Today I decided to make a start to getting the car waxed so I washed the roof and bonnet before waxing with Bilt Hamber Double Speed wax. While washing the car with a sponge  I felt the paintwork was a bit "grippy" and could probably do with a rub over with a clay bar.

My question is, is there any reason I should not use a clay bar on the Skoda paintwork (8E/A7W Brilliant Silver)? Thanks.

As no one has said otherwise I will start claying the panels the next suitable day.

Just do not go at it too hard.  You are only supposed to be  removing oxidisation. Fall out etc.  The car should have had paint detailed over a decade ago.   If your lacquer / top coat is brittle now or had any peeling you are not wanting to disturb.  If there had been touch up,s. Or repairs, paint matches you can make them dead obvious.   So claybar away but maybe try roof first and see. Always well lubricated.  Not bonnet or boot or doors.   I would rather just dewax / de polish and see how it looks, then wax the car very well.    This is because it is not a new car and no knowledge of the history.    If it has good thick paint, top coat lacquer then cars can be wet sanded, machine polished etc.  If it has had years if being T-cutted, compounded, already machined polished then you preserve as best you can. 

Edited 10 April, 20233 yr by toot

I may just use one of the liquid iron removers such as Bilt Hamber Korrosol, which is possibly a less labour intensive process. I clayed my Jazz on a couple of occasions during my ownership with no detriment to the paintwork but it was not a quick job!

On 08/04/2023 at 16:18, Jocko said:

While washing the car with a sponge 

That can be scratchy.  My wife's car has swirls on it, by the look of it from someone cleaning with some grit filled 'chamois' at the local Skoda Dealership.

 

Just remember whatever you use that removes any top layer that once it's gone it doesn't come back.

 

My days of spending two days cleaning and 'detailing' a car are decades behind me what I do now is use Waterless Wash 'n' Wax which cleans and polishes in one go and like yesterday when I done my neighbour's car you can do half the car stop and go to the pub and do the other half later.  I used to use many pounds worth of various Autoglym products at each clean and polish.  Now I just mainly use Waterless Wash 'n' Wax.  It's not truly waterless as you have to wash the microfibre cloth (but not use fabric conditioner).

 

I've seen plenty of old cars that rarely get cleaned, if at all, but the paint looks alright and still very functional.  My neighbour's car is 17 year old always sat outside I've been cleaning it for the x-number of years, every 6 months with Waterless Wash 'n' Wax, the paint looks fine, not show or concours but fine.

 

Don't forget that there are various grades and qualities of clay bar - I used Bilt Hambler in a medium grade. There has even been mention of Plumber Mate being used. When I have occasionally used a clay bar after a thorough wash, the amount of material transferred to the clay is quite astounding - having run my hand over a washed car it is obvious how much material is on the paintwork which is not there after using a clay bar with a good lubricant. It would be interested to have a comparison of the before/after using a fallout remover. A waterless wash and wax sounds like a shortcut to sandpapering your paintwork - 500ml out of a spray bottle will not wash dirt off your car like a hose or power wash will do, and that minimal amount of liquid cannot wash any entrained grit out of your cloth.

It won't just be iron contamination on the paintwork, you'll have tar and possibly tree sap as well. If you use some kind of tar remover and your iron off before using the clay, the clay will have less work to do.

 

From my experience with the Roomster we had, the paint was pretty good so hopefully it won't take you too much work to get your car looking decent again.

The car is actually looking great considering it was valeted before I took delivery but has stood out all winter. I have not done 200 miles yet though and it has never been on a wet mucky motorway, just pottering around town.

I used to use the two bucket method with rinseless wash but since moving here I have been a Sno foam and pressure wash guy. I rinse the foam off then hand wash using a Meguiar's X3002 Microfibre Car Wash Mitt and, currently, Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Wash & Wax Car Shampoo. I then rinse it and dry it with a microfibre towel.

Prior to me getting it it must have sat in trees or some such as I keep finding traces of a green moss like substance in odd corners (window rubbers, rear wiper and base of aerial). The inside is immaculate though.

 

Here is a picture taken a week back, before washing and polishing the front wheels (brake dust) and washing and waxing the roof and bonnet.

