- What's up chemical guys and girls.
It's me, Jason.
We're back for another noobie edition.
We've got a very special episode for you today.
You guys comment and I listen.
I read all of your comments, all of them.
You guys asked for it, we're going to give it to you.
We're going to go and clay my car.
♪ He doesn't know much about detailing ♪
♪ He's asking us some questions about everything ♪
♪ So we can learn all there is about detailing ♪
♪ He doesn't know much about detailing ♪
♪ He's the chemical guys noob ♪
♪ He doesn't know much about detailing ♪
♪ He's the chemical guys noob, yeah ♪
If you've been following this series,
we're starting from scratch.
I don't know anything about detailing.
Nick is going to help me out again today.
We're going to clay my car, I'm super excited about this.
In one of the previous videos, I asked you guys,
what kind of montage you want to see.
A bunch of you guys wanted an action sequence.
So we're going to show you an epic action montage
coming up on claying.
Stay tuned for that, you don't want to miss it.
If you guys are excited as I am to start claying,
smash that like button real quick.
Let's get started.
What's up guys?
We're back in the garage, I've got my car parked here.
We've got Nick right here
and we're going to do the next step
of the detailing process.
If you've been following along with this series,
we have learned how to wash a tire,
we have learned how to foam blast a car,
and wash it properly with the two bucket method.
Using dirt traps,
good soaps and wash mitts, - [Nick] Wash mitts,
foam cannons, foam guns.
- Yeah, the next step I will now bring us over to Nick
to find out what that is.
- After watching the vehicle,
this is the time to inspect the paint work on it.
Now Jason's car is fairly brand new
and it's also been routinely taken care of.
It's not necessarily a neglected vehicle
but it still has things that are embedded
in the pores of the paint,
that give it a rough feel and also a slightly rough look.
So today we're going over to the clay bar process
which is basically going to extract
any kind of embedded contaminants
and restore various slick feeling.
And also it's going to prepare us for the next step
of the detailing process.
- [Jason] I have never clay barred anything before-
- Oh yeah?
- [Jason] and I don't know where to start.
For all us noobies out there,
like what are the bare bones minimum products that we need?
- We obviously need a clay bar
and what that is, it's like a sticky putty-like substance.
And what that does is it pulls the junk
that's in the pores of your paint
and also on top of the paint, such as fallout,
tree sap, water spots, or any kind of road grime.
And you also need a lubricant
because if you were to use it dry,
you could potentially scratch it,
or you're, for sure, going to mar the paint
which is just giving it a really cloudy effect,
and then you're going to have to polish it.
And it's also going to damage the clay bar.
What I recommend using is clay luber
that's going to also help lubricate your clay bar
while also giving the nutrients for your clay bar
to last as long as possible.
It is also helps to clean it up at the same time.
So a lot of people ask us if we need to wash the car
or wipe it down after you're using it.
You can just simply use a clean microtowel,
wipe off the excess.
- Great, so we need a clay bar, we need a clay luber,
and a microfiber towel,
right? - That's it.
- That's it, simple.
You guys could do that at home, right?
Let's do this.
- Yeah!
- [Jason] Make sure you get your pushups in, folks.
This is how Nick keeps those pythons snaking.
- Snaking.
- So we were in the store
and we picked up the light clay bar.
We picked up some clay luber
which reminds me of my pal, Larry Clay Luber.
- My name is Larry Clay Luber
and I got something special for you, oh boy do I ever!
- And we got a couple green workhorse microfiber towels.
Now Nick, I do have a question for you, sir.
When we were selecting clay bars,
there were a lot of different types
and I don't really know the difference.
So why did we go with the light clay bar today?
- That's a good question.
So we have a light, an OG, a medium, and a heavy clay bar.
And the reason with that is because every vehicle
is different which means
that their needs are going to be different.
And just like when you're polishing,
you need to choose the correct combination
of pad and chemical.
It's the same thing with the clay bar
because it's just a tool.
So since your car is fairly new and it's pretty clean,
we went with the least aggressive approach,
which is the light clay bar. And what that's going to do is
it has the least amount of tack,
which means that's not going to be as aggressive as say,
the heavy clay bar where it really digs deep
and really pulls things out of the pores,
the paint on cars that are really oxidized
or neglected vehicles.
And in that case, you'd probably just have to polish it
but since this is the light one,
we can just simply clay it and move on to the next step.
- [Jason] Sounds good to me.
When we use this clay, what is the first step?
