While the clay bar is an important car detailing tool, Zep Vehicle Care senior vehicle care specialist Roman Diaz says the biggest challenge is educating customers on the importance of a contaminant-free vehicle prior to a wax or polish service. When a customer asks for a hand wax, Diaz recommends service advisors educate customers about the importance of claying the vehicle before waxing to remove contamination first.

Diaz also recommends service advisors explain what happens to the vehicle if contaminants are not properly removed prior to waxing the car and to physically show customers how much of a difference clay bars make in removing those surface contaminants on their vehicles.

“Most customers don’t know how much contamination is on their vehicles because you can’t really see or feel all these deeply embedded contaminants,” says Diaz. Instead, he recommends service advisors demonstrate this by claying a small section of the vehicle’s surface area. He then tells service advisors to provide customers with cellophane wrap for their fingers, such as gum wrappers, which provide extra sensitivity to feeling those embedded contaminants. Once the customer rubs his or her finger over the clay bar-treated surface versus the area that was not clay bar treated, Diaz says customers immediately notice the smoother surface, and most of the time customers will purchase this extra service.

Read more on this topic here.