When you “clay bar” a car, you are literally taking a lump of clay and “scrubbing” the exterior painted surfaces of the car. A lubricant is used in the process (soapy water or a liquid spray wax - my personal favorite), keeping the clay from sticking to the car and increasing the performance of the product. When the clay is used, the contact surface is so smooth and flat that it creates more surface contact than any buffer or hand towel can. This close contact is what provides the clay with the ability to remove surface contaminants like industrial fallout. The clay absorbs the contamination and does not transfer it back to the car.

At the end of the job your paint is left super clean and ready for the best wax application possible. If you do not clay the car and still wax it, you may notice little white specs on the car. This is where the fallout traps the wax. I have never felt a finish so smooth and seen a wax job as good as I have after a thorough clay job. You will be amazed at the results!

This is a job you can do yourself but I do not recommend it unless you have done it a few times already. The clay traps everything that it contacts so picking something up that will scratch your car is a real possibility. It is time consuming as well.

This is a process that is used in conjunction with buffing, but it doesn't always accompanies just buffing. If you want this process done, it is best to ask specifically for it.

If you do it on your own, I do recommend using a liquid spray wax. The job is cleaner and, I think, better. As for the clay itself, just use a high quality product and you will be happy. I recommend pretty much anything that you find at Griot’s Garage. They do a great job with their products.

Happy clay bar, people! Put some diapers in your car because the finish will be Baby Butt Smooth!

It is finally spring time! The sun is shining a little more, the air smells a little more fragrant, the insects have multiplied, and the birds have started to return. For your car, spring can be a mixed blessing. 

While here in the northwest the harsh weather begins to calm, allowing some reprieve to your cars paint, the bird and insect life is just getting into full swing. These two creatures can launch an all-out assault on the exterior of your car. Between the seemingly infinite number of bugs in the air and the metric tons of bird poop that rains from the sky, we recommend a diligent and attentive approach to your car’s paint.

We all know that bird poop is first and foremost gross, then ugly, and finally harmful. It is especially acidic. Bird droppings contain significant amounts of Uric acid with a pH of 3-4.5 (that’s pretty high). Its so high that it not only can eat through the paint on your car but can dissolve building materials! Pardon the language, but you do not want that sh#* on your car! If left long enough, it will ruin the finish.

Surprisingly, bugs can be just as harmful to your car. When a bug is unlucky enough to have its final resting place on your front bumper, fenders, or hood, the resulting juices will leave a lasting impression if not cleaned soon enough. If left too long, the bug actually etches the paint and the body of the bug begins to sink into the clear coat. This leaves a permanent spot in your paint you can not only see, but feel with your finger.

Have no fear, however! Both of these menaces can be easily cleaned right away. All you need is a mild soap and water mix. Even a mild glass cleaner will easily lift the stuff off of your car. Wipe it off with a micro fiber towel and you are good to go! The bugs may take a little more scrubbing but they will come off if they are fresh.

You can also give yourself a little insurance by making sure that your car always has a good coat of wax on it. This will provide a less sticky surface making cleaning easier and adds one more layer of protection.

Drive clean and enjoy the sun!

Most cars are painted in a two-stage process. After the primer is cured the first stage is applied. This is the basecoat - the actual color of the car. Once the proper number of coats is applied, the second stage begins. This is the clear coat. This is the final stage that gives your base coat a shine and a layer of protection. So, once the job is complete you essentially have three layers between you and the metal of your car. Ok, now on to scratches.

Scratches come in many forms. Some appear to be swirls, some appear white or are discolored, and others go all the way to the paint. All of these can be addressed and repaired to varying degrees.

There is a general rule that you can easily use to see what your scratches will need in the way of repair. If you drag your fingernail across the scratch and it catches, the scratch is usually too deep to buff out. Otherwise, a combination of cutting and buffing can be employed to fix the scratch because this generally means that the damage is limited to the clear coat.

Cutting and buffing are two separate techniques. “Cutting” means a wool pad on a buffing machine is used to “cut” down some of the clear coat to smooth out the edges and spread out the scratch. This process actually eliminates the scratch, where as light buffing and waxing tend to only temporarily fill the damage and hide it. Buffing is then used to polish out the damaged area making the scratch disappear for good.

There are some times when wet sanding or “color sanding” is used to repair deeper scratches. This technique is very sensitive and should only be done by a professional. It is very easy to do more damage if you have never done this before. This will usually make the scratch disappear or minimize it to the point where you are happy with it. Again this is usually only used on scratches that are very aggressive.