- So the first thing is we obviously have a full bar here,
and what we want to do is cut this up or tear this apart
into sections that we can manage,
because just like a piece of gum, if you drop this,
you have to throw it away
because it'll collect any kind of rocks
or anything on the ground
and if you put that on your vehicle,
you're just asking for scratches.
What I recommend doing is you can either tear this
or cut this into three sections.
then you're going to roll this and knead this into a pad
that covers about three fingers.
And then you can move on to the actual clay bar process.
We're going to first spray the vehicle, spray your hand,
and then spray the bar, and then gently work back and forth.
And as you work, it's going to start off kind of rough
or it'll sound kind of rough.
But as you pull things out of the pores of the paint,
it'll start to get smooth, it'll get quiet.
And that's when you'll know when to move on.
And then afterwards you can wipe it off
and then check your work.
- [Jason] Nice.
So that rough sound is just the contamination on my paint?
- Exactly, yeah.
- [Jason] And when it's rough, we're not scratching it,
Right or?
- It's absorbing it into the clay bar,
which is the great thing about a clay bar
is the softness of that.
That's where, again, it goes back to using a light.
The density of it is what safely encapsulates anything
in the pores of the paint, all that kind of junk.
And it's trapping inside of the clay bar.
And then as you roll, it's going to basically trap it inside
And then you can keep doing that
until basically you can't find a clean side.
And that's when you need to replace your clay bar,
which is another question we get here is
how many cars can one clay bar, basically, decontaminate?
And one, it depends on the size of the vehicle
and also the level of contamination.
But if you can continue to roll this
until you can't find a new side,
that's when you know when it's time to replace it
or obviously using a new piece.
- [Jason] Cool, so I guess I will hand the camera to you
and try to take a piece off of this thing.
- Break you off a piece of that clay bar, bar.
- [Jason] Break me off a piece of that cam guy's bar, boom.
So I'm opening this up
and it seems like there's some plastic on here.
Is this just for protection,
like so you know it's brand new clay bar?
- [Nick] Exactly, that'll keep the clay bar
from getting dirty
or sticking to the inside of the clamshell.
- So I'll pop that in here.
- [Nick] Yeah, you just tear up a little piece.
- Tear off a piece, what if this thing is alive, Nick?
What if this has feelings?
- [Nick] Then be gentle?
- Hey guys, what's up?
It's me Clayman, I'm going to help you clay your car.
Remember to keep me nice and lubricated.
- Yeah, I could hear it screaming right now.
"You're tearing me apart Nick!"
- [Nick] Oh is that your James Dean impression
or is that Tommy Wiseau impression?
- That is the worst Tommy Wiseau impression ever.
But Tommy get at me, man, I love you.
Is this big enough or do you think more?
- [Nick] That should be good to start.
- Good to start?
Now I have this piece, what do I do with it?
- [Nick] So roll it up into a small ball
and then you're going to flatten that up into a disc
and it needs to cover at least two fingers, maybe three.
- Okay, so I got it into ball.
Now I squish it, flatten it out.
I'm just kind of like pressing, kind of palming it.
Is this a good technique?
I don't know, it feels like it's doing okay.
- [Nick] You can do that or just basically like squeeze it.
- Oh, like two fingers like this?
- [Nick] Yeah, there you go. - Smush it? Okay.
Making a disc, right?
- [Nick] Making a small pizza pie.
- A little pizza pie!
So I got this piece of clay.
- [Nick] Right, and you can feel how it's kind of sticky,
right? It sticks to your hand. - It's very tacky.
I feel like it's already getting dirty
with the oils from my fingers.
Should I be wearing gloves for this?
- [Nick] You can, that'll help kinda prevent
a kinda cross contamination.
Or if you wash your hands,
it's pretty much doing the same thing, you'll be all right.
- Okay.
- [Nick] So now you want to start lubricating the surface
and you can lubricate your hand.
- Okay, so in that case,
what I'm going to do
(laughs)
right now is introduce a whole,
introduce a truck.
There's a truck, introduction complete.
What I'm going to do is introduce a whole new level
of the chemical guys noobie right now,
noobie vision.
Now you guys can see, first person, what I'm actually doing.
So I'm going to put this camera on a tripod
somewhere over here,
so you get the wide angle of everything
and you're going to get newbie vision.
Wow!
Okay guys, so you should be able to see me on that camera
and you should be able to see,
Oh my gosh it's me, it's my hands.
What's going on? This is crazy.
You should be able to see Nick and all the lights.
Okay, so what I'm going to do now is take this clay luber
and I'm a righty, so I'm going to probably spray
this into my right hand.
And I can just spray directly into my hand?
- [Nick] Yep, perfectly fine.
- [Jason] Cool.
