Grit Guard Patent

[Setec Astronomy]

I notice there seem to be a lot of Grit Guard imitators all of a sudden, which made me wonder if there had been a patent on it which had run out. Sure enough: US7025880B2 - Fluid receptacle and filter system
- Google Patents

Funny how when the clay patents expired, not much changed, I guess because of fallout removers and clay substitutes, not too much interest in clay anymore.

[velobard]

I`ve heard of fallout removers, but clay substitutes? Heck, I`m still using clay. Is that outmoded now as well?

[Setec Astronomy]

I`m not exactly sure how the clay substitutes came about, maybe it was when AutoMagic was stomping out all the clay competition, but there are a whole slew of clay towels, clay mitts/pads/sponges, discs to put on your polisher, that are rubber coated and perform the clay function while being reusable. I wish I could remember the name of the first one that came out, I think David B was selling them here at Autopia. It was a black sponge with the rubber on one side, maybe 3" x 4" x 1.5" thick. Maybe it had the rubber on both sides. Here it is: Clay Block Surface Cleaner | Chemical Guys I forget who makes it but a lot of places were selling it, and things went on from there.

[Ron Ketcham]

Like in the early 90`s and 3M`s patent for waffle foam pads

[Dan]

The nice thing was grit guards were fairly priced unlike clay which was always very pricey. I remember one of my neighbors buying modeling clay to save money...lol.

Weren`t the first clay sponges Nanoskin? I love them though with modern paint sealants I find myself claying a whole lot less.

[Setec Astronomy]

I think Nanoskin was the first brand name to get into it, that one I linked earlier was sold here (Autopia Car Care) as a Sonus product but later ADS was selling it under a different name, I just can`t remember. I`m pretty sure I never bought one, I had (and still do) tons of clay.

Maybe I`m not remembering any of this right, I can`t find any threads about it, however while searching I did find that at least some of David B`s posts are now under the user "Bobby G"; I`m sure that was some sort of forum merge glitch--unless of course David B used that name at TID or DC...hmm.