Clay or Surface Prep Towel

[silverfox]

What I found more interesting than the clay debate...is the method of lubrication. What was interesting was a car project that Mike and his crew did where they used a foam gun to lube the car, then wiped with Nanoskin towels. I often wondered about doing it that way.

 

[ihaveacamaro]

nanoskin fine grade for me here, but I have backup clay if needed.

I primarily use the sponge or the towel, not a fan of the mitt. Too bulk imo

 

[trashmanssd]

Well I threw in the last of my Griots clay when I sold my G's polishers. It was very sticky and I always wore nitrile gloves.
The bar I have now Poorboys poly elastic clay is really hard to knead. I emailed them thinking it was bad and they responded they have newer stuff that is easier to work with now that a clay patent expired in the US.
If it remains tuff I may go for the BF package Ray mentioned. (Gotta find the coupon)
Guess I'll get the mitt or towel too.

Do you clean the clay towel or mitt in a rinseless wash?

Thats exactly what I use a warm (not hot) rinseless wash with grit guard and I let my towels soak in it and i clean it in it as i work the car. I have a fine speedy prep towel and a fine Optimum Opti-Clay Towel and a medium Optimum Opti-Clay Towel and I put them all in the bucket to soak and switch between them as needed. Sorry about bold I cut and paste opti-towel name and now it likes bold.

 

[Merlin]

If I'm polishing the paint afterwards, I'll use a Nanoskin Wash Mitt (usually fine grade).
If I don't plan on polishing afterwards, I'll use a traditional clay bar.

If I want to reduce the chance of marring the paint in general whether I'm using traditional clay or a nanoskin, I'll use Iron X or FerreX or Fallout Cleaner first.

^ Agreed!!!

 

[Accumulator]

I don't use the towels as I can't figure out how they can be used without marring (just as I don't see how people can move clay for several inches at a time without sheared-off, abrasive contaminants being dragged across the paint). Noting that I no longer rely on clay for real decontamination anyhow (that's what ABC is for IMO), I use Sonus SFX/Glyde to "clay my LSP clean" as needed.

I'm gradually using up my other clays for non-critical applications, probably have enough for this lifetime and then some.

Ya know, it occurs to me that I might *never* need to do a full/serious decontamination again! I'm somehow avoiding all the "need to clay!"-type issues that had plagued me for so many years; I used to have ferrous contamination issues after winter, but no more. And since I never let any vehicles get to the point of "overdue for LSPing", the oh-so-gentle use of SFX seems to be sufficient. If the clay I use for that ended up really soiled I might reconsider, but I seem to be dodging this particular bullet somehow.