Scratches from Clay Towel

Lphxsun on 03/04/2019 - 14:17
Last edited 03/04/2019 - 14:18

Hey guys, I recently bought a clay towel to see how it is vs a clay bar. After cleaning my car the first time, I thought it worked wonders. The paint was smooth and looked spectacular. However I used it again a couple of months after and it looked like the areas where I had used it the 2nd time now has microscratches which doesn't look good. I had washed the clay towel thoroughly but I didn't use a proper lubricant and instead use foamy car wash water. I've tried Meguiar's Scratch X and while it seemed to have helped a little bit, the scratches are still there.

My car is black which is part of the reason why the cleaning scratches look more apparent. I haven't properly waxed it but used a quick wax spray instead.

Any idea on what products I should try and use to get it back to look great again? :( Any ideas would be greatly appreciated !

Automotive

Comments

  • yoonibear on 03/04/2019 - 14:31
    +1

    A polish would help w/ the microscratches but that depends on how deep they are. If that doesn't work then perhaps a cut and polish. Personally, I'd stick w/ the clay bar - use once and toss out.

    • phxsun on 03/04/2019 - 14:40

      They aren't too deep. Definitely worse than regular swirls but I don't think it penetrated the clear coat. I'll give it a polish this weekend.

  • singlemalt72 on 03/04/2019 - 14:31
    +1

    Did you keep the towel sealed and away from contaminants? Did you drop it or place it on a dirty surface? Anything that picks up any contaminants in the towel will render it useless.

    I'd go with a fine polishing compound and (clean) clay bar to get to back to pristine and probably get a new towel.

    • phxsun on 03/04/2019 - 14:36

      I didn't have it sealed away. That's probably why. I don't believe it has been dropped. I don't think I'll clay bar or towel my car for a while. I've never clay barred my car before the towel because I was too scared I'll do something wrong, put in all that effort and still end up scratching the car, which is what ultimately happened.

      Ah well learning experience

      • singlemalt72 on 03/04/2019 - 14:38

        Once you get the scratches out, do a ceramic coat on it - relatively cheap and simple to do and really makes a difference.

        • phxsun on 03/04/2019 - 14:42

          any particular brand of ceramic coat you suggest?

          • cansydint on 03/04/2019 - 15:57
            +6

            @phxsun: If you're not confident with a clay bar i would highly recommend not doing a ceramic coating yourself

      • foolsgold on 03/04/2019 - 18:34
        +1

        I just looked at the towels, you posted below, I have never used one, but purely from looking at it, it appears that there is less places for grime and debris to hide than there would be in a clay bar, so good chance of scratching the paints by wiping abrasives over the car.

        Secondly, if you don't air tight seal either of these (towel or claybar) they will harden, and become more abrasive, secondly they will continuously absorb dust and particles in the air which you are applying back into the paint.

  • slknv on 03/04/2019 - 14:33
    +2

    If you used the clay bar/towel, and then didn't apply a proper wax (or one of them new fangled yee haw nano "ceramic" coatings) then there's not going to be much protecting your paint/clearcoat, so any environmental debris can potentially cause scratches which is then more obvious the second time around with a clay bar.

    I'm a bit old school and still apply wax with a pad and then buff off every 3 months. Try that - may help to disguise the minor scratches in the clear. Love my black car, hate washing it every 30 minutes to keep it clean.

    • phxsun on 03/04/2019 - 14:39
      +1

      I've had two black cars and they are annoying as hell to keep clean. I have it parked in a parking garage and within days, there's a thin film of dust. I used Meguiars fast finish as the 'wax'. I haven't properly waxed it in probably 6-8months

      I think I'll stick with old school haha has always worked well for me

  • askme69 on 03/04/2019 - 14:56

    What's a clay towel?

    What do people think of the Mothers Speed Clay 2.0?

    https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/mothers-mothers-speed-cl…

  • brad1-8tsi on 03/04/2019 - 14:57

    You should keep the clay towell in a sealed container or bag between uses. A proper lube is a must.

    Is it a Bowdens towell? Lots of info on their website.

    • phxsun on 03/04/2019 - 15:00

      Nope, it was off Ebay from China

      • askme69 on 03/04/2019 - 15:31
        +1

        china, that's the problem.

        • phxsun on 03/04/2019 - 15:34

          Not necessarily. Could be lack of lubricant or not having it sealed away

  • JimmyF on 03/04/2019 - 16:09

    After cleaning my car the first time, I thought it worked wonders. The paint was smooth and looked spectacular. However I used it again a couple of months after and it looked like the areas where I had used it the 2nd time now has microscratches which doesn't look good

    Sounds like you got 'crap' in the towel after the first use, hence the microscratches

    • phxsun on 03/04/2019 - 16:34

      That sounds about right

  • wannagrababargain on 03/04/2019 - 17:14

    I have used clay bars succesfully many times. I gave one of those "clay towels" a go for about 10 seconds and hated it, it marred the crap out of my black paint. I don't think they are a good or safe product.

    Was going to suggest Scratch X, which is a pretty efficient product for hand polishing, but you've alraedy tried that. If that didn't work then you're probably going to have to get a machine polish with a medium level cut.

    Otherwise you can 'cheat' and use a filler/optical enhancer type product (eg a Glaze) to hide the problem. One that works well with black is Chemical Guys Black Light.

    BTW Two months in between claying is probably too soon. I only 'clay' when I do a full polish which is once a year. The less you touch the paint the better.

    • phxsun on 03/04/2019 - 23:05

      Thanks for the suggestions. I did watch a lot of those videos on how to. But I guess I missed the how often it should be used

  • foolsgold on 03/04/2019 - 18:29

    I dont wanna sound like your being schooled, but Claying isn't meant to be done regularly, or done as part of regular maintenance. It is suppose to be used as a go to tool in certain spots of the car where necessary. It will almost always cause some sort of 'marring' or 'micro-scratching' which can then be corrected with a polishing, or if deep like your saying with a compound then a polish.

    There are heaps of videos on youtube, go look up an Ammo-X video on Clay Bar usage. I think he explains why all these techniques are tools for occasions, not regular usage better than me.
    If your super anal, I find that after I almost never have to clay my car because I regularly apply paste carnuba wax, it even removes rain spotting in the application process, unless I have loads of built up contaminants.

    • phxsun on 03/04/2019 - 23:06

      Yeah I don't think I'll clay for a long time. Lesson learned!

      • foolsgold on 04/04/2019 - 00:46
        +1

        There’s a good video he did on polishing. Impounding vs wet sanding I suggest watching that.

  • Micko179 on 04/04/2019 - 08:52

    Ok, you should really only use clay to remove Overspray, contaminants etc. There are dedicated products for Swirl Removal we use in a Panel Shop Environment but something like Meguiars Ultimate should work fine. Best to use a Machine but good results are achievable by hand with decent elbow grease (if you have any)

  • sunnyc on 23/04/2019 - 10:14

    You didn't clay whilst the surface is wet after the wash. Also the scratches is possibly marring from the poor quality product that you bought

    • phxsun on 23/04/2019 - 11:43

      the paint was wet and I used lubricant too. The scratches is almost certainly due to my poor management of the product when not in use.

      • sunnyc on 23/04/2019 - 18:37

        clay products that are cheap or labelled medium or aggressive is designed to mar or create tiny scratches. This is so it is possible to remove the physical bonded contaminents

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