can u reuse a clay bar?

Edgey04

New member
im sure its a stupid question but i want to make sure i can reuse before i throw it away. I saw somewere that u can but i have heard that it will mess up the paint. Another question will the clay bar take out most swirl marks? My car is a 2004 w/ 4k miles but it has a few swirls. thanks for any and all info
 
Edgey04 said:
im sure its a stupid question but i want to make sure i can reuse before i throw it away. I saw somewere that u can but i have heard that it will mess up the paint. Another question will the clay bar take out most swirl marks? My car is a 2004 w/ 4k miles but it has a few swirls. thanks for any and all info

To answer your question, yes you can reuse a clay bar. If you drop it on the ground it is done, throw it away. You will also want to throw it away if it starts to take on a grit to it. The key is to fold over your clay and knead it. To answer your other question, clay will take out no swirl marks. Swirls marks are light scratches in your paint that should be able to be taken out with the right polish and a bit of time. No question on DC is a stupid question. Also Welcome!

Greg
 
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Edgy if you drop the clay throw it away, I normally cut my clay bar into sections, so if I do drop all is not lost.
You can use it until like Greg said it starts to feel gritty, then get rid of it because you don't want whatever you have removed to scratch your paint, also knead it often as you as using it.

clay as no ability to remove swirls, it is ment to remove the contaminents from your paint so you can move onto your next step.

Hope this helps

Good Luck
"J"
 
Edgy04 said:
can u reuse a clay bar?

Do you try and chew your gum two times, three times or more?
No. Neither do normal people, its the same principal with clay - once it is used, throw it away.

You can cut a $10 100g clay bar into 4-5 pieces. For $2 - $2.50, is it worth potential swirling your paint with a bit of grit in a used lump of clay? And as Jay stated, clay will not remove swirls, just contaminents. You got swirls, you need polish to remove those suckers...........
 
I have reused a claybar. Just make sure it's not gritty. The safest way is the fury way. Cut it into sections and discard each section as it's used(becomes gritty).
 
I like using old clay that's in decent shape on my wheels & exhaust. But if it's gritty feeling, I throw it out.
 
You could reuse clay, but what I like to do is cut it up into small enough sections to use said section one time and then toss it. Use some common sense about it though; if the clay bar looks dirty or gritty, don't use it. A claybar will only cost you $10 bucks or so, so cut it up, use all the pieces, then buy another. You will only have to buy a bar every year or so. Better safe than sorry. And as stated above, clay will not remove swirls.
 
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