Mothers brand clay bar, great, ok or eh?

Marc Hufnagel

Marc Hufnagel

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Popped open my mothers clay box from under the sink for my new Infiniti g37xS, vibrant red in color, the other evening.

Went over the whole car using the show time detainee (awesome smell btw) and piled off very little of anything. A few things here and there but this car came by rail from LA to Missouri mind you.

Was wondering if the clay just isn't considered aggressive enough or if it was just that clean?

Just looking for comments here about the clay quality I guess.

By the way, iron-x was a complete disappointment except for a little on the wheels.

I don't believe they clayed it before delivery, it is cleaner now than the day I took delivery!
 
The Mother's clay is pretty mild. Most cars these days have pretty comprehensive shipping protection on the upper surfaces; I would say that's why you didn't get much off with the clay or Iron-X. I think there are more problems when dealers get the car and strip the plastic, then let the car sit on the lot for months, or swap it to another dealer where it gets some truck time unprotected.
 
I like the white OTC Meg's clay better. But, give your paint a "baggy test". If its smooth - looks like you got it clean. If not, you may need a more aggressive clay.
 
Yep, do the plastic baggie test. I recently had some unknown colorless contaminant and the paint felt and sounded very smooth with the Mothers gold clay but I could still feel something with the baggie test. It took forever to get one spot to pass the baggie test with the Mothers clay, so I switched to slightly more aggressive ClayMagic blue and it removed it faster.

So it really depends what the contaminant is. Mothers gold clay has worked fine for me in the past. Others have used even less aggressive clays and passed the baggie test.

Just as with polishing compounds, use the least aggressive that gets the job done.
Probably a good idea to have a couple different aggressiveness clays on hand, since it's impossible to predict what contaminants might land on your paint. I'm not sure what would be equivalent to claymagic blue from AG.
 
Mother's Clay is very good IMO and like others said, your car must have been treated very well during transport. I used a new yellow bar on a 2001 GMC Yukon that had not been washed or waxed in 9 years..... the bar was super filthy afterward. For a mild clay, it did the job.
 
SR99 said:
Yep, do the plastic baggie test. I recently had some unknown colorless contaminant and the paint felt and sounded very smooth with the Mothers gold clay but I could still feel something with the baggie test. It took forever to get one spot to pass the baggie test with the Mothers clay, so I switched to slightly more aggressive ClayMagic blue and it removed it faster.

So it really depends what the contaminant is. Mothers gold clay has worked fine for me in the past. Others have used even less aggressive clays and passed the baggie test.

Just as with polishing compounds, use the least aggressive that gets the job done.
Probably a good idea to have a couple different aggressiveness clays on hand, since it's impossible to predict what contaminants might land on your paint. I'm not sure what would be equivalent to claymagic blue from AG.
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Feels smooth so I guess it is ok, I tell you that ironx was disappointing. I guess it was good there wasn't much of anything on there but I wanted a bit of a show! There were a few little lines of purple here and there, but very small.
 
Mothers Clay is on the mild side but does not mean it can remove a lot with proper technique.

I did some side by sides with Meguiars OTC bar and really did not see any real difference in performance.
 
I think Mothers over the counter clay works pretty well. I've compared it to Meguiar's mild light blue clay and see very little difference in performance.

I've clayed new cars and have seen the paint filthy yet others exhibit little embedded contamination...The reason you may not have noticed much pickup is the car is new and the finish might just be clean. :props:
 
Mothers clay is the only Clay I use, great clay so I've seen no need in switching
 
BobbyG said:
I think Mothers over the counter clay works pretty well. I've compared it to Meguiar's mild light blue clay and see very little difference in performance.

I've clayed new cars and have seen the paint filthy yet others exhibit little embedded contamination...The reason you may not have noticed much pickup is the car is new and the finish might just be clean. :props:
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Well with the ironx no-show I'm guessing I just have a clean new car, HOWEVER it has a good application of DISO. Get this, instead of sending guys around the lot every week or two with a powerwasher, they drive them all through the on-site slap and scratch tunnelwash.

So... the longer your new car was on the lot, the more times it goes through the wash of horrors.
 
Bunky said:
Mothers Clay is on the mild side but does not mean it can remove a lot with proper technique.

I did some side by sides with Meguiars OTC bar and really did not see any real difference in performance.
Click to expand...

I've also used and still have , a box of the megs white clay as well. Just thought I'd try the mothers since it had been sealed up for over a year while I used the megs up.
 
