The Thread of Clay

[rover137]

I use Megs OTC clay. I bought the CarPro 3 pack and used the finest grade and it marred up my car bad! It even marred up my window. Back to the Megs OTC clay for me. This clay seems to work but is also gentle on my paint. Last time I clayed before coating I barely had any contaminants with the clay. I do maintain the car well with strong acidic/alkaline washes, iron x, tar x etc. Our other car that lives outside is a different story and this car seems to have a bit more of a build up. Certainly nothing bad like I have seen, but a little bit.


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[DFB]

For me it depends.

My preference is the Meguiar's professional clays. The fine grade is almost luxurious to use, and it never marrs the finish.

I usually use the Nanoskin sponges but even the mild marrs the daylights out of the paint. Like Eldo said, I find that they don't always pick up the same level of contaminants as traditional clay.

I did encounter one instance where we had a brand new, off the delivery truck Toyota Supra came in. It was bright yellow, and had black spots all over the paint. Even the aggressive Meguiar's clay was no good removing them. It was the red nanoskin sponge that removed them with ease.

I also like the Mother's clay... Oh I also tried the Mother's synthetic clay two weeks ago. It was not very good. The car was super contaminated though. I had to go over it again with Megs fine grade and it made the paint glass smooth.

I always forget that I have the CarPro poly shave block. I'll have to remember it when the next vehicle that needs it comes in.

But if I was reduced to two, it would be the Megs professional clays. Absolutely love them.

Is the synthetic Mothers clay the red Speed Clay one?

I remember using the Mothers yellow clay bar sold in kit form the first time I decided to try out claying. I still think it's one of the better clay bars I have used.

 

[DFB]

Besides that 1 product that Meguiars recently came out with, don’t iron removers pretty much ruin claybars & synthetic clay? Maybe someone else can chime in with the definitive answer on that.

I keep forgetting to answer this question. Iron removers are fine to use with clay products, it's tar removers that are a big no-no. The solvent in tar products don't play well with clay.

 

[Eldorado2k]

But if I was reduced to two, it would be the Megs professional clays. Absolutely love them.

Hands down. No nonsense, it’s even the perfect size.

I keep forgetting to answer this question. Iron removers are fine to use with clay products, it's tar removers that are a big no-no. The solvent in tar products don't play well with clay.

Thanks for answering the question. It’s weird how rare this comes up. I wonder how many people actually prefer to do it that way.

 

[JustJesus]

Besides that 1 product that Meguiars recently came out with, don’t iron removers pretty much ruin claybars & synthetic clay? Maybe someone else can chime in with the definitive answer on that.

In my experience, yes. I took on a Camry that sat at the dealership, near a rail road, for some recall work. It sat for a good while. When the owner asked me if I could detail it again. I didn't have to get too close to see the amount of iron deposits all over it. And when i felt it, sand paper. That's without a baggie!

I did the usual iron decon first. Washed it off. STILL had much contamination. After taking some time doing it the usual process, i decided to try and combine the iron decon and claying together to save time. Went through almost a bottle of clay lube, and a bottle of iron decon, and it most definitely was killing the clay. It was dissolving the more i used it.

In other experience, using OPT iron remover with an OPT clay towel, i went around the car spraying one or two times per panel, directly into the towel. Didn't seem to affect the towel one bit.

The most aggressive clay i've ever tried was years ago. I think it was Chemical Guys, but back when they had SmartWax(?) - They had different grades of clay, and the aggressive one was black. Sucker was so mean, it would stick to my nitrile gloves and tear them when i tried to knead the clay ! !

 

[Eldorado2k]

In my experience, yes. I took on a Camry that sat at the dealership, near a rail road, for some recall work. It sat for a good while. When the owner asked me if I could detail it again. I didn't have to get too close to see the amount of iron deposits all over it. And when i felt it, sand paper. That's without a baggie!

I did the usual iron decon first. Washed it off. STILL had much contamination. After taking some time doing it the usual process, i decided to try and combine the iron decon and claying together to save time. Went through almost a bottle of clay lube, and a bottle of iron decon, and it most definitely was killing the clay. It was dissolving the more i used it.

In other experience, using OPT iron remover with an OPT clay towel, i went around the car spraying one or two times per panel, directly into the towel. Didn't seem to affect the towel one bit.

The most aggressive clay i've ever tried was years ago. I think it was Chemical Guys, but back when they had SmartWax(?) - They had different grades of clay, and the aggressive one was black. Sucker was so mean, it would stick to my nitrile gloves and tear them when i tried to knead the clay ! !

