- Offer top-notch results on glass
- Non-abrasive clay bar safe for paint
- Easily removes surface contaminants
- Unique and fine grade clay bars
- Good for spot cleaning
- Offers sleek finish and shine
- Holds flex-clay technology
- Works effectively on different surfaces
- Super easy to use
The vehicle needs to be taken care of just like any other living thing or asset. There is no doubt you can never let your Bugatti Veyron or Ferrari go through rough paint application. For many years most of the detailers knew secrets that people like you and us never knew.
The most integral part of applying sealant or wax to your vehicle is to check whether the car’s surface is good to go or if it needs cleaning to get rid of all the contamination.
Metal particles or dust that sit nicely on the bonnet and roof of the vehicle can affect your result. The best thing you will need to do is to use clay bars.
Before applying a clay bar, you will need to slip your finger over the vehicle’s surface to feel where you need to use the clay bar. If the surface feels scratchy, you will need to apply a clay bar. But if that’s plain and smooth, you can use the best car wash mitt to ensure no contamination is there.
Clay bars are easy to deal with. One high-quality clay bar can help you with 20 cars at approx.
The thing about most clay bars is that they all are usually abrasive. Just like others, some of these clay bars are also as abrasive as other clay bars, but there are many ways one can overcome the abrasiveness factor.
Our Top Picks
One of the best ways to avoid rough patches on your vehicle’s surface is to use a highly reliable, plenty of lube to ensure that the clay easily sits on the car’s surface. Moreover, ensure the clay is not carrying any contamination before application. If it does, it should be discarded immediately, as contaminated clay won’t help remove contamination from the vehicle’s surface.
Don’t know what the best clay bar for your vehicle is?
We will review 8 clay bars in this review article, so make sure you stick with us till the end to choose the best for yourself!
Meguiar’s Smooth Surface Clay Bar – G1016
Specifications:
- Item Form: Clay bar
- Surface recommendation: Mirror
- Unique Feature: It is abrasive
Meguiar’s smooth surface clay bar is a 2020 addition to Meguiar’s Clay range. Some of the most renowned ones are Quik Clay Detailing System – Starter Kit (G1116), Professional Detailing Clay – Mild (C2000), Professional Detailing Clay – Aggressive (C2001), and Meguiar’s Hybrid Ceramic Synthetic Clay Kit (G200200).
However, the individual specialty of Meguiar’s smooth surface clay bar kit is that it comes with 2 separately wrapped 80g clay bars (i.e., a total of 160g), a 473ml bottle of Meguiars Quik Detailer (clay lube), and 1 Supreme Shine Microfiber cloth.
Meguiar’s smooth surface clay bar is the safest and non-abrasive clay bar that protects the layer of paint from getting scratched while you do clay. The best thing about Meguiar’s smooth surface clay bar is that it can be used on already waxed surfaces. However, it will remove wax from the paint after its application. Use the best car wash mitt to remove it from the surface of your car.
We recommend using it after cleaning your car with the best car wash soaps for outstanding results.
- Removes bonded contaminants above the surface of vehicles from the paints.
- Best results on glasses.
- Best to remove tree sap mist, industrial fallout, road tar, and paint overspray.
- Not for below paint surface contamination.
- Not for rusted metal parts such as rusted bonnet.
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Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay 4oz Clay Bar
Specifications:
- Item Form: Clay bar
- Surface recommendation: Mirror, Automotives, paintwork
- Unique Feature: Will keep paint contamination
The best and most unique feature of this clay bar is its composition. Unlike others, the Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay bar has elasticity and a more delicate texture that helps clean extra. This one took a bit of research and more effort to build, but Pinnacle finally tested it and learned that it could be used every month. It can also be used regularly, just like other clay bars but have a greater capacity to deal with contamination. Pinnacle’s Ultra Poly Clay Bar is the ultra version of Pinnacle’s Poly clay bar with a longer life span.
