Ask the Detailer

Will mothers clay bar work ok for rail dust? Or should I return it and get something else?

 

I forgot to respond to this a while back when I saw it, sorry. I had seen about these before but don't have any experience since I don't have a dog hair issue. check these out. Pan the Organizer likes them as well and I trust almost everything he uses or suggests.

 

Likely not. The best you will achieve is the clay potentially shearing the top off of the deposits. You need a product that is formulated to break down iron deposits....such as Car Pro Iron-X. Meguiars has a new product called Iron Removing Spray Clay.....if you have an O'Reillys near by, it may be available to you locally, and it may be cheaper than Iron-X

 

Thats the Lilly brush....typically used for removing dog hair from carpet. I have one, and it is an awesome tool for that purpose

 

echo this. I actually just saw that O'Reilley's has the iron removing spray clay

 

Do you know if they are carrying it in their stores or online only?

 

They have it here locally.

 

it was in the store. I was looking for the Meguiar's APC, but didn't see it. They had their clay spraya and hyper dressing spray

 

Hyper dressing they sell is overpriced. $20 bucks and it's not a concentrate. Can buy 1000ml of CarPro Perl for $25.00 that you can dilute. People must buy it for the convenience.

 

I kinda thought so too. I believe payin for convenience.

 

Most people have no idea what is available online. Brick and mortar stores have to make some markup also.

 

Have any of you guys tried it? I’ve tried a few different iron removers. The only one that worked as well as Iron X was Shine Supply’s. (The Shine Supply didn't smell as bad either.)

On another note: For those who have tried both, does the Iron X lemon not work as well as the original, or is it just my imagination?

 

I’ve only used ironx original and cherry and the both preformed very well. Many years ago we used trt fallout remover at the detail shop I worked at as a kid. Cherry still smells bad but it seems to work just as good.

 

I picked up some Iron-x in Cherry a few months back... from previously using clay bars to remove fallout on vehicles to discovering Iron-X, the frustration to remove these spots is no longer and claying time is reduced significantly. The smell is horrible and when I used it the first time, my wife thought something was on fire—was using the product in the driveway and she was upstairs in the house at the time! I would strongly recommend a product to remove fallout vs claying to remove fallout if you value your time.

PS, when done washing, using Iron-X, washing again, then clay bar, I hit it with my Griots G9 to compound and polish—made our 08 Avalon shine like new! Cant seem to get rid of this thing because it’s been an amazing vehicle

 

Guess cherry is the winner. Lol my wife had the same reaction. She went into the laundry room and pop her head out to be like “what the hell is that smell” I told her it’s progress

 

I have a 5L of Iron X I need to use first. I might buy some to try down the road. I had the gallon of Shine Supply version and it worked great.

 

I did buy a bottle to try, figured I would give it a go on the wheel wells just for fun since I like trying different products. Wasn't impressed at all. Perl is my go to for wheel wells, if I can get them clean enough I'll probably try the CarPro Delux.

 

Does anyone know how to clean up trim that is discolored like this?:
Soap and 303 didn’t help.

 

hard to determine from the picture but that looks like the pillar tape between front and rear windows? That tape isn't all that durable. It can be polished because i've done it. But it looks as is that tape has been marred or oxidized. Might need replacement. If thats not pillar tape and its indeed paint then I would attempt some polish first, and compound second if the polish doesn't clean it up.

 

So, I'm looking for something that will deter pinstripes until I can get enough $$$ to get the whole truck Xpel'd. I hear a really hard ceramic coat that requires professional install will do this, but I've got quotes and it seems like they are charging the same amount to coat the whole truck as it would to get the cab wrapped in Xpel. That would majorly dip into my Xpel savings. Is there something I can apply at home?

 

So you can get a few brands of ceramic to do at home. Like most things, the prep work is the most of it. You can buy ceramic coatings for 50-250 bucks for a kit...or more. But remember prep work, so it'll cost you time and materials to prep properly. Gtechniq is a popular one. Same with crystal serum. Lots of youtube and other videos will help you decide if you want to do it

 

no ceramic coat will offer that kind of paint protection. Many clam to but they just do not.

 

They will help with paint protection from bird crap water bugs and such. Also fallout getting into the paint.

 

I'm good with time. Working on cars and trucks is a hobby of mine. I don't mind prep at all. I will look into those. Thank you for the suggestions.

I'm not looking for 100% protection. I understand that PPF is the ONLY way for me to protect my paint through how I use my truck. If the ceramic can lessen the stripes, I'm good with that. The paint will not be perfect before the wrap anyway.

The other option I've been weighing, as much as I hate it, is a vinyl wrap. Probably in a blue or grey camo. I figure that would hide whatever stripes get applied to the wrap. It'll be kinda loud, but whatever.

 

I was looking at doing it recently but didnt have the time to dedicate to it, so I just waxed it again. From watching Pan thr Organizer on YT, he said the one i listed below was one if the best consumer grade ones that was easy to use/user friendly and did a good job. If you want to protect it from heavier scratches, you can always consider PPF(paint protective film).

$73 CARPRO CQUARTZ UK 3.0 - Ceramic Coating for Cars, Quartz Based Nanotechnology, Bonds to Paint, Glass, Metal and Plastic - (30ml Kit w/Reload 2.0)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D4NM5XM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_d1R2EbA497FA2

 

You could do a clear a matte vinyl it wouldn’t be so loud. But if your going down that route you probably just spend a little more and do the ppf a good wrap is not cheap. A bottle of cquartz is $80 for the 50ml with a small bottle of reload.you will need a bunch of other stuff for the prep which I’m cool to share if you want. It will help protect the paint and might help with light friction contact on the paint.

 

Thank you for the tips!

I had some minor scratches before the clay bar but definitely noticed more afterwards.

 

Be mindful of your wash process causing some imperfections too. I've found the clear coat on my '13 CrewMax to be very soft

 

So I took care of an eyesore today.
Had a bunch of exhaust residue on my bumper and some on the paint above the exhaust tip

Took a little time and elbow grease but got it back to new condition

 

My favorite prep step