Buying Clay

I haven't seen just the clay in an automotive store. You'd have to order it online. With Claymagic being only $10 with lubricant, you might as well just spring for that at a local auto parts store.
 
Somewhere else I came across a thread discussing that the man-made modeling clay you buy at art stores and the like is the same as the clay we use on our cars. You buy only the clay, and for a significantly lower price. Never tried it myself.
 
foxtrapper said:
Somewhere else I came across a thread discussing that the man-made modeling clay you buy at art stores and the like is the same as the clay we use on our cars. You buy only the clay, and for a significantly lower price. Never tried it myself.
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I'm too lazy to find the thread right now, but it said just the exact opposite. The clay we use on our cars carries a specific patent and the clay one might buy in a craft store is not the same. DavidB explained this one very well in that thread.
 
You can buy a medium grade Detailers Clay bar from Autopia Car Care (not sure of the web address...)
 
Greg said:
I'm too lazy to find the thread right now, but it said just the exact opposite. The clay we use on our cars carries a specific patent and the clay one might buy in a craft store is not the same. DavidB explained this one very well in that thread.
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Like I said, it was somewhere else that this conversation was. It was about the synthetic modeling clays and the content of plasticising agents in them as a function of their curing ranges. Wish I could remember the specifics. The person had chased down some information from the MSDS sheets of various clays, and used them himself. Made a mental note of it, and that's all I recall on the subject.
 
You can use water (I would suggest you mix car wash concentrate to provide lubrication)
 
Found the thread on using modeling clay. Wasn't exactly as I recalled, but very close. Here's the gist of it from a few comments.



I used Premo clay the last time I detailed my truck. There are several different types of clay used for crafts. I found that the higher the baking temperature on the side of the package, the more plasticizers are in the clay making it better for our application.

There are some clays out there that leave a residual on the surface. They don't harm the surface, but it's extra work to scrub off the clay.

I use Meguiar's Quick Detailer when I clay my rig. Mother's works well, too. I didn't like Meguiar's clay because it dried out too quickly and wasn't as maleable as Mother's. The Premo clay is nearly identical to Mother's and produces the same results. Another cool feature about craft store clay is that you can get in different colors.



and



The more plasticizers, the more the clay feels like plastic rather than clay. A low temp clay (say 245°) will be softer than a 275° clay. You can feel the difference in your fingers. The low temp clay will leave a residue on your fingers, the high temp won't. Low temp clay tends to dissolve with the detailing mist. Typically, a bar of clay from a craft store costs $1.50 around here. The highest I've paid was $2.30. A helluva bargain if you just want to experiment with different compounds.
 
Since I keep my car pretty darn spotless I only use clay usually once a year after the winter has ended to remove all the embedded crap that might have embedded itself after a rough winter. I cant really see the need to buy alot of it and pay shipping costs so I just spring for the clay magic at the local pep boys.
 
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