clay bars

instalher

instalher

New member
is there a good better best brand of clay bars?? I need to replace my old ones and was looking at simonize at Canadian Tire, that was the cheapest brand, Megs was 50% more money, as was Autoglym and Mothers... Can someone with experience point me in the right direction, I will go through 4 bars a yr. so I don`t use them very often...but I noticed some problem issues on my cars paint the other day and a clay bar bath is scheduled for this sunday..
 
I second that recommendation. I have a Nanoskin Autoscrub Medium Grade Mitt, as well as a Fine Grade Mitt. I use the Medium a lot more and would recommend that as a starting point for solving contamination problems. I`ve probably used it on about a dozen entire cars, and it still has a good bit of life left in it, making it a very good value.

Just keep it and similar products away from products like IronX and APCs. Thoroughly rinse the vehicle before you let the polymer come into contact with the car.
 
Noting that I won`t touch my car with a Decontamination Pad/Towel....

What brands of clay are available in Canada? I simply don`t know...

What about the Ricardo/Smart Clay? What about Sonus SFX? Those are the two I like best but they`re not sold everywhere.

Somebody else probably sells the Smart Clay under a different name, no idea whom though.

instalher- I wouldn`t buy clay that I didn`t have good feedback about. The Mothers isn`t bad and IME when I compared them (things change..) was very similar to the Griot`s Garage clay.

I`ve never used the Meguiar`s because so many people used to post negative comments about it. But again, things change.

I wouldn`t buy Simoniz unless I knew who was making it for them and how it compares to others.

AutoGlym makes some good stuff, but a lot of Good Stuff Making Companies have sold clay that disappointed people.

So I wouldn`t buy anything you don`t have a lot of positive feedback on.
 
Not sure whether you can buy it in Canada, but I`ve been using Pinnacle clay for a few years now without having issues.
For clay lube, ONR/distilled works well, mixed a bit "stronger" than the instructions on the bottle suggest.
 
You`re in Canada. We have the best clay bars in North America !
The stuff at Crappy Tire is expensive and second rate, they mostly have Mothers and Meguiars clay bars at $25-$30/ounce in those silly kits.
The Ricardo Yellow clay bars are the most sought after clay bars by American detailers which they cannot buy in the US.
Four bars a year ...Jesus what are you claying ? I use a bar in about 3-4 years for my own car !
 
Meg`s Professional Mild/ Aggressive are the best quality I have found yet. (Never tried the Ricardo.)

Mother`s used to be a nice choice for OTC but they have recently changed the product and the bar is now more grabby and I don`t recommend it at this point.

Forget clay substitutes (nanoskin pads and every other version out there) if you have a dark base color.
 
EdLancer said:
You`re in Canada. We have the best clay bars in North America !
The stuff at Crappy Tire is expensive and second rate, they mostly have Mothers and Meguiars clay bars at $25-$30/ounce in those silly kits.
The Ricardo Yellow clay bars are the most sought after clay bars by American detailers which they cannot buy in the US.
Four bars a year ...Jesus what are you claying ? I use a bar in about 3-4 years for my own car !
Click to expand...


As of a couple of years ago, Ricardo was made available in the US. Autogeek did carry it for a while.
 
I am curious to hear peoples opinions of why they don`t care for clay alternatives? As a rule of thumb its recommended to do a correction step after you use clay or a clay alternative since you can get marring, even if some of the marring is unseen by the naked eye. I have both clay and clay alternatives. The fine speedy prep towel IMO has served me well, even when using it on the soft black trim that is notorious for scratching around my panoramic roof (similar to the pillars around windows). Now my clay towel hasn`t been put through the ringer so as the towel collects more contaminants I am guessing more marring will occur. For the amount of time it saves me, I will just replace it when needed.

Let`s throw a real world example out there. Say you are going to correct a vehicle and you use a medium grade clay alternative that leaves you with some marring. If you know you are going to correct a vehicle and the clay alternative is going to save you a ton of time IMO the trade off is worth it. The marring is going to be corrected with a light polish, so it`s not like you would take a more aggressive approach, which in turn you are not removing any additional paint.

I have had one black car that I worked on that I got marring on with a fine grade towel. If I was not going to correct it, I would have switched over to clay to see if I got different results.

With all that being said do a test panel and see what works and what doesn`t work for you. Inspect the panel before and after, also try different clay lube. All of these options is part of what makes life great.
 
Clay for lengthy details, oven cleaner for quick and cheap details professional detailers use Easy-Off for those $50-$75 jobs !
I have used it even on new Caddy CTS ! ...LoL
 
EdLancer said:
Clay for lengthy details, oven cleaner for quick and cheap details professional detailers use Easy-Off for those $50-$75 jobs !
I have used it even on new Caddy CTS ! ...LoL
Click to expand...

WOW gotta research that one !

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NLove said:
I am curious to hear peoples opinions of why they don`t care for clay alternatives?
Click to expand...

I consider marring far more likely with the Decontamination Towels. If I mar paint with the clays I use I`m *SORELY* disappointed with myself! I basically don`t correct my vehicles any more, at least not on a regular basis and I never need to do a whole-vehicle correction, but I bet I *would* have to do that should I use a Nanoskin/etc. (OR...the wrong clay/claying technique).