One spray, a couple of sprays, a couple of sprays.
- [Nick] You can spray the top half of your hand
and basically the bottom half
'cause you don't want to stick to you obviously so-
- [Jason] Yeah, cool. - [Nick] there you go.
Flip that over.
- [Jason] And then, flip this guy-
- [Nick] And spray the surface.
- [Jason] How much should I be spraying, just like-
- [Nick] You want to be generous with this
because there's nowhere, really,
if it does pick up something really abrasive,
there's nowhere for it to go. So you want it to glide.
So basically you want to spray the surface a few times
and then as you go, it'll kind of get dry,
so you spray it little bit more, a little bit more.
- [Jason] So just like that and then just start rubbing?
- [Nick] Yup, just the way your hand,
maybe a little bit more,
just so you can actually kind of dig in there.
And then, yeah, that's about it.
- [Jason] Yeah, I definitely feel it's a little abrasive,
but at certain points in the spray,
it feels like it's gliding more than others.
So it's like right here, it got stuck,
but that's probably because I didn't lube it, right?
- [Nick] Exactly, it probably hit a dry spot.
- [Jason] So you kinda just spray liberally
as you're going, right?
- [Nick] And you want to work, you can do section by section.
Like a two foot by two foot section.
I'll work my way from the center and work out, just so that
I'm not leaning too much. - [Jason] Well, I guess
my first question with this is,
how do I know what I'm doing?
How do I know what I've done?
- [Nick] Go by feel and basically-
- [Jason] You just go by feel?
- [Nick] Yeah, unless you can really see
some heavy contaminants or over-spray,
the only way to really know is just by feel.
- Do you have any pro tips in terms of how to get this done?
Like you said, should I just hit a small section first
and kinda crosshatch it,
so I know exactly what I've hit or?
- [Nick] Yeah, that's a good tip to use,
about the two by two foot section,
crosshatching will ensure that you haven't missed any spots.
And you can always just wipe off, and then check your work,
and then come back and fix any areas that you missed.
Because 9 times out of 10, you can clay a car
and there's always going to be areas
that feel a little bit rough
because the way that contamination falls.
So maybe you have to redo some areas, that's fine.
- [Jason] Okay, I do see some like brown
or dirty liquid running off while I'm doing this.
- [Nick] Exactly, so that's just the junk
you're pulling out.
So sometimes you can actually see a visible line
or ridge on the clay bar where all the dirt is collecting.
But on a relatively new car, a cleaner car,
it's not really that obvious.
- [Jason] There's definitely some stuff in here.
Seeing some,
some dirty stuff in here. - [Nick] There you go,
yeah, that's dirty.
- So when that happens, do I want to keep rubbing
that on my car or does it matter 'cause it's lubed up?
- [Nick] You still want to probably roll it and knead it,
just to find that fresh side
because just like with anything, throwing dirt back on it
is just potential to harm the paint.
So rolling it and kneading it
will allow you to use a fresh side.
- [Jason] Okay.
- [Nick] So we're not grinding it into the paint work.
- [Jason] I'm going to knead this new side here.
- And you can also use this on your glass or your wheels.
Basically, anything that's shiny, painted, or clear.
All this kind of stuff is exposed to elements like tree sap,
or water spots, grime
that collects in there from daily driving.
And this will remove it and give you a next step
into the detailing process.
Whether it's applying a coating
or if you're going to go through a paint correction,
it's gotta be clayed first.
Also a lot of people wonder like,
"Do you have to clay bar a brand new car
or cars off the lot?"
And the answer is also yes
because they're not born on the lot.
They obviously have to go through
some kind of transportation
where they're exposed to fallout.
So yeah, it's important to clay it
no matter what you're doing.
- And how often should you be claying?
Is this a once a week thing, once a month thing?
- Once a week would be a... - As necessary?
- Yeah, as necessary is what I would say
'cause I mean, again, the clay bar is just a tool.
So it's not something you need to use
every time you wash the car,
but depending on how the car is maintained
or if it sits outside a lot,
it could determine how much you actually need to clay it.
But probably once a year at least, depending on
if it's waxed, or sealed, or if it sits outside.
But once a year is probably just a good rule of thumb.
- [Jason] How do I know when I'm done?
- [Nick] Basically, the car will start to feel really smooth
or you're not collecting anything else on your clay bar.
So what you want to do is take a clean towel
and then you can wipe off the excess clay luber,
and you can check your work.
- Sounds good.
So with this, any particular techniques,
just a nice rolling wipe
or? - [Nick] Yeah, exactly.
Same thing when you're using a quick detailed spray
or anything like that.
