, you going to ed38?

i'm not going to Edition but can have a look at NR next week if you like?

[A7 UFO]

Very kind, Guy.  I don't know if I'll be doing NR though as my Mrs may be of the belief that I have used up my 'car hobby credits' with Ed38.  Time will tell.