I was referred here from M3post.... I thoroughly washed the car last night and stripped any remaining wax, and my plan today was to clay, wash, and wax. I'm not sure why, but my clay bar seems to be leaving all kinds of swirl marks. At first, I was using mother's detailing spray as lubricant, so I switched to a mix of meguiars shampoo & water, but I'm still getting the same results. WTF am I doing wrong? I started with a brand new bar. I know BMW paint is soft, and supposedly black is even softer, but this seems like a bit much. I've searched around and found that this happens given soft paint and the right bar...? I'm planning on using meguiar's swirl remover 2.0, but I'd like to finish claying the rest of the car. :help:
I've had that happen with different clay bars on different cars. I had that happen today on a white Ford Edge using BH soft clay. Thats nuts!
Just out of curiousity, would the lube used accelerate the marring? Maybe some lubes just really work better than others?
I've had to deal with that myself...It just sucks if you're not going to polish but it will buff out real easy...:thumb:
Nice car. 2 door or 4 door? Jet black or BSM? I wouldn't clay unless I can polish right after, because you never know what will happen. You can try another clay but if that doesn't work, just polish it out if you have a buffer. If not, maybe you should consider getting one.
Yes, some times claying will induce marring but nothing that a simple polish can't take off. It really depends on the clear coat and the clay bar oh and most importantly the clay lube...always use lots and lots of clay lube :thumb:
BMW shouldn't be soft paint - unless 2 things have occurred: 1) Scratch resistant thickness has been removed - top 5-6µm of the clearcoat 2) The area has been resprayed with the wrong clearcoat or not been given sufficient time to complete the offgassing process - 2-4 months generally. The only explanation for what's happened, is the bar has picked up something more than embedded contamination, you've used downward pressure, or not enough lube. The basic/regular Meg's bar is about the least aggressive one you could use - so this has to be down to user error, imo. I also don't subscribe to the amateur chemistry some people undertake - weak shampoo solutions will rarely emulate what a QD is, which is what the clays are designed for using, albeit with a commercial angle to make you buy more of their QD. So, aside from correcting the damage induced, all I can suggest is you use another piece of clay, with plenty of QD, on a few other sections of the car, and see if the results differ. A picture of the clay face used to create the damage shown, would've proved helpful, but fwiw, I can use the BH AC original, when cold, on Honda paint (now, that IS soft!) with no issues - even removing road tar blobs. Let us know how you get on with doing the rest of the car, as suggested.
It looks like your BMW has Jet Black paint, which unfortunately, is a detailer's nightmare as even some microfibers marr the paint, let alone clay barring it. You will have to polish it out. Go ahead and clay bar the entire vehicle, then polish it out with some good Menzerna polish. Frankly, a finishing polish such as 85RD will take care of it.
[ I also don't subscribe to the amateur chemistry some people undertake - weak shampoo solutions will rarely emulate what a QD is, which is what the clays are designed for using, albeit with a commercial angle to make you buy more of their QD.] [PJS] Quick detailers, often shortened to (QD) are a car detailing product with limited cleaning, gloss, and protection properties. The biggest concern most people have with quick detailing is scratching or dulling the paint, this is a genuine concern as they are only designed to remove light surface contamination. Such as light dry dust, fingerprints, smudges, etc, or as a final touch-up to the paint finish I’m not an amateur chemist, but I would subscribe to using ONR (2oz / gallon (1:64) dilution) as it contains a surfactant that will ‘lift’ the surface debris to lessen micro scratches or re-deposit
1) BMW does not have scratch resistants paint at this point. BMW Jet Black is one of the softest paints out there.
My guess would be too much pressure when using the clay. This happened to me the first few times I clayed cars as I was bearing down with the clay bar. Once I learned that you use almost no pressure at all and PLENTY of clay lube I've had no problems. If you use little pressure and listen closely while claying it almost sounds like a razor taking off the contaminants and couple that with plenty of clay lube and you shouldn't do that kind of marring again.
I agree with all that has been said here. All very valid points. Having said that, I have used ClayMagic Blue for years (14 ) with very few incidents. My latest incident was with BH clay which as was pointed out, is VERY soft. You can almost squeeze your fingers through it until they touch. I was also using Clay Magic lube and not water as you can with this clay. The vehicle in question is a white Ford Edge. I'm not saying it marrs as easily as the RRovers I do, but it did marr a bit.
