Posted on January 3, 2022 by Colby Stevens

Have you ever ran your hand across your paint and felt that it is very rough? If so, this blog is just for you.

When driving your vehicle you are exposing it to the exterior elements like smog and fallout. Over time, those contaminants will bond to your paint, giving it that rough feel. In this blog we will go over how, why, and when you would clay bar your vehicle.

When contaminants sit on your vehicles paint for a certain amount of time, they begin to harm your clear coat. Because these are contaminants, as they sit on your clear coat they will begin to erode and rust your paint, that is why on lighter color vehicles you will begin to see small orange specs. This is a large reason on why you want to decontaminate and clay bar your vehicle periodically.

Accidents happen, and sometimes if an object is being painted near your vehicle, the overspray can travel and land on your vehicle. Not only will your vehicle have several small specks of paint on it, but it will also be very rough to the touch. In order to remove that over spray from your vehicle you will need to clay bar the exterior.

You would also want to clay bar your vehicle prior to applying a protectant, like a wax or ceramic coating. Reason being, is that if you apply a wax or ceramic coating without claying the surface, that protectant is bonding to the contaminants rather than the paint, which will inhibit the perfomance of your protectant.

Step 1: To start things off, wash and dry your entire vehicle.

Step 2: Unpack your clay bar, and flatten the bar into a pancake like shape.

Step 3: Using Shine Mist Clay Lube, spray directly onto the panel you are claying.

Step 4: Use very light down pressure, glide the clay bar using straight passes across the panel that you have lubricated.

Step 5: Using a soft microfiber towel, wipe off the excess Shine Mist from the panel you are working on.

Step 6: Check the panel you have clayed by running the back of your hand across the paint to feel for any roughness, if your paint is buttery smooth you are ready to clay the next panel.

Step 7: Knead the bar by folding it to a clean section of clay to avoid any debris from the past section scratching your paint.

Step 8: Move onto the next panel and continue to clay bar the vehicle using the steps 3-7.

Pro Tip: Once you have clayed your vehicle, it is best to lay down a protectant like a wax or ceramic coating now that your paint is bare, and free from any contamination.

If you have any further questions regarding how to clay bar your vehicle, or any questions regarding our Shine Supply products, please email us at products@shinesupply.com!