clay vs cleaner

[Accumulator]

does clay leave any minimum swirl or haze ? and need polish to remove ?

It *is* possible. After all those years of claying without marring I got a bit aggressive with the new version of Sonus gray (note to self..never assume ) and I marred up some areas of my M3 but good. But not to worry, the clay-induced marring is pretty shallow and while it might look mighty :eeK: it comes out fairly easily.



FWIW I *never* had marring from the Griot's or Mother's clays and a *lot* of people say the same thing about the Claymagic blue.



Oh, and if anybody doesn't trust the info of mine from third-party sources, that's cool, I understand completely. Hey, I even understand if somebody simply doesn't believe what I post based on first-hand experience...after all, this is the internet In this case the third-party source can be queried...it's David B., you know, the guy who runs Autopia and who also has clay made to his specs. David (and Lynn) and I have discussed clay a few times, and fairly recently.

 

[velobard]

Have you seen the new "clay substitute" product that DavidB is coming out with for his Ultima/RDF line? I have to wonder about it because you can't refold it like you can clay to get a clean surface after it's contaminated, but knowing DavidB he somehow took that into account. He calls it the Elastrofoam Paint Cleaning System and it's mentioned in this thread.

http://autopia.org/forum/ultima-red-dot-formula/86017-ultima-phase-i-release-finalized.html

 

[rkf76]

For those still not convinced, here's some info on clay from Jeff Brandt, president of Jeff's Werkstatt:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS



Is Prep Clay safe on all paint types, including clearcoats?



Yes. Used properly, with sufficient lubrication, Prep Clay is safe for all paint types.



Is Prep Clay abrasive?



There is a great deal of misinformation concerning the true nature of all detailing clays. First, all detailing clays contain an abrasive component. These abrasives range in cutting power from very mild to very strong. Prep Clay employs fine grade abrasives designed for annual and semi-annual use to remove routine contamination. Medium and heavy abrasive clays are most often for professional use only as they can leave significant marring comparable to that of a rubbing compound.



But I thought the “stickiness� of clay removed the contaminants, plucking them from the surface?



This is false. Actually, it is an abrasive process that removes the contaminants. The beauty of clay, however, is that the lubricant floats the abrasive clay above the paint surface. The clay therefore only exerts its abrasive force on the raised contaminants and not on the paint itself. Those contaminants are rubbed apart by the abrasives, and the “stickiness� of the clay picks up and contains the powdery contaminant residue created by this process. This is why a used, dirty clay wafer will appear to have a film of dirt over it and not larger individual particles of dirt embedded in it.

 

[Accumulator]

Have you seen the new "clay substitute" product that DavidB is coming out with for his Ultima/RDF line? I have to wonder about it because you can't refold it like you can clay to get a clean surface after it's contaminated..

I wondered about that too. I might not worry about the contamination on a vehicle that I was gonna polish, but on some vehicles I fold/knead the clay after *every* light, brief contact (yeah, it's a PIA) so that there's no chance of any embedded contamination marring the finish. For jobs like that I think I'll stick with the clay.