You just want to roll the towel
because there's a good chance that you've collected
all the dirt and stuff like that.
But if there is something on there,
this is just a precaution
that we're not grinding it back into the paint work.
So rolling the towel will create a fresh edge.
And it's also making your drying process easier
because that fresh edge is a lot easier to pick up material
or spent product.
And you can always flip it over and buff off
for a dry streak-free finish.
But now's the time to start looking for scratches
or potential any marring that was caused from the clay bar.
You can also see areas that you may have missed.
Sometimes the towel drag
or it'll come across something that was embedded in there.
And he could feel it in the fibers.
So now it's just the time to inspect.
The paint feels relatively smooth,
it looks really glossy to me.
- I'm watching you, watching me, watch you, filming me.
What? (beep)
So I guess what that means
is now we're going to move on to the whole car.
But what that also means is it's montage time.
And we got some comments from you guys on the last one.
And it seems like the biggest comment
or the biggest suggestion for the montage this time
would be an epic action montage.
So here it is, your epic clay barring montage.
In three, two (finger snaps).
(dramatic upbeat music)
(air whooshes)
(whip lashes)
We gotta keep this clay lubed up to maximum wetness
or else the car is going to explode.
- Time to take out the contaminants.
- Nick, quick, clay me!
Clayman, - Oh!
- don't let go, hold on! - Oh! Don't let go!
- I got you.
Ah, I can't pull you up, - It's too hard, Jason.
- You're so heavy. - Wait, there's a bee.
What's he doing?
Ow, ow, ow, he stung me!
I'm getting weak - I'm going to drop you!
I can't hold on.
- Go on without me (squeals)
- Tragic, he has so much more claying left on him.
- [Computer] Lubrication insufficient,
car will self-destruct.
- All right, guys, there you go.
You didn't specify if it was a serious action montage
or a comedy action montage.
We opted for the latter and hope you enjoyed that.
Leave your comments down below
to let us know what the next montage should be
for the next video.
So we're done claying, we sadly dropped some clay.
We lost our buddy, the Clayman.
And he's okay though, he's-
- I was just acting guys.
- Well, he's not okay, he's dead so (laughs).
- Yes, never reuse clay after you dropped it on the ground.
Because again, it collects all the kinda grime
off the ground and you put it back on your car
and it's definitely going to scratch it.
Doesn't matter if you're using on chrome, wheels,
glass paint, it's going to scratch it.
So never reuse a clay bar that you've dropped, Jason.
- Yes I did, during that sequence,
ask Nick if it was okay.
"Oh, come on, we could reuse the clay.
It's fine, I can knead it into a new spot, it'll be okay."
But even as I was kneading the clay,
I could feel all the particles and all the dirt on there.
So you definitely don't want to use that
because you will scratch your car.
And look at this car, it looks really nice now.
It's very shiny, you can see
there's really no contaminants left on it.
You guys saw a lot of that dirt
that was coming off of there.
And what was that, Nick?
Because I did use a quick detail spray
before we clayed this but I didn't do a full wash.
Is that what it is? - that's right, yeah.
So it's recommended that you wash the vehicle
as thoroughly as possible
before you do the clay work process
because again, anything that's on the surface,
even if it's getting trapped in the clay bar,
it still has the potential to scratch.
So give your car the best wash before you do this process,
just so you're not damaging the finish.
- [Jason] Cool, with that being said, we're prepped
for the next step, right?
- That's right, one of many steps to come.
So guys again, if you liked today's video,
be sure to give it a thumbs up,
drop your comments down below for future videos
or anything else you want to see done to this Veloster.
Tune in next time for the next step
of the detailing process.
And we'll see you guys later.
- And there you have it guys, that was an epic episode.
Thanks so much for watching.
Thank you for your suggestions.
Definitely throw those down in the comments.
Smash that like button if you had as much fun as I did.
It's really easy to clay your car.
If you've been afraid to do it, just go get the products.
You're fine, it's super simple.
You need three things, clay bar, microfiber towel,
and some clay luber and make sure you really lubricate
both the clay bar itself and your car.
I found that the clay was sticking a lot
to certain areas of my car
and that's only because I didn't lubricate it enough.
As long as you do that,
you hit both sides of it and you spray everywhere,
you should be good to go.
Just be careful though because it can get really slick
and you don't want to drop it
'cause you'll mess up your clay bar.
I definitely dropped the clay like twice
and (chuckles) it was a sad day.
That clay will be missed.
If I can do it, you can do it.
So definitely go to chemicalguys.com
and pick up those products today
and you'll be claying in no time.
We'll see you next episode.