Clay Bar Treatment | What, When, & How To Do It | CB Detailing

The clay bar has a love-hate relationship among car care enthusiasts, and for good reason.  Used correctly, a clay treatment can transform the look and feel of a car’s paint, and used incorrectly, it can ruin it.  From clay bars, to clay mitts, to clay towels, the options are seemingly endless, and nobody seems to know when to use any of them!  So, we want to go over the ins-and-outs of clay treatment for your car—what it is, when to use it, and how to perform the service.  If you’re looking to take your car to the next level, mastering the clay treatment is the way to do it.

What is a Clay Bar Treatment?

A clay bar treatment, also known as just a clay treatment, is the process of removing small contaminants from the paint using a clay product.  These contaminants are often too small to see, but can be found by rubbing your hand over the paint.  If it feels gritty, there are contaminants that need to be removed.  The reason why clay is needed is because these contaminants are too trapped in the paint to be removed with a normal car wash, even if done by hand.  There are a variety of products that are labeled under the “clay” umbrella, including the clay bar, clay mit, clay towel, and others.  The main difference in these products is the ease of use and the strength of the tools, where clay bars are typically stronger and used in situations with higher contamination, while clay mitts are used in more maintenance situations.

When Should I do a Clay Treatment?

The most common situation where a clay treatment is always performed is before a paint correction and/or ceramic coating application.  Before a polisher can touch a car’s paint, is it always best practice to clay bar the entire vehicle to ensure that no contaminants are present in the paint during a polishing or correction, which can quickly ruin the performance and outcome of these services.  

Outside of a pre-polish treatment, however, it becomes a lot more tricky to identify when to perform a clay treatment.  The reason why most people steer clear of a clay treatment is because of the risk of marring, or light scratching of the paint when using a clay bar.  If a clay bar is used, and no polish or correction is performed after, these scratches can hurt the look of the paint, and require one of the aforementioned services to fix.  Because of this risk, it is smart to assess the situation and compromise.  If the contamination isn't too heavy, using a clay mitt or towel instead of a bar can reduce the chances of marring.  Typically, the places that need a clay treatment the most are the front bumper and lower side panels, so only claying those areas can usually do more good than bad, depending on condition.  However, if the contamination is very bad, such as on cars that are frequently off-road, it may not be wise to clay bar without following up with a polish.

How do I do a Clay Treatment?

While performing a clay treatment is often portrayed as a highly skillful and risky service to D.I.Y, it isn't actually that hard to do!  A clay mitt or towel is easier to use, but a clay bar isn’t much harder, and we’ll go through using both to clay an entire vehicle.  You’ll have to pre-hand wash the car, and you’ll need your clay tool of choice, a spray bottle of diluted car soap and water (clay lube works great too, but it is essentially the same thing), and a few microfiber towels.  Going in 6-12in by 6-12in sections, thoroughly spray the panel to properly lubricate it, and begin rubbing the clay tool back and forth with light to medium pressure, feeling for where the clay gets caught.  Once the entire panel feels smooth, and the clay is no longer getting caught, dry off the panel using the microfiber towel, and move on to the next spot.  When using a clay bar, use one side only, and once the bar becomes filled with contaminants, fold it over onto itself and bury the contaminants into the clay and flatten it out again to continue claying.  Once the clay becomes completely full of debris, throw it away and get a new one!  For a clay mitt or towel, cleaning it off once it becomes dirty is a good idea to prevent scratching.  Now, just continue through all of the paint on the vehicle, and feel around afterwards.  If you did it right, it should feel very smooth.

And that’s it!  If you’re looking for more of your detailing questions answered, the rest of our blog is for you!  It’s jam-packed with everything to do with detailing, including some industry secrets from us.  And, if you live on the South Shore or Cape Cod, and are looking for a professional mobile detail, let us know here, and find out how we can help!