Hellspawn said:
I've also used and still have , a box of the megs white clay as well. Just thought I'd try the mothers since it had been sealed up for over a year while I used the megs up.
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I use Mothers mostly because I picked up a haul from Advance when they had an end of year clearance for $5 so plenty of clay, showtime, and decent mf towels. I also like the scent of Mothers Showtime.
 
Hellspawn said:
Popped open my mothers clay box
Click to expand...
-Nothing wrong with the Mother's Clay Kit...IMO.

-In fact it's probably one of, if not the most sold clay-kits, for the Consumer-Market.
When those "Mother's-Marketers" began to realize that their overall sales of clay was lagging,
they came up with an inticing 'clay-kit' that they believed the average Joe/Jane-consumer 'needed'.
(It seems as if, indeed, this brain-child was a success)

That clay-kit included:
-A not too-aggressive Clay...So Joe/Jane would not induce too much
of what's often referred to as "marring"

-A clay-lubricant... with its easily understood 'need'

-A cleaner-wax...emphasis on wax.

-A nice-looking, hefty packaging.

@OP : Does your Mother's clay box contain all of the above items??

IMHO...Harkens back to the consumer thought-process since car-time immortal:
"This week-end, I'm going to wash and wax the car"!
(And now...I get to "clay" like the Pros!! Yippeee.)

:)

Bob
 
I tend to prefer the Meguiars OTC clay, but I recently purchased the Mothers kit to give it a second chance
 
All clay sold in the US comes from the same company... The only difference is color, texture, grade etc.

The patent will run out soon though and you'll finally see newer and better clay available. Autogeek's canadian distributor Eshine sells really good clay eShine Canada: Riccardo Clay Original Yellow (8oz)

Only problem is, it cannot be shipped to the US.

So just keep that in mind, people can show "brand loyalty" all they want, but ALL clay available for sale in the US is made by the same company with the same processes, with the only differences being color, grade (fine, mild) etc. Mothers, Meguiars, Adam's, Griot's etc. doesn't really matter.
 
Madness87 said:
So just keep that in mind, people can show "brand loyalty" all they want, but ALL clay available for sale in the US is made by the same company with the same processes, with the only differences being color, grade (fine, mild) etc. Mothers, Meguiars, Adam's, Griot's etc. doesn't really matter.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that's entirely accurate...all clay is made by or under license to the patent holder...that doesn't necessarily mean it all comes out of the same plant.
 
I tried both of the megs and mothers and maybe it was the qd but I liked the megs a little more. Recently I bought some pinnacle and some XMT clay and I like those more than the otc's. But then again it is only my opinion, none were awful. The only bad experience I had was I thought I was getting a deal so I bought a ton of clay from Ebay and that stuff was lousy, really lousy. I eventually got my money back but that is an entirely different story
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I'm not sure that's entirely accurate...all clay is made by or under license to the patent holder...that doesn't necessarily mean it all comes out of the same plant.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that no one "makes" their own clay, even under license. Auto Magic or Auto Wax has enforced their patent strongly and they always win. They've stopped tons of importers of clay made elsewhere.

I'm not sure if there is any company out there that licenses the patent and makes their own, because they still have to make it according to Auto Magic specs. It's easier to just buy and label it differently.

Please anyone feel free to dispute me, especially someone who is part of a company that sells clay.
 
FUNX725 said:
-Nothing wrong with the Mother's Clay Kit...IMO.

-In fact it's probably one of, if not the most sold clay-kits, for the Consumer-Market.
When those "Mother's-Marketers" began to realize that their overall sales of clay was lagging,
they came up with an inticing 'clay-kit' that they believed the average Joe/Jane-consumer 'needed'.
(It seems as if, indeed, this brain-child was a success)

That clay-kit included:
-A not too-aggressive Clay...So Joe/Jane would not induce too much
of what's often referred to as "marring"

-A clay-lubricant... with its easily understood 'need'

-A cleaner-wax...emphasis on wax.

-A nice-looking, hefty packaging.

@OP : Does your Mother's clay box contain all of the above items??

IMHO...Harkens back to the consumer thought-process since car-time immortal:
"This week-end, I'm going to wash and wax the car"!
(And now...I get to "clay" like the Pros!! Yippeee.)

:)

Bob
Click to expand...

I have 1 box that had the 2 80g bars, the towel and showtime, the other box has 1 80g bar, the showtime and the 4oz cleaner wax.

Didn't really notice the difference as I got them at the same time on AAP clearance, would have rather had an extra clay and towel than the 4oz wax! Looking at them the one says quite clearly it had 2 bars, oops.
 
I was in a Walmart today and looked like someone has been going through the Mothers clay and taking out the clay.
 
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