 

 

Edited 10 April, 20233 yr by Jocko

4 hours ago, KeithCheetham said:

A waterless wash and wax sounds like a shortcut to sandpapering your paintwork - 500ml out of a spray bottle

You are not talkiing about the same product as me and you wouldn't 500ml of it either, not on a medium-smallish car.

 

Do you really think that' I'd use the a shortcut to sandpapering the paintwork of my cars, my wife's cars and my neighbours car - what am I thinking, of course you do.

 

I seem to have picked up nothing from going to national custom car show nearly 50 years ago, decades of going to local and national "classic" car shows where they have high level concours completions (AutoGlym and Meguiars) where the owners literally clean the inside of the exhaust and tyre tread, decades of buying a variety of washes, polishes, waxes and other cleaning products.

    

When you say waterless, do you mean rinseless? I had to amend my post because I had typed waterless when I meant rinseless. I used Dodo Juice Low On Eau Rinseless Wash and, as I still had a little left, that is what I used to wash the roof and bonnet.

Joko, some of my simple tips for you to make the car look even better, quite quickly and very easily.

 

Anything that is black if you clean and 'polish' it with have those items looking clean and the rest of the car cleaner.  The tyres, up to you you can mess around with whatever products you like and if you want have them in a (to me cheap garage) wet very shiny look or shake the can and spray on (more of a sheen look) AmourAll Tire Foam, spray and walk away that how all car cleaning ought to be.

 

The plastic strips down the side, door mirror black bits, roof aerial, I apply AutoGlym BUMPER & TRIM GEL with a 1 1/4" cube of sponge, wipe off excess and buff with a clean microfibre cloth.

 

If you don't have time to clean the car (or can't be arsed) then just cleaning/polishing the reflective number plates, front and rear lights will make the car look cleaner than it is, works better with some body colours than others.  With this you're also doing your driver maintenance bit of being better seen and seeing.  If you need to you could include as many windows as required (rear and sides sometimes for me).  For these I use a product which KC terms as "like a shortcut to sandpapering", I've no idea how I've got away with it for so many years.

 

Another tip, much easier done with a product that can do a panel at a time, use a second clean microfibre cloth to buff up straight the previous for that little extra shine.

 

I'm not sure if your wheels are supposed to be shiny or not and I appreciate the sun isn't on them, shiny or not clean black exterior tyre walls will show the wheels better.  Some say the tyres need to be left 'undressed' as the 'rubber' needs it but for decades I've used Tire and had no problems with the exterior sidewall - but I don't keep tyres until they're down to barely legal and wear them out before they're too old.

 

7 minutes ago, Jocko said:

When you say waterless, do you mean rinseless?

Not really though it is rinseless, I mean waterless (except for cleaning the microfibre cloths which I use water so not truly waterless to me.

Since taking that photograph and washing and polishing the front wheels (Bilt Hamber Double Speed wax - I swear by it), I sprayed the tyres with Autoglym Tyre Dressing, just for speed . I prefer to use Garage Therapy Tyre Serum, but it takes a bit longer.

The wheels really sparkle, like a very fine metalflake, but the lighting in that photograph doesn't show them off.

I cleaned the area under the wipers with Back to Black gel but again I prefer Black Chrome wax. Once I get stuck in about it I will dig out the "good biscuits". The weather will have to pick up a bit before that happens

Blimey Jocko you sound like you're one for expensive (sounding at least, except Back to Black) beauty products,  I used the AutoGlym Tre Dressing but it was so many years ago I can't remember what it was like.  I used to like the AutoGlym Wheel Protector but like all their products it got too expensive.

 

14 hours ago, Jocko said:

I cleaned the area under the wipers with Back to Black gel

I forgot about that area of black, again I use AutoGlym BUMPER & TRIM GEL you could also use Back to Black Gel on the door rub strips.

 

Many years ago I tried four different polishes on each door of a car I had to see which looked and felt the best finish and lasted the longest, AutoGlym, Raindance, something else and a tin of Turtle Wax.  I can't say I noticed any real difference between them but if I had to pick one it'd have been the tin of Turtle Wax which was the least expensive.

 

I must admit I totally forgot this is a specialist forum so I'll bow out as I've hardly heard of some of these products and have never used them, what I use I get when on special offer for £2 a litre and it's supposed to do four or five cars IIRC, I don't get that but I'm quite wasteful.