Does the claybar help any with swirl marks?

 

It might help lessen the appearance of them, slightly, but it definitely doesn't help to remove them.

Clay basically picks up contaminants above the surface of the paint... whereas swirls are caused by micro-scratches below the surface.

 

Claybar will do nothing to help swirl marks.

 

Ok. I am researching to find out what is the best thing for the swirls, i have tried a few different things with no success. Any suggestions Wired24/7?

 

Read up on meguiarsonline.com forums.

Mike Phillips has posted a lot of different how-to's about getting good results with their porter cable dual action buffer and foam pads. There are quite a few threads showing the proper technique to use the dual-action machine as well as different products.

It seems the best meguiars products for our paint are the professional line, meguiar's #83 dual-action cleaner/polisher for deeper scratches and #80 speed glaze to smooth out the surface or any marks left behind by #83.

So basically -
1. wash
2. claybar
3. polish
4. wax or zaino or whatever

Of course there are other options... take your car to a reputable detailing shop where they use a rotary polisher. Rotary should be able to give better results with an experienced user but you probably shouldn't attempt it if you're a first timer.

BE WARY if you take it to a shop like this... they might try to cover up swirls with something that fills them in. Then you will think the car looks great until you wash it a few times, and the product washes off, revealing swirls (possibly worse than before).

And of course there are other products that will work... but I'm just telling you which products I've seen remove swirls from a 350Z with my own eyes.

You can try to get swirls out by hand with products like scratchX...but that will be a huge PITA to do on the whole car. scratchX is better for small scratches that you want to get rid of...

 

If we all went by Consumer reports ratings then we would all be driving Hondas

BTW - let us know what you think of the Eagle 1 wax.

 

Worked on my car yesterday... I had good results taking very fine swirlmarks out with #80 (3 passes) and the D/A Polisher (or a Porter Cable). Of couse this made the deeper scratches more noticable

If you haven't read this yet, here's a good write-up:
http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...&threadid=7011

 

Might be worth it to try to go over the few random deep scratches with scratchX or something, what do you think?

 

Thanks Wired24/7. I think I might just find a reputable detailing shop around here and let them take a stab at it. Seems like the best option for now.

 

Yeah, tried that. For the most part it worked or at least made them less noticible, but I got tired and it was getting late and I had another car to work on as well

 

The Zaino guy around here told me, "Enough coats of Z5 should take care of the swirling as far as minimizing them." Might want to give it a try if you use Zaino and the swirls aren't too deep.

 

If NXT has no cleaners in it, then why can it not be layered?

 

I'd have to agree with that. It's basically a prep step before you polish and wax. It helps with the overall appearance but does nothing about swirl marks.

 

According to the meguiar's people, there's no drawback to layering it, but the wax polymer in nxt doesn't stick to itself very well, so the recommended number of layers of nxt is 2 and i think this is mostly to ensure proper coverage. Otherwise you are just wasting product and money because additional layers will most likely liquify the layers underneath it and you'll end up wiping off the excess. You're better off just waxing more often. Once a month to 6 weeks works for me but I garage park at home and at work.

 

zaino 5 by hand has helped reduce but not eliminate swirl on redline red. I apply zaino 5 two times for every z2

 

how often can you use a clay bar?
Does it need to be replaced everytime?
Can it be washed/cleaned?

 

Ive had my car for less than 2 months. I have done meguairs (spl) 3 step, and did carnuba was, spray detailer, and spray wax ever since after I was the car, one of those, depending on how lazy I am. I am going to wash the car next week, is it alright to clay bar it? I have mothers clay bar and spray. Is it ok since the car is still pretty new? Its an 06 MB Thanks, I am going to give that NXT a try, would it yeild better results than a 3 step? Thanks agian

 

You can use it as often as you want, but it won't do anything if the surface is mostly smooth and contaminant free. There is no benefit to using it every time. Once every 6 months to 1 year is usually fine.

It does not need to be replaced everytime.

It cannot be cleaned or washed. Just keep folding and kneading it. If it is loaded with contaminants, and it is very difficult to expose a fresh surface of the clay, then throw it away. But you can use them until they are very dirty... (look at some pics in the Extreme Makeover section of meguiarsonline forums, you can get an idea of how dirty the claybar can be)

 

If you clay it, that will strip off some or all of the wax, which is of no concern if you're going to wax it again anyway.

IMO if you're willing to do the 3-step, just replace the last step with NXT but still do the first 2 steps. Step 2 (pure polish) is where you get the most shine, step 3 just locks it in.

Your car's paint is not as new as you think... plus it's baked on, no problem to wax it or clay it.

Forget the spray wax stuff... it's garbage. Also you don't really have to use quick detailer after you wax.
Just use quick detailer to maintain your shine... the best one I have tried is zaino Z-8.

 

Thank You
So Clay Bar, Paint Prep cleaner, Polish, then NXT, doesn't matter if its liquid or paste?
I want to get my car really clean and pretty before I head up to College.