Clay Bay Lube

dschribs

New member
I'll be working on a car this weekend ('97 Acura Integra) and I just realized that I am out of clay. Have some old stuff that I can use for wheels but that won't cut it for the paint.



So last night I went to my local Wal-Mart and picked up the Meguiars Clay Bar Kit. It comes with a bottle of their consumer line quick detailer.



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Question is....is that a decent clay bar lube??



I do have two other products that I'm thinking I could use as well. Would one of these work better?



- Optimum QD (Instant Detailer & Gloss Enhancer)

- Poorboy's Spray & Wipe



Sure wish I had some Griot's Speed Shine left over. Worked great for clay last time I used it.



Thanks!
 
It's fine as a lube. Save your money on this step. In fact, I much prefer washing a car and using soapy suds as lube for the waxing. Efficient and cost effective.
 
wascallyrabbit said:
have not seen griots products in advance auto yet. is there and advance auto near you that carries it?



The one in Herndon and Leesburg both have Griots stuff.
 
You can use a soapy car wash and water solution in a spray bottle: the most economic way , or use something like ONR , or in my case, DP Rinseless Wash, at the proper ratio. Any will last you quite a while.
 
That will work fine, but a much less expensive option that works just as well for me is ONR at QD solution. If I mix ONR at the weaker clay lube dilution it doesn't feel near as slick, but at QD concentration it is still dirt cheap and works very well.
 
Don't have ONR (yet) so that's not an option.



Clayed the car tonight with the Meg's. Worked fine...although the car wasn't too bad. Appears it was clayed in the past at some point.
 
I also use my ONR mixed in QD strength in a spray bottle. I recently bought a gallon of ONR to go wiht my 32 oz I already have, so it should last awhile.
 
Bill D said:
You can use a soapy car wash and water solution in a spray bottle: the most economic way , or use something like ONR , or in my case, DP Rinseless Wash, at the proper ratio. Any will last you quite a while.

Bill, it is so nice to read that someone has some sense of just what it takes, without spending alot of money.

When I taught my course, many would ask why we didn't have a clay lubricant.

I just told them the truth, clay has it's place, and you will learn that in the next few days, but we will never market a "clay lubricant" since we are not in to marketing something simple that we already provide, to make inflated profits.

In the "hands on" day of the course, Detail Wash and water unless we were teaching the ABC process and then we were honest about how the "B" product would work as a lubricators for really bad vehicles.

We also make it clear that the "B" would cause the clay to break down prematurely.

Soap and water is a great lubricator for claying, no doubt.

Grumpy
 
When I would clean my car with a water/soap hose sprayer, I would just use the water as a lube. Certainly made it easy to keep wet, but not as lubricated. I think it might be cheaper to use a diluted car wash though than have the hose running the whole time.
 
I wish I could come up with a soap/QD/something cheap alternative to that Sonus Glyde that I usually use, but *nothing* has ever been as overall satisfactory when I'm using the SFX clay to "clay my LSP". NOTHING :grinno: Maybe I've just never stumbled across the right stuff, but until I do.... well.... :nixweiss



Now regular, "somewhat aggressive" claying is another matter, but I basically never do that any more. Ditto for the "clay while "B" is dwelling", but nobody else seems to do much of that anyhow. (Yeah, I know, gotta buy that AI/VG bug pad :o )
 
I don't like using soapy water as lube; it breaks down the clay too fast. Nothing is as annoying as clay turning to mush/sticking to your hands when working on a vehicle. I typically clay while still wet (right after washing) and use a bit of Meguiar's Last Touch as lube; it works well and leaves a little something behind that makes drying a lot easier.



If, for some reason I cannot clay when wet, I'll use ONR at QD dilution. I find that it isn't particularly slick and thus marring is more likely, but when used on a dry vehicle, it leaves nothing behind and cleans up easily (unlike Last Touch).
 
So far I have used suds as clay. I think they are sufficient as to do the job and not waste a valuable QD. Next time I am using ONR to experiment.
 
Accumulator said:
Now regular, "somewhat aggressive" claying is another matter, but I basically never do that any more. Ditto for the "clay while "B" is dwelling", but nobody else seems to do much of that anyhow. (Yeah, I know, gotta buy that AI/VG bug pad :o )



i'll clay during the "b" if i'm doing a abc on a vehicle.
 
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