which clay bar to buy for mobile detailing business?

[ride5150]

Im deciding which clay bar i want to buy for my mobile detailing business...i obviously want something that will not scratch, thats cost efficient and that works pretty well. i dont want to use multiple clay bars or different aggresiveness, just one that works well.

any suggestions?

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Do you have much experience working with clay? Or even with detailing in general?

I'm not trying to sound rude, but if you answered no to either of these questions I would highly recommend you start off detailing your own vehicle(s) or friends/family/neighbors vehicles and get some experience before you try working as a professional on customers' vehicles. I think you'll discover that it is beneficial to keep at least one or two more aggressive products on hand in case you run into something stubborn.

That said, for a general-use clay, I would highly recommend either the Meguiar's pro-grade (mirror glaze) blue, or my personal favorite go-to AutoMagic ClayMagic blue.

 

[James K]

Why are you so worried about mulitple clays. They do not take up much room, and it is better that have something and not need it, then need it and not have it. Store the clays in something like this, sort by aggressiveness and label each bin.

 

[ride5150]

Do you have much experience working with clay? Or even with detailing in general?

I'm not trying to sound rude, but if you answered no to either of these questions I would highly recommend you start off detailing your own vehicle(s) or friends/family/neighbors vehicles and get some experience before you try working as a professional on customers' vehicles. I think you'll discover that it is beneficial to keep at least one or two more aggressive products on hand in case you run into something stubborn.

That said, for a general-use clay, I would highly recommend either the Meguiar's pro-grade (mirror glaze) blue, or my personal favorite go-to AutoMagic ClayMagic blue.

rudeness is good if i learn from it

thank you, no i have actually never used a clay bar before, i have semi- detailed my car and family cars before, with the products i had on hand, but as soon as i buy everything i will most definately practice on a few cars before i charge for it. My car, family cars, and 3 friends, ranging from sedans to a severely severely severely severly
x100 neglected work van.

ill be finishing with a AIO like poliseal, or poorboys polish and sealant, so i wont have all that much correction ability if i scratch the paint with a more aggressive clay bar.
do i have to worry about scratching if i use something more aggressive? when do i need to use an aggressive clay bar?

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

rudeness is good if i learn from it

thank you, no i have actually never used a clay bar before, i have semi- detailed my car and family cars before, with the products i had on hand, but as soon as i buy everything i will most definately practice on a few cars before i charge for it. My car, family cars, and 3 friends, ranging from sedans to a severely severely severely severly
x100 neglected work van.

ill be finishing with a AIO like poliseal, or poorboys polish and sealant, so i wont have all that much correction ability if i scratch the paint with a more aggressive clay bar.
do i have to worry about scratching if i use something more aggressive? when do i need to use an aggressive clay bar?

Glad you didn't take my comments the wrong way :dblthumb2:

To address your questions:

1) There is definitely an increased chance of causing marring with a more aggressive clay bar, however for the most part you aren't going to be using the aggressive clay on an entire vehicle unless you are working with an extreme amount of overspray or other stubborn bonded contaminants -- at which point you would need to inform the customer that a more in-depth correction process will be necessary as a follow up to decontamination.

2) I tend to treat aggressive clay as a spot-treatment. Always start with your standard mild or medium grade clay and go over the entire vehicle with it, checking your results as you work. If you come across an area where the mild clay isn't removing contaminants effectively, grab a small piece of your aggressive clay and just hit that small area. This way if you do cause marring, you only have to use a more aggressive polish on a small spot before proceeding with the AIO.

Just keep in mind that you may run into some vehicles with soft paint on which even mild clay may cause marring. In those instances an AIO product may still be all you need, but it's good to be prepared that you may have to go further (if the client is interested in spending the money to have you do so).

