When it comes to taking your car's finish to the next level, a clay bar can work wonders—but only if it's used properly
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You want your ride to look its best, but when you walk into the auto parts store, the wall of detailing products is big enough to make you dizzy. Not only that, but it might not be clear what some of those things actually do. And so we’ll focus here on one of the lesser-understood: the clay bar.
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For this, I went out to the garage to ask Fred Bottcher — a.k.a. my husband, and our household’s auto detailer, for whom no vehicle can be too clean or too shiny. Fred will walk you through the process in the attached video, but we’ll include some background and do’s-and-don’ts here as well.
A clay bar removes minute particles on the paint and restores its smooth finish. You’ll immediately notice the difference in how smooth it feels to the touch, and how well it reflects light when it’s out in the sun.
That said, it’s not a miracle worker. It won’t restore the shine on faded paint, and it won’t repair chips or scratches. It also doesn’t protect the finish — you’ll want to use wax or polish afterwards. And it should not be used on a matte finish, which requires matte-specific products and methods (and that’s something to think about if you’re considering a vehicle with that kind of paint). Clay bars shouldn’t be used on vehicle wraps, either.
The first time out, you’ll want to buy a clay bar kit, which usually includes the clay, a detailing spray that acts as a lubricant, and a microfibre towel. Afterwards, you’ll usually run out of one item before the others, so you can just buy the items you need. Clay bars from specialty detailing shops can come in different formulations from mild/soft to aggressive. Unless you have heavier oxidation and you know exactly what you’re doing, get the mild bar. It may take a bit longer to get the job done, but there’s less risk of marring the finish that could happen with the aggressive bars.
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First of all, wash the vehicle — it needs to be clean, with no dirt or grit on it. Knead the bar until it softens a bit, and flatten it to increase the surface area. Working on one area at a time, spray liberally with the detailing spray, and then rub the clay bar over it. Go back and forth in the direction of the panel, not in a circle, and keep the area well-lubricated with the spray. Wipe the area dry with a clean microfibre towel, and then move on to the next area and start the process again.
Every six months is about average for a clay bar treatment, although you’ll likely want to do it more in higher-pollution areas. Don’t worry about overdoing it, though. As long as you’re using a mild clay bar, on a spotlessly-clean car, with lots of detailing spray and a clean microfibre towel, you can do it as often as you like — basically, whenever you think your car should use a freshening-up. At least, that’s what Fred says, and judging by how good his cars look, he knows what he’s talking about.
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· Professional writer for more than 35 years, appearing in some of the top publications in Canada and the U.S.
· Specialties include new-vehicle reviews, old cars and automotive history, automotive news, and “How It Works” columns that explain vehicle features and technology
· Member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) since 2003; voting member for AJAC Canadian Car of the Year Awards; juror on the Women’s World Car of the Year Awards
Jil McIntosh graduated from East York Collegiate in Toronto, and then continued her education at the School of Hard Knocks. Her early jobs including driving a taxi in Toronto; and warranty administration in a new-vehicle dealership, where she also held information classes for customers, explaining the inner mechanical workings of vehicles and their features.
Jil McIntosh is a freelance writer who has been writing for Driving.ca since 2016, but she’s been a professional writer starting when most cars still had carburetors. At the age of eleven, she had a story published in the defunct Toronto Telegram newspaper, for which she was paid $25; given the short length of the story and the dollar’s buying power at the time, that might have been the relatively best-paid piece she’s ever written.
An old-car enthusiast who owns a 1947 Cadillac and 1949 Studebaker truck, she began her writing career crafting stories for antique-car and hot-rod car club magazines. When the Ontario-based newspaper Old Autos started up in 1987, dedicated to the antique-car hobby, she became a columnist starting with its second issue; the newspaper is still around and she still writes for it. Not long after the Toronto Star launched its Wheels section in 1986 – the first Canadian newspaper to include an auto section – she became one of its regular writers. She started out writing feature stories, and then added “new-vehicle reviewer” to her resume in 1999. She stayed with Wheels, in print and later digital as well, until the publication made a cost-cutting decision to shed its freelance writers. She joined Driving.ca the very next day.
In addition to Driving.ca, she writes for industry-focused publications, including Automotive News Canada and Autosphere. Over the years, her automotive work also appeared in such publications as Cars & Parts, Street Rodder, Canadian Hot Rods, AutoTrader, Sharp, Taxi News, Maclean’s, The Chicago Tribune, Forbes Wheels, Canadian Driver, Sympatico Autos, and Reader’s Digest. Her non-automotive work, covering such topics as travel, food and drink, rural living, fountain pen collecting, and celebrity interviews, has appeared in publications including Harrowsmith, Where New Orleans, Pen World, The Book for Men, Rural Delivery, and Gambit.
2016 AJAC Journalist of the Year; Car Care Canada / CAA Safety Journalism award winner in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2013, runner-up in 2021; Pirelli Photography Award 2015; Environmental Journalism Award 2019; Technical Writing Award 2020; Vehicle Testing Review award 2020, runner-up in 2022; Feature Story award winner 2020; inducted into the Street Rodding Hall of Fame in 1994.
Email: jil@ca.inter.net
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jilmcintosh/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JilMcIntosh
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