Having only owned dark colored vehicles prior to my current ride I had only heard about the claybar process but had never had a need to do it any contamination that was in my paint was hidden by it being so dark . This allowed me to get by with a simple wash polish and wax routine. However now that I own a white car I have had to give my paint  a little more TLC to keep it looking its best. Enter the Meguairs Smooth Surface® Clay kit.

For those of you who may not know the purpose of a clay bar kit is to remove contaminants, such as dust and bits of metal from your brake pad, exhaust, or industrial fallout from your paint and restore it’s smooth finish. All cars have this contamination in their paint but its much easier to see on lighter colored vehicles.

Now for ‘rail dust‘ as bad as mine I have been told you can remove it much faster using an ABC decontamination wash but that involved acid and I didn’t really want to have acid near my paint or my skin.

I purchased the Meguairs kit, about a year ago and it did a really good job of keeping my shelves from flying around the garage. Once I got around to opening the box I saw that it includes everything you need to clay your ride: 2 50 gram clay bars, Quik detailer for clay lubricant, a sample of Meguairs Cleaner wax, and a Meguairs microfiber towel. For everything the kit includes it’s worth its south of 30 dollar price tag.

The instructions on the box were clear enough but Meguairs also has a video on youtube outlining the process and it’s benefits incase you do not like to read.

The process was pretty uneventful and the only thing I could improve on would be using the lubrication more conservativly, it is supposed to be enough to do nearly four vehicles and I used almost half. When doing the claybar process be prepared to work, it takes a lot of passes to get rid of contamination as bad as mine and doing the entire car took me about 7 hours not including washing the vehicle before hand and waxing it after. Don’t try and rush the process pick a day when you have a lot of time to spend on your car, and set aside a few beverages of your choice and put on your favorite radio station and get down to business.

Here are some photos of the results of the Meguairs kit on my car

Overall the Meguairs kit is a great value for someone who is looking at making a noticeable difference to the look and feel of their paint and is willing to put the time in to get it done. I was very pleased with how my car looked upon completion and will probably do the process once more at the end of fall. For more info on the Meguairs kit visit the Meguairs products home page.