Finally, when the scratch is all the way down to the metal, you are left with two options. Touch-up or re-paint. Touch-up is a great alternative to expensive re-painting although is not perfect. You will still be able to see the damage but the color will be the same and the metal will be protected. It is also important to understand that no amount of sanding and buffing will make this repair appear any better than a touch up job.

Each scratch is unique, and we are happy to answer any questions you may have. We will offer honest and thorough answers that are beneficial to you. Please feel free to call us at 253.474.7274 or comment below - we're here to help!

At some point in the life of your car you are very likely to have to replace your windshield. Somewhere between the rock chips and the aging of your car, you come to the point of needing a replacement.

The biggest reasons for replacements are rock chips that are left un-repaired. Rock chips allow air and moisture in to the glass and when they expand and contract, breakage is always the result. Repairing the chip glues the cracking in place and seals off air and moisture.

A less well known, but still common, reason for replacement is simply due to age. As the car ages so does the urethane that anchors the glass in place. The glue begins to fail and allows water to start corroding the seal and the metal frame. This usually is isolated to much older vehicles but has been seen in newer ones where the initial installation was not done properly.

When replacing, it is of the utmost importance to use high quality materials and techniques.  If someone decides to cut corners, the job will eventually have to be redone. You cannot install a windshield with a half effort and not expect to see the customer come back with complaints. Technicians who carelessly remove and install can damage the headliner, the plastic moldings in the interior, or even damage the paint causing serious rust issues in the future. Never settle for less than high quality installations.

At The Car Bar, we start with highly trained and skilled technicians. They are knowledgeable and careful to treat your car as if it were their own. We use only high quality glass, urethane and moldings to insure the proper installation. Our belief is that it should be done right the first time; this saves both the customer and us time and money allowing us to give the best price we possibly can. We want you to leave happy and confident in your glass.

On the rare occasion there is an issue (we are only human) we address it without question. Our customers drive our business. They are the only reason we open our doors. Your happiness and satisfaction are our top priorities. We want your glass business, and when you use us, you will never want to go anywhere else. You are far more important to us than our bottom line.

As technologies and techniques advance, we are finding that we can make the vast majority of our customers with very large dents very happy with paintless dent repair. We can save hundreds if not thousands of dollars for our customers. The process for this type of repair varies greatly, as each large dent requires a completely unique approach. It takes a skilled and creative technician to make the repair correctly. The Car Bar has just such technicians.

I always tell my customers to come see me first. You never know how much damage we could repair and even better, how much money we can save you! I am confident that you will be surprised and happy with our results.

There are some inexpensive ways you can really add value to your car, paintless dent repair being one of the best. When you take the time and effort to remove the dents, it adds incredible value to your vehicle. Cars that still have dents look as though the owner did not care much for the car and may lead the buyer to think that other needs of the car went unnoticed.

Even cars that have had body work can cause buyers to be suspicious of a vehicle's quality, however. When non-factory paint is used, a red flag pops up for many savvy buyers. To have the car painted implies that the car was in an accident, and the customer can become very suspicious of the car and its safety. With paintless dent repair, there is no altering of the cars factory finish.

I believe that it is safe to say that for every dollar of dent repair spent you should at least see two dollars added to the value of your vehicle. The process is quick and can be easily scheduled. Your car will sell more quickly and closer to the price you ask for simply because it looks good, leaving the customer nothing to point out for offering a less than reasonable price.

Paintless dent repair offers a valuable return on your investment, adding to the bottom line of any car sale. Be sure to watch for more posts regarding adding value to your vehicle and please leave a comment with any questions you may have!

The interior must be completely pulled out.Getting under the seats is nearly impossible without removing them first.

Pet hair is tricky. It gets buried in the carpet fibers, collects under seats, and settles into places you never knew existed in your car. If not completely removed, smells and hair will continually plague your car.

A job like this could take you all day. Literally, all day! We are more than happy to take this on for you. This is of those situations where I highly recommend you drop your car off, head home, pour yourself your favorite beverage, and think about how much work you are not having to do at the moment. It’s a great feeling. Give us a call, let us make your life easier and you can have all the credit for the clean car.

First the material must be thoroughly cleaned. I mean the kind of thorough your mom wanted when you cleaned the bathrooms at home. The mold is not just a surface spot, it actually roots itself in to the material and, if not completely removed, can and will come back again. After a cleaning, an enzymatic chemical is applied that eats the remaining organic material. In the last stage the car is dried. When the car is completely dry there is no place for the mold to live so whatever material is left will die and no longer pose an odor or health hazard.

