I have been seeing alot of car detailing shops in my area using something called a clay bar to clean cars. Everyone I know who has had it done swears by it.....does anyone here have any experiance with this and is it safe on the boat? My detailing guy wants to do my whole boat with the clay bar and I am curious what it is before he does anything.

i use it on my truck , never tried it on the boat, suppose to remove dirt particles in the paint, if your gelcoat is smooth don't worry about it.

i have never seen anything but good with cars, what mwdill said is true, also im not sure how the clay bar would work with the gelcoating

also, i feel bad for your detailer, cause thats alot of work

Works Great On A Boat. We Did A 36 Spectre From Top To Bottem, Really Made A Big Difference.one Of My Best Friends Said The Deck Looks Like Smooth Like Vanela Ice Cream

I guess I will give it a shot....thanx guys for the feedback I will keep you posted on the results in a week or two.

Try it on the bottom 1st for a peice of mind.

For anyone that's used clay bar on gel coat, did it take out any oxidation? I've heard in the past that clay bar wasn't good on gel, but I can't recall why. I'm also wondering if other products are easier and get better results, like 3M Finessit and a high speed buffer.

I've clay bared a couple of cars and still need to do my Excursion (get the rail dust from the transport) and it's a lot of work. First you have to clean it good with a detergent like Dawn,then use the clay bar and sometimes redo parts that you can feel "stuff" still there. But then the surface it left totally stripped so you have to go back and polish and wax. I did one of our cars with all the Zano stuff. It was a lot of work!

Jim,
Our 2002 SD also had rail dust from delivery. Dealer covered it under warrenty, approx 3 months after purchase. If you have not had it done under warranty yet, might check into that. $150 job.

The dust came back 2 yrs later, but dealer wouldn't cover it then, saying it was all removed the 1st time and that we must be exposed to it again. More than likely true.
White truck, most obvious.

Ya, white really shows it. You can see black specs but you can also see the rusty red specs. I hate not to let them fix it but, I don't want the dealer to mess with the finish. I've seen more damage than good. I installed bubba lights (cab roof lights) on my Excursion and when I did, I hit that part of the roof with the clay bar then waxed it. I figured I couldn't get it completly with the lights in the way, besides, I was drilling holes in the roof!!

It's more prevalant on the top of the hood and roof so the hood I can do and the reast of the roof, well, I'll get to it!

I used the clay bar on my boat...results are great. You gotta hold on when crawling out on the deck now.