I love clay

I

imported_Grouse

New member
I like clay. In order of least liked to most liked.



6)I also Like grey clay for those jobs that just need more Grit. It's a much more aggressive clay. Not something i would use on any car unless i was going to 3-5 step the car. Again you can pick it up from most vendors.

Adam's Clay Bar (Grey Professional Grade)





5)Purple clay. It seems to be slightly less aggressive than the Grey. To be fair i have only used one bar. It's been Okay. It seems to try and fill the void between grey and red clays. Usually i will pick red over purple. Less marring. Though the cars I tried the purple on were at the extreme end of fubar.

PURPLE CLAY BAR



4) Megs red. This is my next favorite clay. Lightly aggressive, will cause some marring but good enough for most moderately messed up paints. IE bitchum/pitch, types of tars and oils.

Meguiar's Direct Mirror Glaze Pro Detailing Clay (Aggressive)



3)My favorite US clay is Megs blue. It's a solid all round clay. Yes it is all the same clay and every blue clay out there is the same as megs blue. Lately I have been getting it from Phil at DD. The blue is your basic well maintained but needs claying car. Not a garage queen clay, but a daily driver car, one whose owner loves it. It's simple 30-45 min clay of the entire vehicle. It will impart a bit of marring but nothing the lightest of polishes will remove for you.

"Ubar" Clay from Detailer's Domain (fine grade) 180 gram



2) Clay pad. Ultima products had it, chemical guys had it. I picked it up from details plus. I liked it so much for 90% of my jobs I picked up 20 of them. They seem to average about 5-15 cars a piece. That makes them significantly more cost effective than other clays. It is aggressive, but it imparts a different type of marring than other more traditional clays. I clean them 2-3 times per panel. For the bulk of my work this is my go to clay.

DETAIL PLUS - Car Appearance Systems : SPONGE CLAY PAD



1) Non us clay. The older style of non elastic "ricarrdo" clays. The stuf that is not for sale anymore in the us. Thank god I have friends in the EU who got me these. They do work well, It almost as grabby as my clay sponge, and with out proper lube it can impart the same type of marring as the sponge. When correctly used it is as marr free as one could hope for. It works well, lasts considerably longer than standard clays.

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grouse- No secret here that I too am a big fan of clay...and I have a serious case of envy when I see all that non-US-market clay you have there!



Interesting about the sponge clay pad :think: I woulda expected issues from abrasive stuff getting embedded in its clay (as I see no way to knead/fold it or a way to tear it into little single-pass pieces).
 
you have a bucket filled with water and a clean Micro (wet) hanging over the edge. Rinse the sponge out, swipe it off on the towel, check with hands and continue on. One does need to know you can not use this type of pad on a vehicle that has not been well washed.



For instance if a car has never been clayed and abused. What might take me 2-3 hours with a purple/grey clay would take me 45 min with the clay sponge, and impart less marring. Well let me say marring of a lesser nature. marring of the type that is easier to remove and requires less aggressive polishing steps.
 
The only clays I've used so far:



Mother's yellow clay, from their clay "kit".

Meguiar's white clay, sold in a jar.

Zaino's red clay



How would you classify those? (I think I've noticed some marring with all three).
 
Grouse said:
Is all the normal US clay (non sponge and riccardo clay) all clay crumble-agic?



LOL
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Nope, it's not Clay Magic unless it says "Clay Magic" on the wrapper. It's more or less a reformulation (copy cat IMHO) of it. Out of the 1000's of bars of Red/Blue Clay Magic I've purchased, I can honestly say I've never had 1 crumble.
 
Grouse, have you used the Zaino Z18 clay? I can't stand blue clay magic, but I find the Zaino to be marginally better.



What do you think of Sonus Green? Too gentle? I can't stand crumbly, stiff, clay-tragic.
 
David Fermani said:
Nope, it's not Clay Magic unless it says "Clay Magic" on the wrapper. It's more or less a reformulation (copy cat IMHO) of it. Out of the 1000's of bars of Red/Blue Clay Magic I've purchased, I can honestly say I've never had 1 crumble.
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What I meant was, Clay magic is the original manufacturer of all others. They own the patents, they control the production. Everyone else just buys from them.





The crumbling has to do with what types of lube you use. usually a soap based lube will cause it to crumble. the detergents (my own hypothesis) keep the clay from folding into it's self. If you stick with a detail spray lube, they usually do not crumble.



Mother yellow would be a mild over the counter clay. I have not used it for years. I have no exp with either of the others.



I have used a lot of sonus green. I end up grabing megs blue simply because green is taking to long on the lightest claying jobs.
 
Grouse said:
What I meant was, Clay magic is the original manufacturer of all others. They own the patents, they control the production. Everyone else just buys from them.
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Just for clarification.......Clay magic isn't the manufacturer(Source Chem in Japan is I believe), Clay Magic is the brand of clay Auto Wax Co.(the U.S. patent holder) markets under the Auto Magic brand name. They private label all the clay sold in the U.S. Is all clay CM - No. They are each very unique per the reseller's specs. I've been told that Clay Magic is the only one of it's kind (formulation speaking).



