AutoMagic Products

[DM101]

I checked out their web site Auto Detailing Product Specials - Auto Magic (http://www.automagic.com/cart/hot-specials.htm) and it looks like they have some nice products for a reasonable price.



Has anyone used their products????

[wascallyrabbit]

i have only used their clay.

[Scottwax]

Their clay (aka Clay Magic) is good, the rest of their stuff is geared towards high volume shops.

[mikenap]

I think Fermani has a lot of experience with them, maybe he`ll chime in. I`ve heard good things about their MAGnificent Wheel Cleaner, and I`ve also heard BC-2 praised for it`s filling abilities, if that`s what you`re after.

[David Fermani]

Clay Magic is good stuff for sure. I also like Magnificent wheel cleaner, Spoke, Hydro Shine, EZ Clean carpet shampoo, & Enzyme Pre-Spot.

[Ron Ketcham]

And, any clay one purchases in the US is made by the Clay Magic Company, spin off of Auto Wax, which, this gets interesting, they sold out, and AutoWax (AutoMagic) was purchased by Illinois Tool, a comgolmate out of Chicago.(They own close to a hundred companies under their umbrella)

The owner of AutoWax kept the patent, etc to the clay and had already set up the ClayMagic Company, with which he defended his questionalbe patent with a vengence, putting several good auto product blenders out of business.

Grumpy

[David Fermani]

I didn`t think Clay Magic manufactured clay, just had the distribution rights to it here? Isn`t it made in Japan by someone else?



Talk about a golden parachute for Davie boy! Sell out for big bucks and then the company takes a nose dive. Who knows what will happen to AW after the pattents run out???

[Ron Ketcham]

Nope, once David got the patent thing handled, he sold AutoWax, no clay and has a big, big ranch in Montana.

The "ClayMagic Co." since they hold the patent for a couple of more years are making most of it right here in the good old USA.

Grumpy

[David Fermani]

It`s been a little while, but I thought all the wrappers had Made in Japan printed on it?



Did you know Rick Schmidt or Bill Doss back in the day?

[C. Charles Hahn]

I didn`t think Clay Magic manufactured clay, just had the distribution rights to it here? Isn`t it made in Japan by someone else?



Talk about a golden parachute for Davie boy! Sell out for big bucks and then the company takes a nose dive. Who knows what will happen to AW after the pattents run out???



I actually talked to Forrest Tosi @ Mothers about this subject and here was his insight:




Auto Magic holds the US Patent on detailing clay. While they make a small amount in Texas, the great majority of clay comes from 2 companies in Japan, and they simply sell it.



Clay is made to vendor`s specs - color, consistency, etc.



The clay patent expires in 2013. What happens then is anyone`s guess, but I`d lean towards a big price decrease as others start making it.



The Japanese companies are much larger than Auto Wax is. They simply buy the clay from the Japanese (2 companies) and resell it here in the US. One of those companies helped Auto Wax set up a small production line in the Dallas area where Auto Wax is, so they can make small runs, but I`d wager it`s less than 10% of what is sold here.



BTW, the original owner of Auto Wax sold it a few years ago to ITW (Illinois Tool Works). It`s a bazillion dollar company that deals primarily in adhesives. If you go to the ITW website (Illinois Tool Works: Global Diversified Manufacturer (http://www.itw.com)) you`ll have to look long and hard to find Auto Wax company in there - it`s a really small part of a really big company now.



AWC doesn`t license those Japanese companies - AWC is just a customer who buys from them.



When you look at total dollars, clay is actually an insignificant part of the appearance chemical business. Tire shines, for example, sell at about 9 times the dollar volume of clay bars. Clay is about 1.5% of the appearance chemical market.

[Bill D]

I just checked --on some old clay I still have it says Made in Japan

[Ron Ketcham]

See what happens when one retires and is out of the daily loop of the industry?

When I retired, I was informed that while AutoWax would continue to source the clay from ClayMagic as part of the sale to ITW, ClayMagic`s business plan was to start producing the majority of volume in the USA.

As far as "volume" one has to address the percentage of profit from a product that is widely sold, with much competition on both a local and national basis, vs the profit in a patented product that most likely has a 300% or more margin.

Let me see, do I want to sell XXX gallons of tire dressing, with large storage required, expensive containers, work out cut throat shipping deals a couple of times a year to distributors, so they can be competitive and keep the brand alive?

Or, do I want to sell less numbers of actual product at a high profit, with less storage costs, packaging, etc and one that the distributor must buy only from you and if they don`t buy enough of the lower margin chemicals, they may lose the right to sell a very high margin product?

You get my drift.

Grumpy

[David Fermani]

When you look at total dollars, clay is actually an insignificant part of the appearance chemical business. Tire shines, for example, sell at about 9 times the dollar volume of clay bars. Clay is about 1.5% of the appearance chemical market.



Wow. I`d love to see the breakdowns both in the retail and bulk markets for all products.

[Ron Ketcham]

Want "real dollars" of sales?

We can`t get them but it would be interesting to see the books of Clay Magic and what they generate in private label sales to so many of the companies that market to most on this site.

That will be the real bucks, not what AutoMagic sells, as they have to buy from ClayMagic.

Grumpy

[Scottwax]

I thought the rights on clay expired in 2012. Damn, another year now before I can get Opti-Clay again.