What lube to use while clay bar the glass/paint?

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Hello folks,

I plan to clay bar windows and windshields before putting Rain-X. I wonder what lubricant one can use?

In future, I plan to clay bar paint as well. Is that different lube for the paint or same one can be used on glass as well as paint?

Many thanks in advance.
 
I usually just use a single edge razor scraper to get the window nearly perfectly clean before treatment just like when they apply window films
 
Originally Posted By: RRich
I've never clayed glass but on painted surfaces water works just fine for me.



Water is not slick enough. You need to use something like soap in there too. Pretty much every clay bar I've ever used says this.

I typically just take a spray bottle, fill with tap water, and put some car wash soap in there. There are clay-specific spray lubricants, too.
 
Later on I am sure the detail experts will chime in about all the special products that are most appropriate for clay lube. I have always just used car wash soap diluted with water at approximately a 1:12 ratio. I don't have any problems that some claim regarding clay bar breakdown and I don't have any problems with paint micro marring. But, my last few Chrysler products have always seemed to have very tough paint (if they could just get everything/anything else right). I have never had to do any paint correction like so many seem to do here (knock on wood,
grin.gif
).

Another difference here in Michigan is that we have copious amounts of water to waste, so we can use hundreds of gallons of water for the wash-rinse-clay-rinse cycles. Maybe the specialty products work better in arid regions.

I do my glass also and it seems to work well. I'm off my podium now.
lol.gif
Michigan has its faults, but I do appreciate the abundance of H2O.

Google "clay lube substitute" for lots of discussions.
 
Originally Posted By: bioburner
I usually just use a single edge razor scraper to get the window nearly perfectly clean before treatment just like when they apply window films


I am going to clean rear windshield as well that has defroster built in (if thats the right description or terminology). I am not too sure how safe is using razor blade there.
 
I use what the others say on here, a bit of car wash soap mixed with water in a spray bottle as my clay lube.

Something I noticed is you have to make sure not to use too much soap in the ratio. If you do it will glide across really well but not actually pick up any of the bonded contaminants. You just need a little so the clay doesn't hang and rip off/smear on to the paint.
 
Originally Posted By: bioburner
I usually just use a single edge razor scraper to get the window nearly perfectly clean before treatment just like when they apply window films


I saw a guy do that one time and the razor blade wasn't brand new and he put fine scratches all over the glass on his nice 2 door Tahoe. Made him sick.
 
The clay bar kits I've purchased use detailing spray as the lubricant. It works well. Obviously, a lot more expensive than the soap and water approach.
 
Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Originally Posted By: bioburner
I usually just use a single edge razor scraper to get the window nearly perfectly clean before treatment just like when they apply window films


I saw a guy do that one time and the razor blade wasn't brand new and he put fine scratches all over the glass on his nice 2 door Tahoe. Made him sick.


Kinda like not using a two bucket system to wash a car and just cycling in more and more grit as you go:( Whats the savings of not using a fresh blade? A nickel? Same with a two bucket system
 
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Good idea. I used the Meguiars detail spray and their claybar. Also I recommend that rather than using Rain-x I'd used the Zano acrylic sealant. Lasts a long time and is perfectly optically clear. The water beads up so fine that I rarely need the wipers.
 
Originally Posted By: WhyMe
plain ol car wash soap. all it needs to do is keep the clay from sticking


agreed
 
He asked for which lube on BITOG and noone said M1.. LOL!

Kidding.

Meguiars quick detail is what I got in my meguiars kit. I liked it alot for that application. Be liberal with the application. I also think diluted car wash soap would work. A good slippery one like Megs Gold class. I don't know about dishwashing soap. I would not recommend a "wash and wax" mix as the wax may coat the clay and mess it up....somehow.
 
Originally Posted By: DBMaster
The clay bar kits I've purchased use detailing spray as the lubricant. It works well. Obviously, a lot more expensive than the soap and water approach.


Is it really? How often do you claybar your vehicle anyway?

I don't understand this impulse to cheap out on Claybar lubricant. Brand X is fine and it only costs a couple of bucks. If you have rinseless carwash you can mix it at 8x -16x normal strength and that works too.
 
I used to use Rain-X glass treatment all the time. It tended to make my wipers skip. Now I use Rain-X washer fluid and silicone wiper blade inserts. Whenever the rain starts I hit the windshield with a quick spray and the silicone wipers, plus Rain-X fluid result in the same water beading and I can pretty much leave the wipers turned off at speed.
 
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
I don't understand this impulse to cheap out on Claybar lubricant. Brand X is fine and it only costs a couple of bucks. If you have rinseless carwash you can mix it at 8x -16x normal strength and that works too.


Wow, never heard of that. The instructions for the stuff I use say to use half an ounce of concentrate to 22 ounces of water for waterless washes, quick detailer and clay lube. With a rinseless wash it states to use 1 ounce of concentrate with 3 gallons of water.

http://www.autogeek.net/ultima-waterless-wash-concentrate.html
 
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I'm curious to know what using a clay bar on glass does to it...doesn't seem like it would do anything...
 
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