Synthetic clay?

Ryanm

Ryanm

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It's time for a new synthetic clay bar and I was wondering what people's favorites are? I've got experience with nanoskin med and fine mits and bars but I figure I'll give a different brand a try.

I'm not really a fan of the towels because I feel I have less control over it.

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Ryanm said:
It's time for a new synthetic clay bar and I was wondering what people's favorites are? I've got experience with nanoskin med and fine mits and bars but I figure I'll give a different brand a try.

I'm not really a fan of the towels because I feel I have less control over it.

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Click to expand...


Griot's Garage clay substitute mitts, have an interesting diamond grid design that actually makes sense.

Review: Griot's Garage Fast Surface Prep Mitt

How to restore a Barn Find - 1969 Ford Thunderbird - #7 Rub Out + FLEX = 3D products




Or if you want to work by machine

Review and How-To: Griot's Garage 6" Surface Prep Pad



:)
 
I had my eye on this one actually and will give griots a try!

I'm going to pick up a prep pad also. Even tho I work mostly part time on weekends I think that could speed up a more lengthy process. Do these work ok with long throws or should I use my regular orbital?

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so how well do these work compared to traditional clay? And the one thing I never see is how you actually clean them off during claying? I assume you work a panel, then rinse it or something?
 
I inspect it if it becomes grabby and its got lubrication and every panel or every other if small I will hit it with my clay lube and rinse it off.

I know clay will visually show the contaminants and its said that clay is better but tbh I can't much difference

What wins for me is ease of use. I'm not folding the clay over and over. The biggest reason is that I get WAY more usage out of synthetic then I do with clay. Also if I drop it I don't just write it off like a clay bar.

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Got around to using the griots synthetic clay and have to say I'm impressed. Not sure if I like it using the rinse/wash water leftovers and I think I'd prefer with qd spray still, but it's definitely made me want to get the DA pad and give that a shot


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I used the 6" Griots Surface Prep Pad last weekend. I'm a convert. The pad cleaned up the heavily contaminated hood of my buddy's 2011 Tiguan in 3 minutes with no observable marring. I used Glide 1:7 as the lubricant. Fantastic product.


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A5IS said:
I used the 6" Griots Surface Prep Pad last weekend. I'm a convert. The pad cleaned up the heavily contaminated hood of my buddy's 2011 Tiguan in 3 minutes with no observable marring. I used Glide 1:7 as the lubricant. Fantastic product.


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How did you clay the contours? I have a mother’s speed clay 2.0 and i can’t even clay my ribbed roof properly.
 
AKT said:
How did you clay the contours? I have a mother’s speed clay 2.0 and i can’t even clay my ribbed roof properly.
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Can't speak for the pad but the handheld forms to contours quite easily.

Unfortunately mine apparently was sitting rubber side up and caught some sunlight for a while when I was washing the cars. What looked like an oil spot turned out to be melted rubber and now its shot.

I'm back to traditional clay for now and I have to say seeing contaminants on it is gratifying and can be great to show a customer once you're done.


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jcat9 said:
Can't speak for the pad but the handheld forms to contours quite easily.

Unfortunately mine apparently was sitting rubber side up and caught some sunlight for a while when I was washing the cars. What looked like an oil spot turned out to be melted rubber and now its shot.

I'm back to traditional clay for now and I have to say seeing contaminants on it is gratifying and can be great to show a customer once you're done.


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What were you using that contoured well?
 
jcat9 said:
The handheld griots synthetic clay. Looks like a little wax applicator but is the synthetic rubber clay


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Ah.. i saw that.. i have a fine opti-clay towel (which i did not like) and a mother’s speed clay 2.0 which looks like a computer mouse (so it’s hard to bend it in contours).

I am hesitant to buy another synthetic clay as mine were already used once (still very new).
 
jcat9 said:
so how well do these work compared to traditional clay? And the one thing I never see is how you actually clean them off during claying? I assume you work a panel, then rinse it or something?
Click to expand...
For clay mitts I had the same question and could not find anything about cleaning them. I don't see how rinsing would do anything. I occasionally spray mine with clay lube and work it with medium stiff brush. The visible contamination disappears so it either removes it or pushes it further down into the material. Either way, it seems to work better after cleaning.
 
RippyD said:
For clay mitts I had the same question and could not find anything about cleaning them. I don't see how rinsing would do anything. I occasionally spray mine with clay lube and work it with medium stiff brush. The visible contamination disappears so it either removes it or pushes it further down into the material. Either way, it seems to work better after cleaning.
Click to expand...

I wound up just hitting it with detail spray and a quick wipe with a mf if I felt it was significantly dirty.

Clay kits with qd and a towel being $22 vs mitts at $40 and discs at $50 that are susceptible to sun (I work outside a lot of the time) make it hard for me to justify the costlier alternatives.


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I switched from traditional clay to a no-name mitt this spring. Loved it immediately. But couldn't find it (after moving house last month) and needed a quick/cheap replacement and bought a nanoskin sponge. It gave great results, but was much harder to control than the mitt. I'd rather use the cheap mitt than the brand name sponge.
 
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