It is non-abrasive and hence ensures that the vehicle’s paint doesn’t get affected. Since most cleaning enthusiasts love to have their cars cleaned up regularly, pinnacle’s Ultra Poly Clay bar periodically allows them to reuse the clay. Its cost-effective, non-abrasive and more delicate texture helps most car owners as well as detailers to deal with bonded contamination skillfully. Its structure and composition are so fine that no matter how much you stretch or reshape it, it won’t lose its elasticity or texture.
In addition to these features, one of the best things is that it can remove up to 6 and 12 months above the surface contamination, which is quite extraordinary.
Also avoid their contact with your car tyres and instead use the best alloy wheel cleaners to give your tires a fascinating shine.
- It is soft and more consistent.
- It’s super cost-effective.
- A good amount of flexibility.
- Non-abrasive.
- Works for a longer span.
- It needs to be adequately stored for use for a longer span.
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Chemical Guys CLY_113 OG Clay Bar
Specifications:
- Item Form: Clay bar
- Surface recommendation: Glass, Plastic
- Unique Feature: Smooth as glass feel
The chemical guy is another huge name for the car cleaning industry that has made many options available for clay bar lovers. OG clay bar stands for ‘Original Gangster’ Clay bar, and you can imagine its incredible performance by just its name.
This OG Clay bar is the light/medium duty clay bar and has all you need for a perfect cleaning. From stretchable texture to cleaning contamination, it is effortless and handy for use. You can easily reuse it, but it has a shorter life span than pinnacle’s Ultra Poly Clay bar. Hence you will need to store it properly before aiming to reuse it.
OG clay bar uses flex clay technology to remove overspray, pollution, and similar contamination from the upper surface.It can be used on paintwork, glass, plastic, and metal surfaces. However, it is mainly recommended for surfaces like plastic and glass.
It is generally used with the synthetic luber named Clay Luber Synthetic lubricant for best results because the gel is so smooth that it makes the clay grab all the contamination that comes in its way.
- Best for surfaces like Plastic and Glass.
- Smoothly removes rail dust, brake dust, and pollution.
- Leaves no scratch if used with proper lubrication.
- Remove embedded particles that light paint colors.
- World favorite.
- It doesn’t have a non-abrasive feature; however one can make sure to avoid scratches by using the tactics shared earlier.
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Chemical Guys CLY_402 Medium Clay Bar
Specifications:
- Item Form: Clay bar with luber
- Surface recommendation: Paintwork, glass, plastic, metal surfaces
- Unique Feature:Hold flex-clay technology
Chemical guys have a large number of customers worldwide, and so they have the most popular tools, including a variety of clay bars, on the list. One of the clay bars is the CLY_402 Clay bar. This clay bar is the next-level version of the chemical guy’s light clay bar series.
It cleans up deep pores and stubborn Marks that won’t leave quickly. You can call it a heavy-duty clay bar that works for the worst-case scenarios, where standard clay bars seem to make you lose hope.
It works best on plastic, metal, and glass surfaces. While if you are comparing these clay bars with the best car glass cleaners. Let us tell you that they both hold their distinctive properties and serve different functions to keep your car in top-notch condition.
- Allows swirl-free polishing.
- Capable of cleaning open pores of surface paint.
- Allows new wax and paint coats to stay for the longest span.
- Scratch-free and non-abrasive.
- Gives a smooth as glass feel.
- Have no specific unique features as compared to other clay bars.
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Mothers 07243 California Gold Deluxe Clay Bar Kit
Specifications:
- Item Form:Clay bar
- Surface recommendation: Paints and clear coats
- Unique Feature: Leaves paint silky smooth
This is the product that I tried myself on my car. It looks pretty usual and mostly has the same features generally noticed in other clay bar products. However, it does have one thing unique and amazing it’s more pliable, non-stiff, and easy to handle.
