[Teemo Panda]

Hey guys,

I have a 12 f25 35i in Metalic Black.
I do my own hand washing on the car. When I get my car services, I tell them to strictly not to wash my car, and also placed 4 signs that says: DO NOT CAR WASH, by owner, on top of the hood, hang one in the vent, sticker one on the driver side mirror and one at the side right of my rear window.

So yea, I am paranoid on taking care of my baby and not being molested by those people that dosent care if they scatched it or not.

Right now, I'm using the original Products from BMW.
Since I have the car for four months now. there is a lot of residue buildup onto the cars paint and I'm thinking to wax my car but before I wax my car I want to remove those particles that are still there after the car wash. can you guys suggest a clay bar that is safe for cars finish?

Thanks a lot!

[paul386]

I would imagine the BMW stuff is just an overpriced version of what they sell at Walmart... I use the Turtle Black Box or something like that.

[ando]

My X3 is my second Jet Black BMW. I agree proper washing is essential. I prepare my car with clay like you suggest but get Meguiars Clay kit at Target. I then follow with Klasse All In One. I imagine the BMW products are very good just never tried them. I learned about Klasse from a fellow bimmerpost member under the E90 section. Great advice.

[sard]

Just use any mild cut one..

http://www.detailersdomain.com/The-U...Kit_p_345.html something like that

[gareth3685]

My personal advice is to avoid clay bars.

I used one once and it picked up a tiny piece of grit from the bodywork and then proceeded to scratch the next area I used it on.

I'm sure in the right hands they give great results but its quite easy to do damage with them.

[bluesmachine]

I clay my cars about 2 or 3 times a year and go with Griots Clay bar using their Speed Shine on freshly washed car and i've had great, great results.

Griots gives great, simple directions and after a wash and a clay your car is really ready to be waxed. My wax holds for quite a while using this simple method.

For washing I used PS21 products (their wheel cleaner as well)

For the clay i go with Griots and Speed Shine

For waxing I go back to PS21 and their paste wax.

Sometimes people wash thier cars after that clay but i've always done it in the three steps.

Hope this helps.

[turbotoy4me]

Hello,
There is an extensive discussion with several very good systems and products that others in the forum use to care for thier new X3's. I found this thread to be extremely helpful when I purchased my X3 and was looking for the best car care techniques.

Hope this helps.

http://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showth...hlight=washing

[JoeyO]

I'd recken any clay bar by Mequires or Mothers would be safe. They're easily found at Advance Auto or Pep Boy stores.

They often come with their own expensive lubricant, but I've found that just regular soapy and sudsy water acts as a pretty good lubricant for the clay bar to glide over your car's surface. So I just clay bar and wash the car at the same time. But I only clay bar about once a year.

[Jan van Zyl]

Have just spent 2 hours reading the thread and posts. Strange that it popped to the fore now that I suddenly also developed a deeper interest in detailing...Thank you for all the info. Seems a very nice summary. I know there's still a lot on the e90 forum - but will leave that for another day. Seeing some of the pics here it can only inspire me to be like the "Avis" girls: try harder!!

[renderfarmer]

Obviously they're biased, but if you go on autogeeks.net and initiate an online chat with one of their reps they can steer you towards a good product in any category. They haven't steered me wrong yet.

[LEDZEP]

Originally Posted by gareth3685

My personal advice is to avoid clay bars.

I used one once and it picked up a tiny piece of grit from the bodywork and then proceeded to scratch the next area I used it on.

I'm sure in the right hands they give great results but its quite easy to do damage with them.

You must thoroughly wash and dry the vehicle before using clay. This is user error.

Originally Posted by bluesmachine

I clay my cars about 2 or 3 times a year and go with Griots Clay bar using their Speed Shine on freshly washed car and i've had great, great results.

Griots gives great, simple directions and after a wash and a clay your car is really ready to be waxed. My wax holds for quite a while using this simple method.

For washing I used PS21 products (their wheel cleaner as well)

For the clay i go with Griots and Speed Shine

For waxing I go back to PS21 and their paste wax.

Sometimes people wash thier cars after that clay but i've always done it in the three steps.

Hope this helps.

+1 Griot's Garage clay bar and Speed Shine as lubricant. I also skip the "after wash", but do a full Speed Shine wipe and buff afterwards to remove any residue from the clay.

If you haven't used a clay bar before, go to Griot's website (no matter what brand you wind up using) and watch the instructional video. I would also recommend practicing on a small less conspicuous area (better yet, another car) to get the feel and hang of it. The basic key is - lots of lubrication. Don't spare the Speed Shine!