Clay bar detailing, any good???

[Bromers]

Hi All, I have just joined the club as I have just inherited my fathers 51 plate 3.0 X-type SE which he has had for the last 10 years, full service history and is in pristine condition. (He has not passed away just had a new car.) He purchased it after seeing my company car back in 2001 which was the X-type 2.5 SE. I have since also owned an S-type 3.0 SE and most recently an XF2.7 Portfolio so its fair to say like the big cats. Anyhow back to the X-type she is going to be semi retired into my garage and used occasionally on sunny Sundays, not worth a lot of money but far to good to sell off. I want to polish it and achieve a glass like finish which isn't easy on silver and wondered has anyone had any experience of using the detailing clay bars which seem to be all the rage now. Any success, recommended or not? I was then going to lightly T cut and finish with a Canuba wax. Cheers Bromers.

[Old Peter]

Welcome to the Club, Stephen.

You will know more about Jaguars than me, and quite a few members!

There is a member who is a professional detailer and has a wealth of knowledge.  Possibly a post to him would point you in a good direction.

I think his website is "Redguard"  --  I will check and get back to you. Redguard Auto Spa.  Their is a topic under General Forums

Regards,

Peter.

Edited April 17, 2016 by Old Peter
Addition to original post

[Bromers]

Thanks Peter,

I will check it out.

Steve

[Tigger]

Hi Stephen,

recently treated my Jag to its bi annual clay bar treatment. If you clay bar your car, you won't need to use T cut unless it's to remove stubborn scratches and then make sure you give a couple of coats of wax polish and sealer to protect the paint. The Clay bar idea is to remove stubborn gritty surface and restore clear coat to near to original condition

pic below and link to a great detailer on YouTube, , cheers, Andrew

 

 

[Bromers]

Hi Andrew, thank you for taking the time to reply, useful video. I am going to give the clay a try tomorrow and will then post my results in a few days time. Yours looks superb & I have always liked the 7 spoke alloys. My car has the sport alloys which where fitted from new with the dove grey interior. From memory the AWD's are a bit heavy on tyres but I recall a great story when I was on business trip in my company 2,5 and was going to Lancashire in the winter of 2002. It snowed like mad for bout 3 hours & the motorway was totally grid locked apart from me in the Jag and a guy in a discovery who couldn't believe it when I followed him up and over a steep hill over the A56. He stopped at the top and asked how the heck had I just done that and was amazed when I told him it was a 4 wheel drive saloon. (A 4 wheel drive that actually works.) 

[ronniet]

if you clay bar the car  remember and ensure that the car is wet and soapy and that you keep turning the clay on itself and dispose of it when its finally looking very dirty.  It holds the loose particles and you dont want to end up just creating scratches

[Old Peter]

Welcome to the Club, Ronnie.

Members wil appreciatie that caveat when using a clay bar.

I hope that you will enjoy the club, and will certainly want to hear your experiences of the F Type.

Regards, 

Peter.

[ronniet]

Hiya Peter

 

weve had the car 2 weeks and it will be a weekends and holidays car.  We absolutely love the car, drives incredibly well and car gets noticed wherever we go and that takes a bit of getting used to.  I havent seen another coupe on the road yet so guess rarity adds to the stares.  Panoramic roof was a must and weve gone for a lighter interior to make it less oppresive.  All in all, brilliant

[Bromers]

Hi all,

Just back from the local auto centre after purchasing some clay and , (thanks for heads up Ronnie). Clay does not feel as soft as I expected, not very malleable but I will work it some more before actually using it. Right I am off to give it a shot and will report back the results later.

[Old Peter]

Hi Ronnie, 

There are two F Types around here, one white  coupe and one red convertible.  Neither look as smart as yours, but both look far better than the yellow Lamborghini that  come out on sunny Sundays.

There are quite a few S Types round here, which is not surprising as we live just 6 miles from the factory in which they were build.

They still look great, too.   But I am a bit biased.

Regards,

Peter. 

[Tigger]

21 hours ago, Bromers said:

Hi Andrew, thank you for taking the time to reply, useful video. I am going to give the clay a try tomorrow and will then post my results in a few days time. Yours looks superb & I have always liked the 7 spoke alloys. My car has the sport alloys which where fitted from new with the dove grey interior. From memory the AWD's are a bit heavy on tyres but I recall a great story when I was on business trip in my company 2,5 and was going to Lancashire in the winter of 2002. It snowed like mad for bout 3 hours & the motorway was totally grid locked apart from me in the Jag and a guy in a discovery who couldn't believe it when I followed him up and over a steep hill over the A56. He stopped at the top and asked how the heck had I just done that and was amazed when I told him it was a 4 wheel drive saloon. (A 4 wheel drive that actually works.) 

Your welcome, Stephen,

look forward to hearing how you get on, Yes the X type is a great car, I'm on my second and suits us down to the ground.

Noticed your in Conwy, we frequent the Castle hotel at least once a year, such a picturesque town, just love it.

Hope all goes well with the clay bar treatment.

Regards

Andrew

[Bromers]

Morning All,

The weather wasn't great here yesterday but fortunately I have a double garage so managed to clay one side of the car. Before you start If you run your hand over a panel surface you can feel resistance and hear a noise similar to that of rubbing your hands together. The clay worked really well, I kept the area moist and remoulded the clay frequently as recommended by Ronnie and after use the surface really does feel fantastic, just like running your hand over glass. Where I had slight surface scratches (not deep) I then lightly used T Cut and finished this off with a quality canuba wax. I would definitely recommend using clay and will post a couple of pics when its finished, even the wife ventured into the man cave and commented that the car looked well.

(Andrew, I actually had a pint in the Castle at lunchtime yesterday, they have a new product called Stella Black, absolutely superb drink and only served in a limited number of outlets in the UK.)

[Tigger]

Nice one, Stephen,

glad the clay treatment is working well, next time we're at the Castle, will drop you a line and have a pint of the Stella black.

 

[Bromers]

Below are the results from using the clay if anyone is still interested. Hard for the glass like finish to show in silver especially in photos but up close looks like a mirror. If anyone else has good results share your photos. Cheers Bromers.

[Tigger]

That looks great, Stephen

Nice work

Andrew