It can be used on all types of paints and clear coats. It has helped me remove airborne environmental deposits and paint overspray, which is quite good. Mother’s 07243 California Gold Deluxe Clay Bar is used chiefly with Instant detailer lubricant. The combination serves the best results and helps cope with the abrasiveness factor.
This clay bar is not that abrasive but needs to be used properly. The amount of lubricant needs to be plenty so that the clay gets all the contaminants quickly without scratching the surface. The clay can be reused again and again until it becomes thoroughly contaminated.
The deluxe kit includes a high-quality lubricant, three clay bars, and a towel. A Deluxe kit is highly recommended if you want to remove contaminants from all types of surfaces.
- Stretchable and flexible for proper claying.
- Removes hard contaminants from the surface of the vehicle.
- Ensures smooth application of wax.
- Protects the paint and surface of the vehicle from getting scratched.
- It needs a good amount of lubrication.
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Adam’s Medium Grade Clay Bar Jar Kit 100g
Specifications:
- Item Form: Clay Bar
- Surface recommendation: Ideal For car detailing
- Unique Feature:Removes water spots
Adam’s medium-grade clay bar comes in a jar, with the whole kit having a lubricant spray bottle and two 100g clay bars properly packed in a jar. The material with which Adam’s medium-grade clay bar is made up is super flexible and soft, which allows easy adjustable cleaning of all types of debris and fallout.
This medium grade clay bar can also be used on tight spots and hard bonded contaminants. The best thing about this clay bar is that it’s durable and has a longer lifespan as compared to Mothers 07243 California Gold Deluxe Clay Bar. It is best for painted surfaces, and glass polished metals.
It will be more effective if you also hold the other car cleaning gears like the best snow foam for the car wash. While spraying them effectively, the best snow foam lances or foam cannons will work well. Also, for a thorough cleaning, you can use the best glass cleaners or best alloy wheel cleaners. At the one, you can finalize the cleaning with the best clay bar for fantastic cleaning.
Since it is a medium-grade clay it quickly rubs off all the contaminants on the vehicle’s surface.
- Flexible and soft.
- Can be reused.
- Helps in removing airborne pollutants and rough patches.
- Allows smooth application of paint and wax.
- Requires good lubrication.
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Griot’s Garage 11049 Glass Cleaning Clay 3.5oz
Specifications:
- Item Form: Clay Bar
- Surface recommendation: Glass, polish, doors, windows
- Unique Feature: Removes mineral deposits
Griot’s Garage 11049 glass cleaning clay bar is essentially used for all types of drinks. The contaminants that affect glasses are usually tar, road film, oil, grease, and water spots. Griot’s Garage 11048 glass cleaning clay keeps such contaminants away from the surface of the glass. It’s quite helpful for the glass protection layer application process. It helps remove mineral deposits and oily road residue dried on glass.
A 100 gram, 3.5 oz can easily clay more than a dozen glasses. Since the clay is denser than the Griot’s garage paint, cleaning clay helps with unnecessary stickiness on glass. Such clay bars can be used on glasses in the vehicle, patio doors, windows, and bathroom glass doors.It is used with any high-quality lubricants available in the market that doesn’t work.
- Highly Dense.
- Cleans all types of glass.
- It can work with any lubricant.
- Removes oil grease marks on the glass.
- Mostly recommended for glasses and not car bonnet or roof.
Clay Bar Usage
Using a clay bar is not rocket science. However, you might need to take care of things before using a clay bar. It does need to be done properly so that it won’t affect the other procedures, such as vehicle paintwork.
The most important part about using a clay bar is that it should be applied after the vehicle or surface gets cleaned up with water.
This helps in keeping contaminants at bay. Such pollutants are so tiny yet threatening that they can cause delamination.
What is delamination?
Delamination is a process that occurs due to a lack of proper stickiness between wax and the paint that causes paint to peel itself out from the surface.
The grime and all the dirt can seep into pores and start residing there until it destroys the surface and possibly affects the upper paint layer.
