There are many brands and kits on the market. Are the clay bars all the same or some work better than others? Most are between 80g - 100g.

Until know, I used Mothers.

 

Mothers is good stuff as is Meguiar's. Personally I've used Griot's for the last 12 or so years and am delighted with it. You can't go wrong with any of them. Just give the king of smutz a wide berth, that armor ****. Including clay bar, I'm referring to the wide range of other car care products they have to offer.

 

I am not living anymore close to have access to a genuine 3M auto body products dealer but I would trust anytime.

There are many 3M clay bars on the web from Asia and most may be fake products. It would be interesting to have a review from the detailing gurus here what they are using and their comments.

 

Griot's Garage headquarters is in Tacoma. Drop in some time and they'd be glad to show you around. For lunch, you definitely want to go up to 'Dirty Oscar's Annex' just up the street a bit, it was featured on Diners Drive ins and Dives. If you google Griot's website, many of their products have demo videos you can watch.

 

I really like the synthetic kit from Mothers. I was really hesitant about using a rubber sponge instead of actual clay, but it works beautifully. The Griot's synthetic clay is great too.

 

I used Chemical guys and others, just make sure you use good lube, i have used 3m in the past when i worked at a body shop. Technic and good clean clay works.

I got CR version now to fix all the dang tar on the roads up here.

 

+1 for Griot's, and particularly for their synthetic clay.

I bought my first synthetic clay from them a few months ago to detail my new to me R53. Really impressed with it, even more so that if I accidentally drop it, I don't have to throw it away.

If you go to the Tacoma store, you can get them to demo products on your car (not the whole thing, unfortunately... &#128513.

If you're coming from out of town, and want to do a meet-up, PM me. I live about two miles away.

I've got half a dozen other food recommendations besides Dirty Oscar's. 😳🤔

 

I bought a brand name (Mother's??) synthetic sponge one and tried it few times, figured I would clay way more often using it. Maybe I didn't get the lube part down right but I wasn't impressed (it says you can use the soap in your wash bucket for lube). So I bought a Mother's kit with 2 bars and the lube spray. Works great. The sponge one has a plastic handle on it and it isn't a flat surface like clay. So I didn't feel the little particles scraping off of the paint like clay moving over the paint.

 

Another vote for Griot's synthetic clay. Have done 2 cars with it now and will never go back to traditional clay.

 

I received their catalog by mail for years but never ordered. It's probably the same product as Mothers since both are yellow color.

 

I detailed cars professionally for about 9 years, and used many different clays. Griots is good (they also offer a clay sponge that works pretty damn well), meguires is pretty decent, as well as mothers. Chemical guys Clay is always a great option...

BUT....

NOTHING beats Clay Magic. Hot Damn that's some good clay.

The bars are a nice size, and they come in 4 different harshnesses (is that a word? lol)

They come in a vented plastic pop top container with 2 individually wrapped bars inside, and the labels are very easily distinguishable. The little clay dude on the label looks happy (softest, blue), neutral (next step up, but I wouldn't call it medium, purple), agitated (I would call this one medium, yellow), and/or Angry AF (harshest, red in color.... you can actually wet sand with this one)

I believe most O'reilleys locations carry them, but they are kept in the back, as they are considered professional grade.

But, at the end of the day, there aren't too many "bad" clays.... some are just a bit better than others.

 

https://www.best-auto-detailing-tips...y-bar-kit.html

 

Very good information that really overviews all applications.

 

+1 for griots garage and their speed shine to keep it gliding over the paint.