| Professional Mobile Show Car Detailing Serving NY, NJ, CT & PA |
Call Us Now!
201-575-0861
201-575-0861
| Home | About Us | Why Choose Us | Photo Gallery | Testimonials | Car Detailing Packages | Areas Served | Contact Us |
The Importance of Clay Barring Your
Paint
The clay bar is a crucial element in the cleaning, correcting, and protecting
process of car detailing. More specifically, clay barring a vehicle fits into the
later stages of the cleaning process, right before the paint correction stage.
After a vehicle has been thoroughly washed and all dirt has been removed from
the paint, a clay bar will remove the embedded dirt and other materials stuck in
the clearcoat of your vehicle. Driving down the road or even just sitting in a
parking lot, a vehicle is always exposed to extremely small particles of dirt that
are trapped in the air. Over time these dirt molecules collect on the paint and
penetrate the clearcoat of your vehicle, which cannot be washed off through
regular wash methods.
How do I know if my car needs a clay barring
treatment?
Modern vehicles have exterior body panels that consist of a primer coat,
paint/color coat, and then a clear coat. The clearcoat is a layer of paint with no
pigment added to it, hence why it has no color. The clearcoat is designed to
prevent UV damage of the paint coat from the sun. A properly maintained
vehicle should have absolutely smooth paint surfaces that are free of bumpiness
and roughness. If you skim your finger gently on a clean section of paint, you
will notice that the surface is rough or at least bumpy. This roughness and
bumpiness is contamination. A clay bar helps to remove this. As a rule of thumb
the heaviest amount of paint contamination can be found on the upwards-facing
areas of the vehicle including the hood, roof, and trunk, as well as the rear
bumper.
A clay barring of the vehicle is especially important to perform prior to polishing
because it ensures that the polishing process does not expose dirt particles to
the polishing pad. When dirt particles stuck in the clearcoat get trapped in the
polishing pad, it can make the polishing pad dirty. And to ensure a swirl-free
finish, all materials that are touching the paint surface should be dirt-free.
Furthermore, heavily contaminated paint surfaces literally have a layer of dirt
covering the paint surface, which means significantly reduced clarity, depth of
gloss, and metallic shimmer (on metallic-colored vehicles) of the paint itself.
Interestingly, a heavily contaminated paint surface can actually hide the
significant defects of a painted surface, giving you the impression that the paint
is in great condition when it really isn't. Contaminated dirt can be so severe that
it will actually fill all of the fine scratches and swirls in the paint. Exteriors in this
condition have usually never been waxed in years and have never been washed
in many weeks, if not months.
So once the vehicle has been thoroughly washed to remove the initial layer of
dirt, and then clay barred to remove the dirt imbedded in the clearcoat, the
surface is now as clean as can be and is now ready for the ultimate shine, which
can only be produced through car paint polishing.
Paint
The clay bar is a crucial element in the cleaning, correcting, and protecting
process of car detailing. More specifically, clay barring a vehicle fits into the
later stages of the cleaning process, right before the paint correction stage.
After a vehicle has been thoroughly washed and all dirt has been removed from
the paint, a clay bar will remove the embedded dirt and other materials stuck in
the clearcoat of your vehicle. Driving down the road or even just sitting in a
parking lot, a vehicle is always exposed to extremely small particles of dirt that
are trapped in the air. Over time these dirt molecules collect on the paint and
penetrate the clearcoat of your vehicle, which cannot be washed off through
regular wash methods.
How do I know if my car needs a clay barring
treatment?
Modern vehicles have exterior body panels that consist of a primer coat,
paint/color coat, and then a clear coat. The clearcoat is a layer of paint with no
pigment added to it, hence why it has no color. The clearcoat is designed to
prevent UV damage of the paint coat from the sun. A properly maintained
vehicle should have absolutely smooth paint surfaces that are free of bumpiness
and roughness. If you skim your finger gently on a clean section of paint, you
will notice that the surface is rough or at least bumpy. This roughness and
bumpiness is contamination. A clay bar helps to remove this. As a rule of thumb
the heaviest amount of paint contamination can be found on the upwards-facing
areas of the vehicle including the hood, roof, and trunk, as well as the rear
bumper.
A clay barring of the vehicle is especially important to perform prior to polishing
because it ensures that the polishing process does not expose dirt particles to
the polishing pad. When dirt particles stuck in the clearcoat get trapped in the
polishing pad, it can make the polishing pad dirty. And to ensure a swirl-free
finish, all materials that are touching the paint surface should be dirt-free.
Furthermore, heavily contaminated paint surfaces literally have a layer of dirt
covering the paint surface, which means significantly reduced clarity, depth of
gloss, and metallic shimmer (on metallic-colored vehicles) of the paint itself.
Interestingly, a heavily contaminated paint surface can actually hide the
significant defects of a painted surface, giving you the impression that the paint
is in great condition when it really isn't. Contaminated dirt can be so severe that
it will actually fill all of the fine scratches and swirls in the paint. Exteriors in this
condition have usually never been waxed in years and have never been washed
in many weeks, if not months.
So once the vehicle has been thoroughly washed to remove the initial layer of
dirt, and then clay barred to remove the dirt imbedded in the clearcoat, the
surface is now as clean as can be and is now ready for the ultimate shine, which
can only be produced through car paint polishing.
