Clay Bar

[illinois524]

Are they all the same? Does paying a lot mean you are getting a better quality bar or is clay clay? Any recommendations? Currently have one from Griots but need to get a new one. As far as a lubricant does anybody use just plain old dish soap and water or car wash and water? A search today had a lot of people using dish soap and saving the more expensive detail spray for in between detailing. One guy even said to mix Woolite and water at 1 to 5. Thanks

[BobbyB]

I just did mine with the Meguires Detail spray and clay bar ( I could be wrong on the names, bought them last summer). It did a good job and wasn't very expensive

[Jaketparker]

I generally just use mothers clay because I like the quick detailer it comes with and its easy to buy local. I know clays do come in different grades( fine, medium etc). A more expensive clay may be more pliable and easier to work with. I can't see one clay bar removing more contaminants that another though.
I wouldn't use dish soap as a lubricant. Pick up a gallon of Optimum No Rinse. 2 oz to a gallon of water to make a great clay lube and quick detailer. By far your best bang for your buck.

[Jumbo Jet]

Clay magic holds the patents for all the clay companies, so other than dye, they are all similar. However, there are differences in grade. Fine clay is good for most detailers, medium clays are mostly used in body shops or before heavy correction.

You can save money from buying clay lube and just use car wash mixture as the lube. Cut the bar into a few pieces, if one touches the ground, throw it away. Soap up the panel, and work the clay in the direction that the wind would flow over that panel.

[kaleo]

As my man Jumbo says, the company Clay Magic holds the patent for claybars manufactured and sold in the US. Fortunately that patent ends this year and therefore we can finally bring other types of clay bars legitimately from other countries!

I would definitely stay away from using dish soap as a lubricant as the advances in technology these days have taken big leaps from the earlier years. I would stick with using the ONR that was mentioned ealier, or use the supplied detail spray that comes with whatever clay bar product you're using. The reason for not using dish soap with the clay bar is that the surfactants in the dish soap will lead to premature degradation of the clay bar material causing some clay bars to dry out and start to turn really gritty.

Most people familiar with auto detailing are aware of the more popular brands such as Clay Magic, Sonus, Mothers, and Meguiars. I personally like using Sonus Fine grade clay for light work. Both Mother's and Meguiars are fairly decent clays for OTC products with a pretty good price point. The work that I do deals with more extensive paint correction of various paint systems therefore requiring the use of multiple different products including clays themselves. My favorite clay that I go for comes from the UK from a company called Bilt-Hamber. Their clay bars are engineered to be used with just plain tap water.

A quick tip for selecting your next clay bar, you should remember that not all bars are created equal. Some clay bars will marr your paint while others are much more user friendly. In my experience with using clays, I know that the clay magic brand's Medium and Heavy cut claybars will remove the embedded contaminants in your paint but they will leave marring behind which leaves you to polish your paint work. Their fine clay bar will leave slight marring on softer paints (asian paints like ours) but not as bad as their more aggressive lines. Sonus brand clays are pretty good at not marring the paint. I choose the Bilt Hamber clay as my top pick is because not only ease of use, but their regular and soft clays don't marr our soft paint systems which really helps cut down on time spent doing detailing when time is an issue.

[COtrailTundra]

I detailed cars for years at a dealership. When using clay bars make sure you dont use water, but spend the extra money and get a detailing mist. The water is too heavy to allow the clay bar to work. As far as clay bars look for the fine grade clay bars. Make sure you use enough mist, if you dont use enough it can leave marks when you clayed. After you have used the clay you can use a chamios to wipe it dry, but make sure you dont allow the area to dry or it will leave marks that can stand out.
I know the post is a little late but I'm a noobie to the forum.