How to make your favorite Clay last Alot longer

David Fermani

Forza Auto Salon
This method will dramatically increase the lifespan of your clay. I wouldn’t be surprised if it lasted atleast 5 times longer just by following this easy procedure.



Hint: If your clay is cold and stiff, soak it in a bucket of hot water and fold or knead your bar. Within 2 minutes it will be soft and good to be used.



Work your clay as usual. Back and forth, circles....what ever way you choose. As you work the clay, try to inspect it and discover a “baseline” for how quickly the bar picks up contaminants and gets clogged/discolored. If your work area is quite listen for abrasion noise created from your clay eating into the contaminants. No noise is usually an indication that the surface is free of heavy contaminants. Don’t wait for your clay to get too dirty because the dirt embeds itself to the face of the clay and ultimately gets rubbed into/against the surface creating unnecessary marring.



This is about as dirty as your clay should get (Clay Magic blue pictured):



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Take your clay, spray any water based APC (I prefer Optimum Power Clean) and liberally spray it onto the surface of the clay. Then, take a clean toothbrush and agitate the surface of the clay. This will loosen up the contaminants.



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Take the clay and submerge it into your bucket of water, rubbing the clay with your fingers and rinsing the suspended debris off the surface.



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Note: method not effective for 100% road tar contaminant removal.



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Knead clay and repeat often>>>.
 
Thanks for the tip. It will be helpful for me when I work on my family's cars, since they are always in more need of clay than my own. As much as I don't mind working on their vehicles, they are capable of eating up expensive clay pretty quickly.
 
Joe in PA said:
Thank you so much for these tips. Should go a long way in extending the useful life of clay. :spot



You're welcome. Let us know how it works out!



someidiot said:
great advice!



Thanks!



hotrod66paul said:
I'm impressed. Thans for the tip.

You're welcome Paul. Thanks right back.



Hey said:
Thanks for the tip. It will be helpful for me when I work on my family's cars, since they are always in more need of clay than my own. As much as I don't mind working on their vehicles, they are capable of eating up expensive clay pretty quickly.

Kool deal. Just remember to clean & knead often.
 
FYI - Blackfire offers a clay bar cleaner/rejuvinator specifically designed for this duty and is very gentle. As far as I know they are the only manufacturers offering a dedicated product just to clean clay.
 
Great idea David. This will really come in handy when you're using expensive or hard to find clay. Riccardo or Bilt Hamber are very hard to get here in the states, and this makes the price that much more worth it.
 
I wonder if this is cost/time effective. I find that if I use TW ICE or a true Decon, my claying time is greatly reduced as is the dirt on the clay bar. In fact, that first pic look HORRIFIC, lol. I probably waste too much time kneading the clay. I do keep a bucket of hot water around to keep the clay soft, especially now that its cold.
 
Appreciate such a useful tip. Since I am only maintaining 3 cars this will go a long ways in extending my clay....since I only use it about 3 times a year on fairly clean cars the extra time used cleaning the clay is not material.
 
Now if I could just find a way to safely clean off clay after I drop it. It doesn't happen often but happens when you let your mind wander instead of concentratining on what you are doing.



I have often thought about taking a large, clean bath towel and laying it on the ground where I am claying. If the clay falls on that, it should be OK I would guess again so long as the towel was clean.
 
I vote for you to have a new nick name. David "The Dentist" Fermani sounds good for your avocation of the dental utensils, LOL:razz2:
 
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