Which clay bar do you recommend?

[Kia Stinger]

This is what I've used in the past:
Mothers California Gold Clay Bar Kit 07240 Car Wax Polish Auto Wash Detailing | eBay

 

[robz32]

Well this is a rather complicated one. Lots of factors to keep in consideration.
Most manufacturers provide different grade clay bars for different applications. The finer clay bars are usually less coarse and easier to knead, but they also work very slowly, rather abrade away contamination slower than the more abrasive bars. Normally there will be words such as fine, medium and heavy for different types of clay bars, but from my experience they don’t really translate across different manufacturer lines, so my advice is to always do a bit of research on the clay bar, or better yet try it yourself to determine which is which.

Clay bar selection will depend mainly on the level and type of contamination, but also on the paint being decontaminated. When dealing with something like fresh tar or rail dust, a fine clay bar should be all that’s needed and when used properly will either eliminate or greatly reduce the need for polishing after using that clay bar. On the other hand, when the contamination is something that has built up over the years, tree sap or really stubborn tar, a more abrasive clay bar will greatly reduce the working time and many times will even be necessary.

There are many misconceptions about clay bar selection, such as finer clay bars will never leave marring and more aggressive clay bars will work faster. While that may be true for the most part, as mentioned above, there is more to it than that when selecting the right clay bar for your project. Just because a fine clay bar might leave a perfect surface after decontamination doesn’t mean you should spend 4-5 hours removing over-spray or heavy buildup on the paint. Instead, you can use a more aggressive clay bar that will remove the contamination in 1-2 hours, then you can spend the other 3-4 hours polishing the paint and getting a much better result. Similarly, you don’t want to use the aggressive clay bar just because it works faster. Yes maybe you’ll shave off an hour when using a red Clay Magic bar vs a blue Clay Magic bar, but you also may end up having to polish that same car for a few hours in order to fix the surface marring left by the red bar. In short, I would recommend following the general rule in detailing when selecting products … start with the finer solution and work your way up as necessary.

But thanks to the advancements in technology we now have alternative solutions that work as effective and as safe as a clay bar. There are a some other alternatives, but these are the two I have used with great results so far. My recommendation will be these:

Nanoskin Autoscrub Speedy Prep Sponge

Griots Garage Brilliant Finish Synthetic Clay

 

[Euljiro1ga]

totally agree with @robz32 above.

I want to add another recommendation - a set of clay bars by Carpro. they come in 3 blocks of 100g. medium, fine, and extra fine.

an even more well-known product by Carpro is their clay lube, the Immolube.

i havent used clay bar a lot and dont have much exprience but from what i gather from different forums, Carpro clay bars and their lube often get high praise.

 

[mldavis2]

What I've found over the years with my 13-year old GTO and 10-year old G8 is that if you grab the car immediately off the showfloor (figuratively speaking) and prep the paint with a spray detailer product after dealer cleanup to remove any remaining cosmoline and then put a good coat of wax on the car, followed by hand washing with car detergents made by the manufacturer of your wax product, you will never need to clay bar the car. Any potential contaminants come off of a waxed surface rather easily and there is no buildup over time. (That may not be the case if you use a pressure washer or commercial car wash.) You can feel the need for clay bar if the surface feels slightly "rough" or "sticky" but that should never be the case on a new finish. I have clay bars but seldom if ever need or use them.

I spoke too soon. In hyper-detailing my GT2 front dark chrome, there were dark areas that looked like water spots that would not polish out without a lot more elbow grease than I was willing to give it. I grabbed a McGuire clay bar and worked it over, then covered it with wax. Shouldn't water spot with wax on it.

 

[westcoastGT]

Well this is a rather complicated one. Lots of factors to keep in consideration.
Most manufacturers provide different grade clay bars for different applications. The finer clay bars are usually less coarse and easier to knead, but they also work very slowly, rather abrade away contamination slower than the more abrasive bars. Normally there will be words such as fine, medium and heavy for different types of clay bars, but from my experience they don’t really translate across different manufacturer lines, so my advice is to always do a bit of research on the clay bar, or better yet try it yourself to determine which is which.

Clay bar selection will depend mainly on the level and type of contamination, but also on the paint being decontaminated. When dealing with something like fresh tar or rail dust, a fine clay bar should be all that’s needed and when used properly will either eliminate or greatly reduce the need for polishing after using that clay bar. On the other hand, when the contamination is something that has built up over the years, tree sap or really stubborn tar, a more abrasive clay bar will greatly reduce the working time and many times will even be necessary.

There are many misconceptions about clay bar selection, such as finer clay bars will never leave marring and more aggressive clay bars will work faster. While that may be true for the most part, as mentioned above, there is more to it than that when selecting the right clay bar for your project. Just because a fine clay bar might leave a perfect surface after decontamination doesn’t mean you should spend 4-5 hours removing over-spray or heavy buildup on the paint. Instead, you can use a more aggressive clay bar that will remove the contamination in 1-2 hours, then you can spend the other 3-4 hours polishing the paint and getting a much better result. Similarly, you don’t want to use the aggressive clay bar just because it works faster. Yes maybe you’ll shave off an hour when using a red Clay Magic bar vs a blue Clay Magic bar, but you also may end up having to polish that same car for a few hours in order to fix the surface marring left by the red bar. In short, I would recommend following the general rule in detailing when selecting products … start with the finer solution and work your way up as necessary.

But thanks to the advancements in technology we now have alternative solutions that work as effective and as safe as a clay bar. There are a some other alternatives, but these are the two I have used with great results so far. My recommendation will be these:

Nanoskin Autoscrub Speedy Prep Sponge

Griots Garage Brilliant Finish Synthetic Clay

Great write up , I going to try the Griots Synthetic Clay ! love new technology . I've been using clay bars for 15 years !
Time to change it up !

Thanks

 

[antonini311]

I know this is a really old post. But honestly I didn't spend $$ on the bigger name brands. I bought this and it's cheap and works really well. I clay barred my wife's minivan with it and it removed almost all the crap on the paint, left it super smooth, and (using a good amount of soapy water) left almost no marring.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0753FSQN6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[alex_C]

I only use mother's clay bar 2.0 during every other car wash.