 

[ride5150]

Glad you didn't take my comments the wrong way :dblthumb2:

To address your questions:

1) There is definitely an increased chance of causing marring with a more aggressive clay bar, however for the most part you aren't going to be using the aggressive clay on an entire vehicle unless you are working with an extreme amount of overspray or other stubborn bonded contaminants -- at which point you would need to inform the customer that a more in-depth correction process will be necessary as a follow up to decontamination.

2) I tend to treat aggressive clay as a spot-treatment. Always start with your standard mild or medium grade clay and go over the entire vehicle with it, checking your results as you work. If you come across an area where the mild clay isn't removing contaminants effectively, grab a small piece of your aggressive clay and just hit that small area. This way if you do cause marring, you only have to use a more aggressive polish on a small spot before proceeding with the AIO.

Just keep in mind that you may run into some vehicles with soft paint on which even mild clay may cause marring. In those instances an AIO product may still be all you need, but it's good to be prepared that you may have to go further (if the client is interested in spending the money to have you do so).

this seems like a much better idea than going over the entire car with more aggresive clay. So i should get a fine, mild, and aggresive clay? i dont know if there is a point of getting ultra-fine as well?

i guess ill have to keep an aggresive clay on hand, but stick to the fine and mild clays on most cars. i really dont want to cause marring and have to polish later, ill be using a PC 7424XP and dont want to create more work for myself, especially if the customer wont want to pay more for spot polishing after aggressive clay.

can you recommend some clay bars to use that wont break the bank?

thanks for your help i really appreciate it

 

[BorisC]

Always start with your standard mild or medium grade clay and go over the entire vehicle with it, checking your results as you work.

I use that as a general rule with everything. Pads, compounds, clay, etc. Start with the least aggressive on a small 'test' area. If that produces the results you want then you should be ok on the rest of the car. (Except for any trouble spots)

If not, go the next step up in aggressiveness & check again. No sense in using a yellow pad when an orange will do. Also no point in doing the whole vehicle when a small area is not coming out the way you want.

 

[RTexasF]

can you recommend some clay bars to use that wont break the bank?

He already did in post #2 ----------

That said, for a general-use clay, I would highly recommend either the Meguiar's pro-grade (mirror glaze) blue, or my personal favorite go-to AutoMagic ClayMagic blue.

There are no really cheap ones unfortunately.
This may be helpful to you:
[video=youtube_share;yfEfLGL59GI] - How to Clay Bar[/video]

Many folks, myself included, cut the clay into 2 or 3 pieces (depending on the size of it) and flatten it out. If you drop a piece, which you will, you still have more. If you drop the whole thing it's kaput. Mike, the gent in the video, has unlimited access to clay since he works for Autogeek.....you & I have to buy ours. Make sense?

 

[ShaunD]

I have used Megs aggressive clay and didn't notice any marring that wasn't possibly already there. It is IMO a very gentle, aggressive clay. I used plenty of lube and it made a the job go very quick. I clayed a whole VW Rabbit in about 30 mins. It make the job go quicker with an aggressive clay because you don't have to work at it as much to get it clean. The megs hold together very well is very soft from the get go unlike cheaper clays that have to be worked for a while before they soften, or be put in hot water. I have used wolfgang and DP clay as well. They are very similar in aggression yet the WG clay seems to be a better quality and doesn't need to be worked as much to get a uniform clay patty. Once they DP clay has been worked for several minutes after being put in warm/hot water it smoothes out. I believe the best way to prevent marring with any level of clay is to keep it and the paint lubricated. This will allow you to work faster as well. Like stated in prev post, it is good to have more than one type of clay if not three or more. Keep them in containers, labeled as not to confuse which is which and keep contaminates off clean clay. I wrap my in plastic wrap and put them in on clay box/container to have more than one clay with me. I just purchased Pinnacle clay for light/delicate claying. Having multiple levels of clays allows you to customize each detail to the level of the vehicle you are detailing. Options are always good
Think I will grab some more clays while the Spring sale is going on) I suggest everyone does!

