Review of Blackfire Clay Cleaner and Extender

M

Mindflux

New member
Well I've got some wonderful bird poopie etchings on the hood of my car, I've cleaned the paint as good as I can get it but you can still see the outline of the dropping. I'm guessing it's etched into the clearcoat but I could be wrong.



Any of you folk got some ideas what I might try to get them to go away or buff them out?



Ryan
 
Give a clay bar a whirl then some polish...like 3M Finesse IT II, maybe something a little less course (???)....My GF had a few on her car this spring (Black paint) that was resolved nicely with this combination.
 
Tried the ClayBar already, that removed the left over residue on my roof but I can still see a "ring" on the paint/clearcoat which I'm gonna have to guess is etching.



I'll have to try something more abrasive I'm guessing.
 
The mildest abrasive generally recommended is 3M Swirl Mark Remover. It is almost universally reported as very mild, too mild for many (requires a lot of rubbing), but it is also very safe because of its mildness.
 
I was able to take out a spot recently using Klasse AIO and rubbing it into the spot only. Took a couple of minutes and two or three applications but the circle came out. Give it a try if you have it.
 
Had the same issue - etching from bird bombs and tree sap on the roof of my B5. Swirl mark remover x 2, followed by 2x AIO did the trick quite nicely - gone! (or at least no longer visible even to me.
 
I'm still puzzled by the nuclear bird crap that you guys run into. I had a goose crap on my car the size of a small bird and it didn't do much. (must be my Klasse protection) but back when I wasn't protected, I didn't have that problem either. Maybe there's some truth to pollution in bird crap cause I live out in the country where the air is cleaner than most cities. BrainFun, go for the AIO again.
 
Try Finesse IT2 the outher products are not abrasive enough to level the etching mark , if the Finesse IT leaves a slight haze behind use 3M's swirlmark remover to remove it.
 
I actually won this BLACKFIRE CLAY CLEANER AND EXTENDER in the last contest (thanks guys!). I had forgotten to stash it in my truck so the last few times I clayed I did not have it with me. I finally remembered and got a chance to use it yesterday. Of course I had forgotten the camera so no pics...sorry (the 70's were very hard on my memory)

Job was an 05 Audi S4, pretty decent shape but needed to be clayed. I used Blackfire PolyClay. The product is basically like a liquid soap. Directions are to spray the dirty clay bar, then massage it in your hands as though you were lathering a bar of soap. Then rinse. Of course when it gets dirty fold and expose new clay as needed. My thoughts:

It does work, however do not expect a miracle product. I found it took off some of the grime, but not all. Seemed to work better at the more "spread out" stuff, like tar and bug residue. The more gritty the stuff, the less it removed. This makes sense because the spread stuff is on the surface and not embedded. I don't think anything would pull the gritty stuff out besides picking out that piece of clay. You do have to "work" the cleaner pretty good to get results.

So, it does work and as it's name implies, it extended the life of the clay. It is an extra step and definitely added time to the job because each time it was dirty, you have to stop, soap, scrub, rinse.

WARNING - the soaping part can be dangerous!! Imagine that clay between your soapy hands while your lathering it. It's very slippery and wants to squirt out of your hands and hit the floor! We all dread that mid-air moment when our precious clay falls victim to gravity and this will definitely increase those chances. After the first time "rinsing" at hose tap I changed technique and I filled a 5 gallon bucket with water and drug it around the car with me. When I had to clean the clay I did it over the bucket so if it did drop, it went into the water. This also was easier than going to the tap to rinse after each pass.

Overall it seemed like a good product and I have plenty left in the bottle so more experience may yield better/different results.
 
Update

Well, I got a chance to use the BF Cleaner and Extender again today. I used the same clay and same method of cleaning. This time it was a F-350 Crew cab long bed, lots of sq. footage to clay! It must have had different contaminants on the paint than the Audi I used it on because my results today with the cleaner were much better than the first time. It really worked great today, definitely was removing 80-90% of the grime from the clay and really conserving it.

I would say after the first time I would have given 3.5 stars out of 5. After doing that truck I would raise that to 4.5. Overall that moves it to a 4 out of 5. I'm sure that different crud on the surface will yield different results each time but I am more optimistic after seeing it perform today.
 
Yea its very very slippery but it actually does work. One bottle will last you a long time as well.

I think clay is one of the most expensive items used in the process and anything you can do to preserve a fresh bar is great IMO.

I am a fan of the clay extender, when I bought it I though there was no way it could remove grime from the bar like it does. Some things just work I guess.
 
Thanks for the review. I won this as one of my prizes in the Big Kahuna, and I can't wait to try it.

Thanks again!:thumbup:
 
Very nice review. The premise behind Clay Bar Cleaner and Extender is that often the surface becomes contaminated (brown usually) and we fold this contamination onto itself. By spraying and cleaning the clay we can remove the majority of the contamination before folding the clay and reforming it into a patty.

As you noted grit that is embedded into the clay will not come out (I usually pick any particulate out with my fingernail) but the majority of surface contamination is removed instantly. While it will not extend the life of clay indefinitely, it will greatly increase the life of the clay. I love this stuff and because 1 to 2 squirts is all that is needed, it is very cost effective (considering the price of clay).

Thank you for your review!!
 
I spray the clay and let it set a few minuets before I rinse it. I was surprised how much better it works. Clay looks like new.
 
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