great meduim grade clay bar?

for those cars that are not too bumpy but my swissvax clay and riccardo dont seem to get 100% cleaned off....but too delicate for something like red clay magic....any suggestions? sonus grey? yall know like between fine grade and aggresive....lets hear em'

 

clay magic blue, OTC @ Autozone for 10.99

Pete

 

To be honest I've never had to use anything else besides Ricardo and the Red Magic Clay.

So finding something in between sounds interesting, I'm looking forward to the feed back on this topic eace:

 

Adams Gray is a mighty fine clay!!!! It seems to always clean everything, and not mar.

 

the blue clay AKA clay magic is pretty good. I've used that and the yellow clay, which is better but almost impossible to find in the states.

 

3D blue clay is a good medium clay, and you can cut it in two or three pieces to make it last longer.

 

doesnt CG offer different grades clay..

 

I would stick with CG gray clay. its just the right blend of being able to grab well and easy to work with.

 

Why does PakShak say not to use the medium grade on dark colored vehicles?

Clay Magic Detailing Clay Bar (Medium Grade) 200 gm

What is the different between a clear coat on a dark colored vehicle and one on a light colored vehicle?

 

The difference is when you get into the medium grade to heavy grade clay they do without question leave fine scratches on the car that are very visible on dark colored cars.

Personally I dont think that you really need a medium or heavy clay. The purpose of clay it to get surface contamination off the car in preparation to polish or finish. Using medium and heavy clay bars defeats that purpose IMO.

I use the Sonus Green Glay, very good stuff.

 

the marring from a medium clay shows up more on dark colors...

just for reference..the blue clay from clay magic is not medium grade..its more a fine grade...

any of the medium grade clays I have used...Clay Magic...CG's and 3m and Meg's have induced marring..even with a ton of lube....it intend is used before a polishing to remove heavy paint contaminants...so marring is a non issue... polishing will remove them...

but for spot claying ..like a bird bomb..a acid rain spot...and not doing a polishing after...use the mild clays...and hope they are strong enough to remove the defect if not bad..or polishing is due to fix the defect

Al

 

So for something like bad old stale road tar what would you do ?.

 

I would use diesel fuel to soften and get as much off that way...tar will render clay useless very fast since the tar has real gritty sand also in it...

diesel fuel will not hurt paint at all...its what they use to clean up after a tar job also....


I have a spray bottle with it in it just for tar removal.....cheapest and most effective way to remove tar...

spray the tar..use a MF with diesel on it to remove it...let the diesel dwell a minute...nay have to spray twice..you will see it start to run while its dissolving....

some people use tarminator..well it contains Zylene..it can soften clear coat and also soften trim pieces..there are a few posts on it on other forums also...one guy ruined the new trim on a new Crossfire...it just stained and sorta melted it...they paid for it also...so its a crap shot if the clear or trim will be effected...I had it soften a rubber bed liner in my truck...where the rubber was soft and the MF actually smeared it....and I had rubber on the MF

AL

 

Al nice tips :mounty:

i take it diesel will not soften clear coat or do anything bad :computer:? .

 

haha on the tar...i use regular gasoline....same results.

if you study the chemical structure of fuel the molecules aren't big enough to damage paint but are just big enough to dissolve tar and glue...its a petroleum distilate by the way....thats the technical term if anyone wants to research why it works so well and doesnt hurt the paint at all

 

Do anyone happen to know what Griot's Garage yellow clay is? I'm using it now on a white car. I was using Megs gray clay as it is a Sunday and I needed some more and AZ is local. So, I pick it up and figure I'm good to go. Now, the clay is easier to work and doesn't harden up as Griot's does. But it doesn't work nearly as well. I did a couple of panels and a couple of contaminants remained. I just kept going. On the front fender, the Megs would grab and stick to the paint. Actually come off on the paint!. This paint is a cheap respray and it very pourous, but it was freaking me out. The paint would grab and hold it. Like some glue or resin. Anyway, I work it some more and finally I get it off and ditch it and use up the rest of the Griot's I have.

The Griots removes MANY more contaminants than the megs (including some embedded Megs that was in my trouble spot). I went back to the areas where the megs didn't work and sure enough it was a contaminant and not a chip. It flat out smokes Megs. I've also tried Mothers befoe and like Megs, it handles great, but its effectiveness isn't that great.

Upside of Griot's clay:
1) You get a LOT for $15. Double what the others give.
2) Works great

Downside to Griot's:

1) Hard as hell to work under 70 degrees.
2) Comes off on your skin turning your fingers yellow (I now wear nitrile exam gloves to make this a non-issue)
3) Hardness/marring? I dunno. Feel free to fill in the blank here.

 

just an FYI, exceldetail has a HUGE medium clay "brick" on sale now, 7.5 ounces for 21.45...

Pete