Car Clay

A car clay cannot be compared with traditional clay as many people know it. A car clay is a special composition of clay that is specifically made to be used on cars. Claying your car is often necessary even though you see and many people do not realize this at the first moment. People usually wash their cars with a car shampoo, an wash glove and an emmer and when it is clean in their opinion they rinse it with a garden hose or pressure washer and then they think the car is clean. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There is almost always very small dirt stuck in the pores of the paint, glass and wheels. This can be anything, iron particles, tar, tree resin, road grime, and so on. This dirt is stuck in the paint and ensures that the paint cannot achieve its maximum shine. In addition, the paint also feels very coarse. This pollution must also be removed before you go polishing and before you start applying long-lasting protection like some waxes and all ceramic spray coatings and real coatings† You can remove this pollution by using a car clay. It is available in a traditional clay bar, clay mitt, clay towel and a clay pad. They all have their pros and cons.

Before you clay the car, we recommend that you do not just wash the car well so that it is clean. But also for a iron remover and if necessary also a tar remover to use before claying. Although a clay can also remove this pollution, it is always recommended if you can remove pollution in a less aggressive way and preferably without even touching the car to try that method first. An iron remover and tar remover together will remove a large part of this ingrained pollution so that you have less work and trouble with the clay and your clay will also last longer and while also making fewer scratches and marring. So it is only a win situation so we can only recommend this!

You use the clay in conjunction with a lubricant. There are sometimes specific clay lube products for this, but sometimes spray waxes and quick detailers, car shampoo, iron remover and even glass cleaner used. In general, anything that allows the clay to slide well over the car and the paint can be used. As long as it is of course not aggressive for the paint, plastic or clay.

When you rub your hand over the car it will feel rough, you can enhance this feeling by sticking your hand in a plastic and rubbing it over the paint. You will immediately feel all the little bubbles that are on the paint. This is the ingrained pollution that you cannot remove without a clay treatment.

To remove these, spray some lubricant on the surface and the clay you will be using. Then you start rubbing the surface back and forth. The clay will pull the pollution out of the paint and absorb it. You will immediately feel this on the surface as it will get softer and softer and the clay will slide more and more smoothly over the surface. You will also notice that when you start with the clay you hear the clay rubbing over the surface, once the pollution is gone, the clay glides silently over the surface. Now and then spray the clay full of lubricant to contaminate the dirt on the clay. If you are using a clay bar, knead the clay bar again from time to time so that you get a new piece of clay again. You can remove the excess lubricant with a microfibre cloth or you can just spray the car with water or wash it completely again.

What is so special about the different car clays? The one that was used first was the clay bar. This was the first on the market and often the most used by the do it yourself detailer. The clay bar is a piece of car clay that you can knead by hand into a flat clay so that you can rub it over the paint. This one has the advantage that it is often less aggressive than the other options and that it can easily get into hard-to-reach places. It has the disadvantage that it is dangerous in that if dropped on the floor or placed on a dirty surface it will absorb all the dirt. It can also no longer release the dirt, making the clay bar worthless and must be thrown in the trash. It can also become full after repeated use, so you have to throw it away as well.

The clay towel, clay mitt and clay pad are all called synthetic clay and work on the same principle. They are durable, but therefore often more expensive than a clay bar. They can also be washed off when dirty and should not and cannot be re-kneaded to get a fresh piece of clay again. When you have used the clay for a while, you can simply spray the surface clean with a degreaser and reuse it, even if it has been dropped on the floor or on a dirty surface. They are more aggressive than a clay bar so you can sometimes cause marring. These are very small scratches that can occur by claying the car with a synthetic clay. Professional detailers often use these as they can very quickly give a car a clay treatment and often finish it with a all-in-one polish or a single step buffing that will make the marring disappear.

The clay towel is useful for claying smaller and hard-to-reach places. The clay pad is very fast because you can quickly put it on a polisher can put and thus an entire car at 15. But you don't get into small and difficult places anymore and this one is also much more aggressive than a clay mitt. The clay mitt is about in between the 2. You can quickly do large surfaces with it and you can also bend it if you want, and you can't get into smaller and hard-to-reach places as well as a clay towel and you don't work as fast as a clay pad.

We always recommend doing a clay treatment before polishing or even sand† This is because if the pollution is still in the paint when you start polishing or sanding, you will pull the pollution off and place it in your sandpaper or polishing pad will arrive. When your sandpaper or polishing pad will spin, the hard dirt will also spin and start rubbing the paint. This causes you to scratch again, which means you end up in a vicious circle. In addition, it will also make your polishing pads wear out faster.

Before applying protection, especially with a coating, it is also recommended to clay the car. To guarantee a good adhesion between the surface and the protection, it is necessary that there is no dirt between them. However small it may be. Not only will it significantly reduce durability, but it will also reduce self-cleaning and water-repellent properties due to the coating not being used optimally.

Claying your car with a special car clay has great advantages and is absolutely necessary! You can find all types of clay in our webshop together with the necessary lubricant.