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Shaun makes a good point about using plenty of lubrication to make the job quicker and easier. However it is also important to make sure you're not over-lubricating the surface because the clay bar will hydroplane over the contaminants instead of picking them up as it is supposed to be doing.

 

[embolism]

However it is also important to make sure you're not over-lubricating the surface because the clay bar will hydroplane over the contaminants instead of picking them up as it is supposed to be doing.

I was asking this just yesterday.

so if I made up my own clay lube with gold class and it was slippery, as opposed to the regular quick detailer I was short on that wasn't slippery, how can I tell if I'm hydroplaning? I was using lots of lube and worked the clay quite vigorously but not like the previous time where I left behind dry streaks on later passes...

I'll get this claying business if it kills me!
:doh:

 

[Perfections]

Pinnacle ultra poly or clay magic blue is a great starter clay, Meg's pro red is serious and will mar most paint systems but it's my goto for removing overspray just needs to be followed up with a polish or an aio with some cut

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

I was asking this just yesterday.

so if I made up my own clay lube with gold class and it was slippery, as opposed to the regular quick detailer I was short on that wasn't slippery, how can I tell if I'm hydroplaning? I was using lots of lube and worked the clay quite vigorously but not like the previous time where I left behind dry streaks on later passes...

I'll get this claying business if it kills me!
:doh:

Depends; sometimes you'll be able to feel a little drag from the clay as it picks up contaminants on a really rough surface. Other times the only way to really tell is to check each section as you go along and see if you're picking up contaminants.

What I like to do is keep a latex or nitrile glove on one hand so I can use it for inspection (similar to the "plastic baggie" test technique) after each section.

I don't particularly care for using car wash soap as clay lube precisely because it's "slippery" -- the high lubricity of the soap makes it more likely to hydroplane. QD sprays, or rinseless wash products (I love ONR as a clay lube) usually have just enough lubricity to get the job done. The key is to have a film just thick enough to keep the clay from sticking/streaking, but not so thick that it keeps the clay off the surface.

After you've done it a few times and gotten used to the technique, you'll develop a pretty good sense of what you're looking for. rops:

 

[Matt575]

Will clay do anything to oxidation?

 

[Shane731]

Will clay do anything to oxidation?

No, you will need a dedicated paint cleaner or compound to deal with oxidation. To note, oxidation is essentially dead paint on single stage painted surfaces, and is fairly easy to correct - you just remove the dead paint. Clear coat failure is just that - when the clear coat on a base coat/clear coat system has failed or been compromised. The only fix for clear coat failure is a repaint.

 

[Shane731]

Check out Mike's other videos on using a clay bar:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfxAesk4Po4]YouTube - Part 1 - How to use detailing clay[/video]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opfK408uIxM]YouTube - Part 2 - How to use detailing clay[/video]


And here is the link to Autogeek's YouTube channel:

YouTube - autogeek's Channel

 

[ShaunD]

Clay will pull up oxidation but usually just the surface oxidation. For the most part oxidation will just load up the clay and you will have to polish after claying anyway. For single stage paint it is a waste of time to clay oxidized paint unless there are just isolated area that you can see or feel that need contam's removed and you want to try to save some of the paint not polishing contam's out/off. As far as oxidized clear, I don't think you are really going to be able to remove any significant oxidation w/ clay as the oxidation is usually below surface and not just sitting on a soft layer of paint, like single stage, that will release the oxidation more easily. I might be talking out of my backside as this is all my opinion and limited experience with trying to remove oxidation with clay. Hope I'm not talking out my rump, 'cause that would just stink.lol

 

[ShaunD]

Sorry Shane. I was slow and A.D.D.'n my post.lol

 

[john b]

great advice as always here at ag.
if you keep an eye on the bogo sales here you can pick up clay bars usually a couple times a year.i recently picked up dp and pinnacle ultra fine-i clayed a chevy today and went through a entire bar-it was that bad-someday after i learn how to post pics it would help to show that