I knead/replace my clay after doing a *VERY* small area..might be only a few inches, sometimes not even that much. Once it gets contaminated I consider it "sandpaper" and I don`t want to rub my paint with it. And that`s despite using *LOTS* of lube and a very gentle touch. I really do strive to affect the "glide-and-shear" approach to claying; if I even compromise the LSP I label it a FAIL.

The Decontamination Towels...I simply cannot see how one would avoid marring with them. AFAIK, their instructions even say to *NOT* use them on flat/matte/satin paints because of the likelihood of abrasion. I simply will not instill any unnecessary, additional damage to a vehicle. I only have so much paint to work with before it`s (five-figure) Repaint Time, and I prefer OE paint anyhow.

(Aggressive "detailing" by others has simply ruined two of my vehicles...no need for it to have happened IMO, zero way to fix to my satisfaction, all I can do is try to not let it bother me. Some damage is forever, especially when originality matters.)

NOW...heh heh...where`s the discussion of Chemical Decontamination? Something (literally) foolproof like ValuGard`s ABC system...just do a series of washes and the job`s done with basically no risk of damage. That stuff`s geared towards, uhm... a certain type of employee who`s likely to not take due care (to put it nicely). IF you`re redoing a whole vehicle that can do the job in place of mechanical approaches like clay/decon. towels. I`ve done great on new-to-me vehicles in *HIDEOUS* condition with the Chemical approach, easy as could be too.

EdLancer- Is the Easy-Off safe for all auto surfaces? I thought it needed to be kept off certain things, but then I guess there are a few different versions to choose from. Wonder how it`d stack up against something nasty-but-effective like FK1119 (which might even be off the market now).
 
EdLancer said:
Clay for lengthy details, oven cleaner for quick and cheap details professional detailers use Easy-Off for those $50-$75 jobs !
I have used it even on new Caddy CTS ! ...LoL
Click to expand...
Oven cleaner for embedded contaminates? Who`d have thought? Not me. ;)
 
Thank you all, I appreciate the feed back. I like looking at things from different perspectives.
 
ill go on into Edmonton on Monday and pick up a ricardos clay bar.. with zero issue I will clay my car twice a yr.. but this yr. damn, I have had to clay it 3 times now... once was my own fault.. I got over spray from the paint booth all over the car... That really sucked,, went through a whole bar just on that.... now there is something eles contaminating the car,, when I was waxing it the foam applicator was soujnding rough going over the paint, grabbed the clay and sure enough, got to due the whole car again,, I don`t drive the car its my wifes.. no idea whats on the car this time.. This will be the fouth time in 3 months claying the car!!!!!
 
Accumulator said:
I consider marring far more likely with the Decontamination Towels. If I mar paint with the clays I use I`m *SORELY* disappointed with myself! I basically don`t correct my vehicles any more, at least not on a regular basis and I never need to do a whole-vehicle correction, but I bet I *would* have to do that should I use a Nanoskin/etc. (OR...the wrong clay/claying technique).

I knead/replace my clay after doing a *VERY* small area..might be only a few inches, sometimes not even that much. Once it gets contaminated I consider it "sandpaper" and I don`t want to rub my paint with it. And that`s despite using *LOTS* of lube and a very gentle touch. I really do strive to affect the "glide-and-shear" approach to claying; if I even compromise the LSP I label it a FAIL.

The Decontamination Towels...I simply cannot see how one would avoid marring with them. AFAIK, their instructions even say to *NOT* use them on flat/matte/satin paints because of the likelihood of abrasion. I simply will not instill any unnecessary, additional damage to a vehicle. I only have so much paint to work with before it`s (five-figure) Repaint Time, and I prefer OE paint anyhow.

(Aggressive "detailing" by others has simply ruined two of my vehicles...no need for it to have happened IMO, zero way to fix to my satisfaction, all I can do is try to not let it bother me. Some damage is forever, especially when originality matters.)

NOW...heh heh...where`s the discussion of Chemical Decontamination? Something (literally) foolproof like ValuGard`s ABC system...just do a series of washes and the job`s done with basically no risk of damage. That stuff`s geared towards, uhm... a certain type of employee who`s likely to not take due care (to put it nicely). IF you`re redoing a whole vehicle that can do the job in place of mechanical approaches like clay/decon. towels. I`ve done great on new-to-me vehicles in *HIDEOUS* condition with the Chemical approach, easy as could be too.

EdLancer- Is the Easy-Off safe for all auto surfaces? I thought it needed to be kept off certain things, but then I guess there are a few different versions to choose from. Wonder how it`d stack up against something nasty-but-effective like FK1119 (which might even be off the market now).
Click to expand...

We use the blue can fume free Easy-Off, just spray on avoid getting it on the trims and rinse with a pressure washer within 5 minutes and you`ll be good. Makes a big difference on light white/cream color cars(Caddys) you see black water rinsing off.
There is a certain sales manager at the local Caddy dealer with a cream color Eldorado that wants his car washed/detailed for $30, what does he expect ! ...LoL
The dealer is lucky if they can sell one new Caddy a month during these bad economic times, so they go to auctions and buy 1-2 year old Caddys and contract us to detail it for them and sell them in the $40,000-$50,000 range while a new one would be in the $80,000 range.
 
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