Clay Bar Alternatives
There are times when you can’t find Clay bars either because of increased demand or they can get out of stock within no time. The best thing about the availability of product alternatives is that it lets us go through such periods smoothly.
- Clay Mitts
Clay mitts are the same as clay bars; however, their composition contains clay and polymer. They usually have microfiber material on the inside.
- Clay Pads
Clay pads are round or rectangular-shaped pads made up of rubber and polymer quite similar to clay towels but somehow work differently.
- Clay Towels
Clay towels are just like clay bars, but they don’t wrap around your hands. These towels are made up of specialized rubber and microfiber cloth.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
This section has resolved all your queries related to the best clay bars and related factors. We hope that you will find them helpful, and these will also guide you to make the right purchase.
When should I clay bar a car?
Claying a car can be done every day or on specific occasions. However, claying is usually only done when the vehicle’s surface doesn’t have a smooth or plain surface. You can apply it when your car’s paint appears to be lighter than its original color or happens to be dusty or blackened with polluted particles or stubborn watermarks. Read More.
It can also be used after every weekly wash that you give to your car weekly. It is unnecessary when the surface already feels smooth enough, making your finger slide over it quickly.
Do I have to use a clay bar before or after washing?
Using a clay bar at appropriate timings is very necessary. Clay bars must be used after washing because that helps you figure out extra dirt or pollutants that make your car’s surface stubbornly dirty. Ordinary dirt usually gets removed through washing which lets you decide where you have to use the clay bar—in short, claying after washing makes your work done in less time.
Do I have to apply wax after a clay bar?
It’s usual for all car owners and detailers to use the clay bar before applying wax, sealant, or paint. Because clay bars help remove contaminants from the vehicle’s surface, that helps easy plain and smooth application of the paint or wax.
If you try to do otherwise, then the bonded contaminants will hinder the wax application process as there will probably be dirt spots all over the vehicle’s surface.
These contaminants block the paints from getting in contact with the wax. Later consequences include delamination of paint, where flakes of paint will slowly peel the vehicle’s surface.
Does a clay bar remove water spots?
Yes! Clay bars do help with water spots on the vehicle’s surface, but some of them require good lubrication to ensure proper cleaning. However, most of the time, water sports on the vehicle’s surface don’t go away quickly, especially when they seep into the lower surface of the metal. In that case, the clay bar won’t work. You’ll need a better alternative to cope with that problem.
Is clay bar detailing worth it?
The surface of the vehicle does get contaminated daily. Contaminants like pollutants, industrial pollution, tree sap, dust, etc., affect car paint and wax. If clay bar detailing is not done, your vehicle may seem missing its glimmer and shine. Hence if you are very conscious about your car’s look and surface, you must not think for even a second. The clay bar detailing is the best your car can get!
How long does a car clay bar last, and does it have a shelf life?
No clay bars don’t have any shelf life. Good quality clay bars last for a year. However, proper storage is necessary. Most good-quality clay bars come with lubricants, so both lubricants and clay bars can last longer if you ensure that the storage temperature and method are appropriate. But the considerable factor involved in determining the clay bar’s life span is how much and on what surfaces you use it.
Can I clay bar in the summer sun or the winter?
Summer sunlight doesn’t affect the process of claying your car. However, winter makes things worse. As the temperature falls, automobiles and all other means of transport get super influenced by the snowfall. Most of the time, cars get frozen, and so do their surfaces. In such cases, scratches and delamination are typical. However, you can cope with the winter problems by washing your car regularly with highly reliable products and ensuring proper claying. Don’t let the snow freeze over your car’s roof and bonnet; it will make it harder for you to take care of your car.
Conclusion
In the last, concluding all of the above review articles, I would suggest choosing the clay bar compatible with your vehicle’s surface. As some cars have metal-painted characters and others have matte-painted covers. And the reviews by our experts will help you choose the right purchase for your vehicle, so give them a read for a better understanding. At the same time, you can also purchase from the given link at discounted rates.