If the mold is severe, the padding must be replaced. Mold loves cool dark places and the padding is a veritable breeding factory. This is a very labor intensive task. The seats must be removed and any console on the floor must be removed as well. This also may require special tools, which means even more work, but it must be done. As always the final step is to dry out the car completely and replace the damaged parts with new ones.

You can take steps to minimize mold damage. Check you carpet regularly for excessive moisture and when you are able, leave your windows cracked a little to allow the moisture to leave the car. This is especially effective when the heater is on. Keep an eye on the trunk as well. Many car owners are not aware of mold in the trunk unless it is used regularly!

When it comes to mold, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That said, sometimes mold just happens and when it does you can always trust The Car Bar to do the job effectively the first time!

Fortunately, there is a solution that is both affordable and effective. It uses the same principles as Paintless Dent Repair, but with a different approach. This is actually a project that you can attempt on your own if you like. If you are mechanically inclined and enjoy taking on projects, you may be able to repair your own bumper with a simple investment of about 2-4 hours (depending on the vehicle).

I am finding that chrome is pretty resilient; it can stand up to pretty extreme temperatures which are great because the metal moves so much easier when it is warm.

The first step in repairing a bumper is to be remove it from the vehicle. This is where you can run into difficulty, especially on trucks with sensors and lights in the bumpers. Once removed, the damage should be relatively easy to access. Heat the metal, making sure to keep an eye on the chrome so that you do not damage or discolor it, and then gently pound out the dent. It sounds fairly easy, but can actually be more challenging than you would think.

Like I said, if you are mechanically inclined this may be something you want to try yourself. However, as with almost all things on your car or truck, there is a risk of damaging parts when you do the work yourself. Ultimately, I'd recommend you bring it by The Car Bar for this repair. The results will be professional and you do not run the risk of smacking your knuckles on the frame - this hurts a lot, trust me!

I priced out new bumpers for a 2005 Chevy 1500 and a 2005 Ford F150 just to see what an average bumper would cost. Both trucks ran just shy of $400 for the rear bumper and the front bumpers were around $350. And these were just simple bumpers - if you were to add sensors and lights the price goes up quite a bit. Our prices for bumper repairs range from $150-$250, depending on the damage and how difficult the bumper is to remove. As you can see, this is a great alternative to replacement and, as always, your satisfaction is guaranteed!

When a person smokes in a vehicle the cigarette releases a bunch of chemicals into the car, such as Formaldehyde, Ammonia, Acetone, Tar and Carbon Monoxide (to name a few). These chemicals embed themselves and attach to the fibers of the carpet and sink into the pores of the leather and vinyl. So, as you can see now, the odor is everywhere and only an extremely thorough cleaning will help.

To remove these chemicals you need to use a solvent to break down their bond with the materials in the car, otherwise you are just scrubbing them in deeper. The problem with store bought chemicals is they do not always have the solvents necessary to clean the material and the perfumes they use simply trick your nose until they wear out and then you are back to square one. Even using the correct cleaning agents won’t always completely remove the odor. That is where the ozone machine comes in.

This machine creates a chemical reaction inside the car that eliminates the odor. The machine saturates the air with oxygen molecules and these molecules combine with the odor causing molecules to neutralize them. (Think of it as using Oxyclean for the surfaces in your car.)

The solvents used in successfully removing odors are quite aggressive, and if you are not experienced you could really damage the interior of your car. They also require a fair amount of safety equipment to use them properly. At The Car Bar we use a commercial grade shampoo followed by a spirits based solvent. They are so effective that the rags actually will turn brown from all the tar that is removed! Once the car is cleaned, an ozone machine is placed inside for 12-24 hours based on the severity of the odor. We want to make sure the job is done right, so if for some reason you still smell smoke, we fix it no questions asked. We stand by our work and are confident in the quality of our results.

So, whether it’s a New Years’ resolution to quit smoking, you just bought a used car, or someone decided to use your car as an ash tray we can make your smoke issue disappear for good! On a more general note, before we wrap this post up, we want to touch a bit on the purpose of our blog. Our goal is to offer solutions to many kinds of car care topics. If you have a question you'd like us to address, just ask! We are happy to answer any and all questions you may have. At the same time, we are are also more than happy to take on your project if you do not have the time or equipment, or are simply not comfortable doing it on your own. So please, ask us a question on our Facebook page, Twitter, via a comment on our blog, or via e-mail!