Which Clay Bar Kit???

David Fermani- Yeah, I'm probably one of the few clay fanatics who's never tried the CM stuff :nixweiss Guess your experience with CM Blue marring sorta undercuts their claim that it's "safe for all paints", but then it seems like every clay maker says that.



Oh, and that stuff the SpeedShine leaves behind makes it one of my fave QDs for use over waxes. I really like the stuff, just not as a clay lube.



SilverCivic- You can do pretty much claying with two bars that size, unless a) your vehicle is really contaminated, b) you drop it (not a joke, it'll happen), or c) you're as uber-paranoid about marring from contaminated clay as I am.



Cleaner-wax is usually a so-so paint cleaner mixed with a not-even-so-so wax. But OTOH, plenty of good products (1Z Metallic Polish w/Wax, the various AIO products, Meguiar's #66, and others) are either "cleaner-waxes" or the same kind of stuff, and those work very well. And lest you think I'm really down on the stuff, I've known people who kept their vehicles nice with just cleaner-waxes topped with "straight" waxes. Not "Autopian nice", but "nicest car in the company parking lot" nice.



No way to say how good that polish is until you try it :nixweiss Probably not bad though, and most likely a lot better than that.
 
Accumulator said:
SilverCivic- You can do pretty much claying with two bars that size, unless a) your vehicle is really contaminated, b) you drop it (not a joke, it'll happen), or c) you're as uber-paranoid about marring from contaminated clay as I am.
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I'm not really following what you are trying to say here?
 
Clay Magic makes all the clay in the US and will at least through 2012. Clay Magic blue is fine for most paint issues and relatively inexpensive.
 
Yeah - What Scott said! I've used Megs, Mothers, Wolfgang, Blackfire, CG and ClayMagic - Clay Magic blue is the best all-round clay there is (IMHO) you can get it and the lube for 10 bucks at CarQuest/Autozone. Also on line at their web site, do get the #49 Body Shine (best smelling clay lube/QD) if you order on-line.



One thing to consider, clay is for those things you can barely see or maybe just feel, you take a clay bar to remove crap that is better handled by and old sponge and some heavy duty APC or solvent and yeah, it's going to mar and it's going to ruin the clay.
 
I've been using the Mothers kit for the cheapo jobs. It doesn't leave marring behind and is aggressive enough to get most everything off of the paint. I have Pinnacle Ultra Poly for my own cars. It is very VERY mild and super elastic. It is a pleasure to use and it feels very luxurious. Though it isn't aggressive enough to really take out any serious contaminants.
 
SilverCivic said:
I'm not really following what you are trying to say here?
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Sorry, didn't mean to be inscrutable. How fast you go through clay will determine how many times you can clay your vehicle with a given amount of clay, like the two bars you asked about. And how fast you go through it will depend on the three points I mentioned. I'll try to explain all three points better:



a) if the vehicle's really contaminated, the clay will get dirty fast as it picks up the contamination. So on a really contaminated vehicle, it doesn't take long for the clay to get nasty and I don't rub nasty clay across the paint. And I only knead/etc. my clay a little bit before I get out a fresh, clean piece (BTW, I tear my clay into pretty small pieces instead of using the whole bar). Remember that once clay gets abrasive contaminatin stuck to it, that clay basically becomes sandpaper.



b) If you drop clay, it's likely to get contaminated and I don't rub contaminated clay against my paint. That's another reason why I like working with small pieces, no need to toss out a contaminated (entire) bar after an "oops!" like that. And IMO it's not really "if you drop it", but "when you drop it"; some day, it'll happen.



c) If you're really paranoid about marring, you won't keep using contaminated clay that a less-paranoid person would still consider OK. So I'll retire clay (or rather, demote it to wheel duty) that somebody else would keep using and thus I go through more clay than a lot of people.
 
Scottwax said:
Clay Magic makes all the clay in the US and will at least through 2012..
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Note/clarification to newbies: they make many different *variations* of clay, it's not all the same stuff functionally-speaking.
 
JuneBug said:
I've used Megs, Mothers, Wolfgang, Blackfire, CG and ClayMagic - Clay Magic blue is the best all-round clay there is (IMHO) you can get it and the lube for 10 bucks at CarQuest/Autozone. Also on line at their web site, do get the #49 Body Shine (best smelling clay lube/QD) if you order on-line.
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agreed, the CM blue bar works great and i like the little bottle that comes with it as you can re-use it. AZ keeps raising the prices on it, it's around $13-$14 the last time i saw it IIRC... :yell:
 
How aggressive is the Griot's Garage clay? $20 for 8 ounces and a nice container is a good deal. :) Would you recommend this clay?



Thanks,
 
Accumulator said:
Note/clarification to newbies: they make many different *variations* of clay, it's not all the same stuff functionally-speaking.
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True but the original is still the best, IMO. Opti-Clay is also terrific but got to wait another year for it to be available again.
 
reyo said:
Riccardo is the way to go. I've used Meg and Mothers before and I don't like Mothers at all....
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Riccardo? As in Ricky Riccardo? :) What is that?



Why don't you like Mothers? Seems to work really well for me. I've done a bunch of black cars and can't find marring afterward. All my pics are too big to upload here and imageshack is a festering virus. Sorry
 
what is the next grade clay bar after sonus green?



I understand this is a very light clay (some say too light)



So what is the next one?
 
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