Looking for the right clay

Alright, I'm hooked. I bought the Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay kit and clayed my GTI a couple weeks ago, and I love claying! :applause2: But now the search for the perfect clay for my purposes begins. I liked the Meguiar's clay, and would happily buy more of the stuff if I could buy it by itself, but I'm not buying a new kit every time I need clay. I've heard good things about the Clay Magic clay bars, but I've looked at all the auto parts stores nearby--none of them carry it. So I'm looking to order some stuff, I'm about to place an order from Detailed Image so I thought I might try their "Ultra Fine Clay Bar." I might be using it on some fairly contaminated cars, depending on whether I can convince customers of the benefits of claying. (By the way...how much would you charge to wash/clay/wax or seal a car? I'm new to this.) However, I don't want to induce much marring, since I don't do paint correction work. I don't detail very nice cars, usually minivans and other teenager's cars, but I obviously wouldn't want to damage the paint in any way. Basically I need a clay that will pick up moderate contamination without taking too much time or damaging the paint.

Thanks!

Clark

Oh, I'm ordering some ONR as well, gonna use it for lube and all the other wonderful things it can do :thumb:

 

FWIW, I charge $75 for exterior wash/clay/seal.

I really want to try DI's clay. Very reasonably priced. My favorite right now is Bilt Hamber.

 

I wish I could charge more for my details, but no one will pay a teenager too much to clean their minivan, even if I am using correct methods But I think I can charge that much for a wash/clay/wax. If I can convince anyone of the benefits of claying, that is. I've waxed cars without claying them, and I never want to do it that way again, it's awful with all the crud on the paint. But how do you convince the soccer mom in the Honda Odyssey that claying will really help her paint? She just wants it shiny. I've ordered some DI Gentle Fine Grade Clay, I'll see how much I like it.

 

You can get Megs clay all by itself in some places, Detail Image fine and fine/med clay is great. Most fine/med clay are fine and will not marr the paint. Sonus green is another great one.

Check out detailing.com they have some good prices on clay magic blue clay.

 

I would recommend a medium clay,like clay magic blue or adams gray

Get whatever is cheapest if your working on budget cars

I personally use sonus green because my families cars have very little contamination

 

I use Clay Magic fine grade its great and DI has it for a good price. For lube I use CG Synthetic Quick Detailer at 1:2 ratio.

 

I picked up four Mothers clay kits for $3.95 each last year so I am set for a while.

I also have some "gray" I have not used yet that many seem to resell.

 

I'm using mother's but it seems to leave alot of residue on my hands

 

If you liked the Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Kit, then you can just buy replacement clay. It's called Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Bar Replacement and it consists of three 50gm bars of clay.

I like Meg's clay also but I think it's in your best interest to try what else is out there. I am very fond of Sonus green clay, for example.

 

I've still got most of the clay from the Megs kit left, but I really want to try some other stuff. I ordered that Gentle Fine grade clay from DI, next time I'll look for some Sonus Green. I'm cheap and low on cash, so I always try to order everything from one place at one time--next time I need to make an order I'll find a place that carries Sonus Green.