Grouse said:
The crumbling has to do with what types of lube you use. usually a soap based lube will cause it to crumble. the detergents (my own hypothesis) keep the clay from folding into it's self. If you stick with a detail spray lube, they usually do not crumble.
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My point exactly. People complain that CM (and other clays) crumble and/or marr, but in turn are not using them with the correct lube. It's not fair to blame poor results for products that aren't used correctly. I always use AM Body Shine and I never have problems. Everyone's mileage varies I guess. :nixweiss
 
David Fermani said:
Just for clarification.......Clay magic isn't the manufacturer(Source Chem in Japan is I believe), Clay Magic is the brand of clay Auto Wax Co.(the U.S. patent holder) markets under the Auto Magic brand name. They private label all the clay sold in the U.S. Is all clay CM - No. They are each very unique per the reseller's specs. I've been told that Clay Magic is the only one of it's kind (formulation speaking).







My point exactly. People complain that CM (and other clays) crumble and/or marr, but in turn are not using them with the correct lube. It's not fair to blame poor results for products that aren't used correctly. I always use AM Body Shine and I never have problems. Everyone's mileage varies I guess. :nixweiss
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awesome points. FWIW the lube from cm has caused cm clay to crumble on me. I have used many bars of CM blue and Grey. I honestly could not find any difference between any of the other blue and grey bars. If there is, it is so minute that i doubt i will every know it. That is why i lumped the blue, red, grey clays all into the same bar status.
 
I usually stick with Clay Magic blue and either their lube or ONR. Works great, moderately aggressive and minimal marring.
 
I find that ONR makes it tougher to clay...



case in point:



megs aggressive red clay



used last touch/water mix vs. onr QD strength mix vs. dish soap mix



LT - clay glides over it smoothly, less marring, takes only 3-4 swipe to get it close enough, and 6-7 to get it 100%



ONR - clay glides semi smoothly, more marring, takes 8 swipes to get it close enough, and about 12 to get it 100%



dish soap - clay glide super smoothly, less marring, takes 3-5 for 100%, but CRUMBLES THE CRAP OUT OF THE CLAY



once the last touch runs out, I am thinking about trying the automagic stuff David uses...
 
Grouse, your average on the sponge is rather vague...how can one last 5 cars and another last 15 cars??? averages should be closer together shouldnt they?



I get about 6-8 cars out of one 200 gram bar of clay
 
Grouse, thanks for sharing your thoughts on clay. I may have to try the "uber" clay next.



Personally, I find myself using clay less and less as time goes on. I'm not a pro, so 95% of my detailing is on my own cars. I keep a nice slick layer of Collinite on them and wash with a bug sponge. There seems to be very little contamination on my paint that can't be removed by washing.



When I first discovered clay it was about nine years ago and I lived in Orange County, CA, at the time. On my daily driver that was outside all the time it seemed like there were a lot of contaminants sticking to my paint that came from trees, perhaps little tiny specs of sap that quickly hardened. I thought clay was a gift from God at the time!



Does anyone know if Auto Magic's patent expires soon? It would be great if the patent expired and everybody could start making it. There's no reason a little block of clay should cost 20 bucks! Maybe we could start importing the Riccardo clay too.
 
toyotaguy said:
Grouse, your average on the sponge is rather vague...how can one last 5 cars and another last 15 cars??? averages should be closer together shouldnt they?



I get about 6-8 cars out of one 200 gram bar of clay
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It really depends on what you are claying. 5 large trucks or 15 cars. how dirty they are. I do a wide range of cars. Often times if i get one that is extremely messed up I will use an older clay pad and toss it afterwards. Usually by that time they are around the 15-20 vehicle mark. The other reason is they need to be stored more carefully than normal clay. If you set them clay side down it will stick to what ever it is you set it on. (wax paper excluded). don't stick two clay side to clay side.



Details plus had a sale on the clay pads not to long ago 6.95 for 3 or more. That puts them around a buck a use at the most costly and 25-50cents at the least. To be honest, I have some that have done over 30, and use them on cars that do not need anything super fancy.
 
toyotaguy said:
I find that ONR makes it tougher to clay...



case in point:



megs aggressive red clay



used last touch/water mix vs. onr QD strength mix vs. dish soap mix



LT - clay glides over it smoothly, less marring, takes only 3-4 swipe to get it close enough, and 6-7 to get it 100%



ONR - clay glides semi smoothly, more marring, takes 8 swipes to get it close enough, and about 12 to get it 100%



dish soap - clay glide super smoothly, less marring, takes 3-5 for 100%, but CRUMBLES THE CRAP OUT OF THE CLAY



once the last touch runs out, I am thinking about trying the automagic stuff David uses...
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You can eliminate most of that crumbling by drying the clay off on a dry microfiber before you start to knead it into its self. It is the soap/detergent keeping it from kneading together. Pat both sides of the clay dry on a clean dry micro then knead it together.
 
Joel_MD said:
......Does anyone know if Auto Magic's patent expires soon? ............
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I believe it expires in 2013.
....... Maybe we could start importing the Riccardo clay too.
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We won't have to import Riccardo clay because it is actually made here in the states but it can't be sold here currently because of the patent. That type of yellow elastic clay used to be available through various vendors until Auto Wax (Clay Magic) won some major lawsuits:



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