Ok ok, there’s alot to unpack there with your post.
-What kind of clay was it that dissolved and what kind of iron remover?
-You said you only sprayed the OPT iron remover 1-2 times per panel as clay lube? That’s awfully dry as far as claylube goes eh? I’m usually a beast when it comes to claylube, I don’t even mess around with anything but my 1.5L pump sprayer and if the vehicle’s really bad I have to refill with more claylube a few times.
-I think I’ve heard of that Chemical Guys Black claybar, but I had no idea it was actually heavy duty like that. I always just thought it’d be weak in order to cater to their average Joe target audience.
-Chemical Guys owned Smartwax? What is Smartwax? Sort of sounds familiar but I don’t really know about that brand.


Edit: I think I see what kind of iron remover you used. The BDX? Is that the Black claybar you mentioned also in that pic? If so, that heavy duty claybar was no match for those contaminants? If so, That’s crazy.

 

[PaulMys]

Any preference between the Griot's and NanoSkin?

Sorry, Snoop. I just saw this.


As far as performance, not really. The Griot's makes short work of large panels, and the NS sponges are great to get into those tight spaces.

 

[MisterSnoop]

Sorry, Snoop. I just saw this.


As far as performance, not really. The Griot's makes short work of large panels, and the NS sponges are great to get into those tight spaces.

No worries. I already have the Griot's but haven't used it yet. Hadn't heard of the NS sponges but have one of their mitts.

 

[JustJesus]

Ok ok, there’s alot to unpack there with your post.
-What kind of clay was it that dissolved and what kind of iron remover?
-You said you only sprayed the OPT iron remover 1-2 times per panel as clay lube? That’s awfully dry as far as claylube goes eh? I’m usually a beast when it comes to claylube, I don’t even mess around with anything but my 1.5L pump sprayer and if the vehicle’s really bad I have to refill with more claylube a few times.
-I think I’ve heard of that Chemical Guys Black claybar, but I had no idea it was actually heavy duty like that. I always just thought it’d be weak in order to cater to their average Joe target audience.
-Chemical Guys owned Smartwax? What is Smartwax? Sort of sounds familiar but I don’t really know about that brand.


Edit: I think I see what kind of iron remover you used. The BDX? Is that the Black claybar you mentioned also in that pic? If so, that heavy duty claybar was no match for those contaminants? If so, That’s crazy.

-I believe it was Poorboy's clay. I think they say it's a medium grade (why didn't i bring out the black one for this job? i don't know!)
- Iron remover, as you noticed, was the BDX. Clay Lube is from Poorboy's as well. - I did mention going through almost an entire bottle of the clay lube, and the BDX. Almost 32oz total, as I was using them together. It had plenty of lubrication
QUESTION: what do you normally use for clay lube? 1.5L is an awful lot!! BEAST mode for sure!!
-The OPT iron remover/ towel was on a different car. I don't think i was clear about that. My bad. That other car was nowhere near as bad. But aside from spraying OPT Iron onto the clay towel, the panel was still wet with ONR. If some spots got a bit dry, i'd grab a sponge with ONR to run it down the panel i was working on.
-Yes, that black clay is nuts.
-It's been a while, but there seemed to be some affiliation between Chemical Guys and Smartwax. This was back like in 2008. I bought the Smartwax stuff at a CG store, where we had a mini-meet and learn for the Yaris "club" i hung out with back then. I'll have to confirm if the clay was from one or the other. Maybe it was CG. I'll check back later with that info.

In other clay related news, the Britemax Claymax clay is supposed to be chemical resistant AND you can use it with water as lube! WHAT? Yes. That's what I remember them saying, and why i bought a bar. Though, right around that time, i was already messing with synthetic clay so the box of Claymax sits inside my desk drawer at my day job. I had forgotten i had it until this thread came along!

 

[JustJesus]

Britemax ...

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[Eldorado2k]

-I used to use Megs D114. Now I use McKee’s N-914. @1oz. Per gallon you can afford to use it liberaly, which is a win win.

-I knew you were using the mitt on a different car. No confusion.

-Does that Black Claybar marr the hell out of paint? Or is it actually effective without marring?

 

[JustJesus]

-I used to use Megs D114. Now I use McKee’s N-914. @1oz. Per gallon you can afford to use it liberaly, which is a win win.

-I knew you were using the mitt on a different car. No confusion.

-Does that Black Claybar marr the hell out of paint? Or is it actually effective without marring?

N-914 is good stuff. I feel it's a bit more slick than ONR and use it often for rinseless and/or clay lube these days.

Oh no. the black clay was pretty bad with marring. I didn't know what clay marring was back then. I was just starting off. I was able to remove some with a detail spray (at least I think i did!) and some i polished off. This was about the first car I did for someone, so it was a learning one!