Mitt/Towel for me. Vast majority of the time I`m "claying" a vehicle, I`m polishing after as well. Saves so much time
Mitt/Towel for me. Vast majority of the time I`m "claying" a vehicle, I`m polishing after as well. Saves so much time
I did a comparison this weekend with a Nanoskin sponge and Meguiars red (aggressive). The traditional clay easily took 4 times more passes to do the same work. I went back over to the sponge side with the traditional clay and couldn`t pick up anything else. While its nice to "see" what you picked up, you can hear when you are done with the sponge, it makes a different sounds. I also bought one of those cheapo knockoff clay mitts from amazon for $10. It works as well as the sponge, but honestly I don`t like the form factor as much.
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Sounds like many people are doing correction after using the mechanical decontamination methods. That`s OK if you can spare the clear and don`t mind doing it, but if there`s not to be any correction, well...that might be a different matter.
I think that`s the issue with either media used to "clay" the surface though. While there is the chance that the "soft" clay will absorb some amount of dirt, the sponge is spoft and has gooves. I wipe mine every few passes as well. Combined with the fact that the sponge gets loaded with QD and literally oozes it out meaning no dragging dry media around. But what do I know, I have rock hard paints and don`t see any marring, maybe some slight hazing if I really keep at it for a long time, but even then it might be imaginary until I get a gloss meter.
Used claybars since the 80`s..
Started using the first one out of the gate, the SM Arnold Speedy Prep Fine grade towel 25 years later..
This towel is of course, easier to use for all the above reasons, but in this Fine Grade, it needs more downward pressure to achieve the same results as the say - the Clay-Magic Blue Claybar..
And of course, any claybar is going to take longer.. But it will knock off the gunk faster.. But then the trade off of smaller footprint, either cleaning the Claybar with Claybar Cleaner or kneading it to a clean spot, etc..
I think for production work - you are Detailing for a living -, the faster you accomplish the task, the better, so the Speedy Prep Fine Grade Towel will take the win in this Shop..
And of course, you can use the Towel after washing and rinsing, with new car wash soap and it won`t hurt it, etc.. Some claybars do not do good with some car wash soaps and want to disintegrate, etc..
Or, you can use a really good claybar lube with the towel and it works great also..
DanF
The only downside to a mitt is that you really can`t see what you`ve removed as it`s in the wash bucket.
Maybe that touches on why my experiences seem different from those of many others. I don`t expect the clay to absorb contamination, I expect it to become sandpaper the instant it picks something up. So I`d *NEVER* clay some big area without kneading/replacing the clay, and I define "big area" as anything larger than maybe a one-inch square. I`d sure never move the clay for two/three inches of uninterrupted pressure because I`d expect it to cause marring. And yeah, that`s why it takes me so long to clay.
The paints on my Ford and Jag correct a *LOT* easier than those on my Audis/Chevy, so they are apparently softer, but as for marring-resistance any differences are insignificant. If I move abrasive contamination across the paint under pressure the result is marring, no matter how hard the paint supposedly is.
Dan- Heh heh, I take the view that decent theories work great in practice But anyhow...I`m hardly getting any contamination these days (don`t clay for years except for spot-claying), I just ASSume that any contamination is harder than my paint.
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Does anyone have any experience with the Griots Brilliant Finish Synthetic Clay ? Thinking about trying it. Thank for any response.
Nanoskin here, also a cheap Chinese knockoff from eBay for a few dollars. Works.
Scott on Dallas Paint Correction did have a horrible result with this. And even after breaking it in on the windows. Think it`s on the video where he demonstrate the water behavior from DPC Armor.
I have not so much of experience with claying in longterm use. But the safest way to clay is the way accumulator mention he does. That is the going over the well lubed spot 1 time and then refold the clay bar. And do so until you have the spot smooth and clean. This is also something I have been wondering if the fine grade clays works against. As if you have contaminants that don`t get the fine grade clay to remove them in one go but you would need to be going over the spot 3-5 times and with a aggressive clay you would only need 1-2 passes to get it removed. I also don`t think it`s a big problem if doing claying 1-3 before you do a light polishing to get other small defects. It was more when the claying got popular and some people started to do it monthly or even extreme cases every wash a full claying. Of course this also depending on the paint you are doing if extremly soft or and extremly thin that you don`t get to correct the paint with a light polish. And also IMO and IME the cleaner you get the paint with both a TFR remover and a tar remover and an iron remover. The less contaminants you have when you clay. And also a big difference to a well maintained vehical than a neglected vehical you get in when you either buy one used or do it for a living and get a new customer.
I have not clayed my car since it was polished 2 years ago. So will be interesting to see how much and if it picks up any contaminants from the paint when it`s going to be polished this spring. The same is with the other car I maintain that it`s not been clayed since I did it 1 1/2 years ago. I have not feeled any roughness on the paint from either car since then. But some contaminants I`m sure it will be picking up when clayed. Time will tell and I maybe get a lot of contaminants removed when claying LOL. It`s seems that with the chemical decon I do that the need of claying has not been something I have been wondering about to do. Maybe I try to clay a spot behind the front wheel and on a horisontall panel the next time I wash and see what the clay picks up
Yes, the milder clays (I`ve liked Sonus SFX for ages but I wasn`t thrilled with the last batch ) it can indeed be hard to remove contamination. I see such clays as being for "claying the LSP clean" and nothing more, and I used them to spot-clay at every wash. I don`t mind going over an area numerous times *as long as each pass is too gentle to mar* (that touches on a related topic about "how often" vs. "how aggressive", but anyhow...).
For anything more tenacious I switch to Smart/Ricardo clay, still trying to "merely clay the LSP clean" and if I compromise my LSP when claying I chide myself for [messing] up, even though sometimes it`s unavoidable.
I do find that my usual LSPs are quite good with regard to shedding contamination. It`s simply not a problem for me these days whereas it was when I used other LSPs.
Yeah, that will be interesting! Especially since I keep thinking to myself that your conditions are *awfully* severe compared to mine. Just because my "claying after years of not" were basically a waste of time, that sure doesn`t mean that yours will be, in fact I suspect you`ll get quite a bit of contamination off.Originally Posted by SWETM
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I have been a fan of traditional clay.
The new Optimum Clay towel has shifted my thoughts tho. It is by far my favorite clay towel on the market.
I used a mitt today on my single stage white 96 Miata. The mitt did a good job at removing a winters worth of embedded dirt and was white when I was finished. Washed it off and it`s good to go. I think real clay would be trashed using it on single stage paint.
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