Clays: Actual Differences

There are tons of different clays out there, but I really want to know what the differences are.

As far as I understand it, there is one company in Japan that has the patent on clay bars. Mark V used to have their own formula and manufacture what they said was their own, but the practically bankrupted themselves fighting that Japanese company for the right to produce it themselves, and they lost.

So...my understanding is that there is basically one patent holder and manufacturer of clay in the world. Yet there are seemingly infinite differences between them. If I am correct in my knowledge of there being only one manufacturer, there can't be THAT big of differences between them.

What are the differences then? Material wise they are likely to be the same, but they will have different cuts as well as different levels of flexibility.

So what do you know of the actual manufacturers? Are they different? Are they the same?

What makes one clay bar different from the rest? It would be awesome to have some type of list comparing the clays from different cut levels and different levels of stiffness. How worth it is it to go with zymol lehm clay over clay magic? Stuff like that....discuss...

Jonathan

 

Clay –
There are only a couple manufactures of clay and patents protect the technology, with some subtle difference in consistency and firmness, a recent court hearing found components of the “elastic clay” to be a patent infringement and the judge ordered sale of the product to be halted. (In the United States, Auto Wax Company Inc. (now owned by Illinois Tool Works Inc.) owns the US patent rights (No. 5,727,993) and reads thus- "Conventional compounds comprising an elastomeric resin mixed with abrasives used to remove protrusions, projections, and/or strongly adhered foreign matter from vehicle surfaces"

Auto Wax owns six patents relating to clay products and provides private label clay too many of the detail industry’s leading companies - Clay Magic detailing car clay and Auto Magic specialty products As a result, all of the Polybutene (Polyisobutylene) or plastic clay being manufactured now comes from the same factory in Japan, which as the only patent holder has a monopoly on the market. Meguiar's, Mothers, Sonus, Zaino, et al get their clay either from Japan (Source Chem. Inc. one of Japan's biggest clay manufacturers) or from a US licensed manufacturer - .
Detailer’s Automotive Clay - http://www.detailingbliss.com/forum/f34/detailer-s-automotive-clay-1244.html

 

I read somewhere that the patents run out in a few years.

 

As mentioned, most clay products are sourced from the same company/supplier so the difference between them are pretty small.

Most who purchase clay from their mfr can specify color and abrasiveness but even then, the diffs will be small. Reason is most of these suppliers are targeting the same customer base, the driveway detailer, so no company is going to sell a clay product that is overly aggressive or too "outside the box".

Large purchasers like Meguiars and Mothers can demand specific capabilities from their clay suppliers but neither is going to offer anything too extreme. The smaller clay retailers (pretty much everyone else) is going to offer something similar to each other. There simply isn't enough sales volume in clay products for a small company to invest in a special formula.

Seeing as clay products are far more similar than they are different, I don't think a comparative list would reveal much. Best thing to do is try a few and stick with the one you like best.

 

Mothers- very pliable, soft, not very aggressive, I really like this clay for light jobs. It will probably be replaced by Sonus green or Pinnacle poly since I cant buy the Mothers clay by itself.
Clay Magic Blue- a fine medium clay. Definitely between Mothers and TOL purple. My go to clay for most cars.
Top of The Line purple- pretty aggressive clay, similar to 4*/ Wolfgang, but slightly softer and more pliable. I like it when I need an aggressive clay.
4*/ Wolfgang- pretty hard clays, pretty aggressive. Not really a fan of these.

 

Not all clays are made in Japan.

Bilt-Hamber (google or just visit detailingworld) do their own, and its very very good.

Instead of using a Lube like Megs LT, you just use water. You can of course use a lube if you want to, but you dont have to. Cuts down on costs. (I would say its a medium clay)

Cheap for the amount you get.

Well, maybe not that cheap when you have to import it lol

 

I just ran out of Ultra Poly and need a good medium duty clay. For delicate jobs I use sonus green, so for medium jobs is Megs blue mild clay fine?

 

I have tried a few different clay bars in the 14 years I have been detailing and have yet to find anything I like more than AutoMagics blue bar. You can remove almost anything without marring the paint. It comes as a single 200gram bar so I usually cut it in half so that its a. easier to work with and b. if you drop it, you don't lose the whole bar. This really sucks when it's a brand new bar.

 

I really want to get the scoop on this.

Thanks for the input that everyone has put in so far.

I know that at my local detailing supply store he sells the clay magic bars, and then the generic versions. They are different colors, but they have the same manufacturer logo on them. So I can buy the "purple" generic version which is the exact same clay as the Clay Magic and Auto Magic Blue clay, only cheaper.

It makes me wonder what are the generic versions of the sonus and ricardo clays?

 

"Not all clays are made in Japan."

The patent infringement was adjudged only on the US market

There are only a couple manufactures of clay and patents protect the technology, with some subtle difference in consistency and firmness, a recent court hearing found components of the “elastic clay” to be a patent infringement and the judge ordered sale of the product to be halted. (In the United States, Auto Wax Company Inc. (now owned by Illinois Tool Works Inc.) owns the US patent rights (No. 5,727,993) and reads thus- "Conventional compounds comprising an elastomeric resin mixed with abrasives used to remove protrusions, projections, and/or strongly adhered foreign matter from vehicle surfaces"

Auto Wax owns six patents relating to clay products and provides private label clay too many of the detail industry’s leading companies - Clay Magic detailing car clay and Auto Magic specialty products As a result, all of the Polybutene (Polyisobutylene) or plastic clay being manufactured now comes from the same factory in Japan, which as the only patent holder has a monopoly on the market. Meguiar's, Mothers, Sonus, Zaino, et al get their clay either from Japan (Source Chem. Inc. one of Japan's biggest clay manufacturers) or from a US licensed manufacturer.

 

Any clay sold in the US is made from Auto Magic (clay magic). Period. There may be select places (rare) selling a non-AM clay but that is illegal since Auto Magic has the patent on Automotive Clay ... not the chemical make up of clay. Even if another company made clay completely differently, they can't sell it in the US if they market it as clay, or chemicals that sheer off contamination, etc. I've heard a company can have AM make a special formulation but no one has made anything like the old yellow (Riccardo clay), which is a bummer.

CM Blue


vs.

Yellow