Every day, and everywhere you go, your car is exposed to the elements and hit with tiny particles that bond to its surface. Over time, these particles can hurt your car’s paint — not to mention being an eyesore. The good news: A clay bar treatment can help you remove stubborn pollutants, protect your vehicle, and make it shine again.
But what exactly is a clay bar? We’ll walk you through the basics and when you should use a clay bar, as well as our professional process at Premier:
What It Is
A clay bar is a synthetic resin compound that removes contamination like tree sap, brake dust, industrial pollution, or road grit from your car’s surface. These pollutants can settle on your car and stubbornly stay there, even after several car washes and rounds of polishing. But clay bar detailing will lift those contaminants from your vehicle’s surface that a regular car wash won’t remove.
Clay bars are similar to Play-Doh or putty, but they’re more elastic and resilient for removing those harsh contaminants from your vehicle’s delicate surface. (And for the record, we don’t recommend trying to use your kid’s Play-Doh on your car!)
How It Works
Here are the steps your Premier team will follow to give you a safe, effective clay bar treatment and remove those stubborn pollutants:
- First, we’ll wash and dry your car’s exterior. Then, we’ll take an automotive clay bar (making sure it doesn’t touch any dirty surfaces) and spray clay bar lubricant onto your car to help us smoothly glide the bar across and avoid damaging the paint.
- Next, we’ll gently move the clay bar across the surface of your vehicle in straight lines, from the top down, to lift any foreign bodies. The clay bar’s tacky nature will pick up these particles without putting them back on your car. We’ll keep checking to make sure that we’re using a fresh side of the clay and that we’re not going over your car’s surface with a rough (contaminated) piece that could scratch the paint.
- Once the clay stops gripping the surface and starts gliding smoothly all over your car, that means we’ve removed all the residue from your vehicle. We’ll wipe down your paint with a microfiber cloth to remove any lingering particles, then double-check with a touch test to make sure we didn’t miss any bumps.
- Our team is highly trained to ensure they’re using the clay bar correctly, so you won’t have to worry about any surface damage. The bar will, however, remove any wax or other protective sealant from your vehicle because of the natural abrasion. So, we’ll wax and polish the exterior after using a clay bar to protect your car and restore its shine.
When to Use It
You should use a clay bar every six months, depending on how often you drive your vehicle. This clay bar treatment will always be part of your full and exterior details. So if you’re scheduling a Premier detail, you can rest easy knowing that we’ll use a clay bar on your car to get the gunk off!
If you’re not sure how long it’s been since your last clay bar treatment, you can try the plastic bag test at home:
- Wash and dry your vehicle as you normally would.
- Find a new plastic bag and place it over your hand.
- Lightly rub your fingers over the paint’s clean surface.
- If you feel a gritty, rough texture, there’s contamination leftover from the wash — and it’s time to call us for a detail and clay bar treatment!
We want you to be in awe when you pick up your vehicle.
When you trust our team to clean and protect your vehicle with a clay bar treatment, you can be confident that your car is in good hands. And we’re pretty sure you’ll be blown away by the final results!
Premier’s mission is to create happiness through professional detailing, and our purpose is to exhibit a philosophy of servanthood! If you have any questions, feel free to contact us or visit our website. Don’t forget to check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well!
