Clay Towels

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Let'sgoflying!

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Dave Taylor
On another forum, discussion of how amazing these are to make the paint shine.
Anyone have experience or knowledge of them?
 
I've heard of clay bars. Wash the car/plane, hit it with the clay bar (similar process to waxing), then wax it.

What's a "clay towel"? Must be an easier way to do clay bar, probably less effective. But if it's easier to do, go for it.
 
Hank S said:
I've heard of clay bars. Wash the car/plane, hit it with the clay bar (similar process to waxing), then wax it.

What's a "clay towel"? Must be an easier way to do clay bar, probably less effective. But if it's easier to do, go for it.
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It’s the same thing. Autoscrub also makes clay DA polisher pads. None of them will make your paint any shinier
 
ktup-flyer said:
It’s the same thing. Autoscrub also makes clay DA polisher pads. None of them will make your paint any shinier
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It just removes oxidized paint, leaving what was under it on display. The condition of what's left determines the amount of shine, if any.
 
Clay bar simply removes contaminants from your paint and is a step to prep your paint for proper polishing and waxing.

The best way to determine if your paint needs to be clay bar’d is to take a plastic baggy, place it over your hand, and feel the paint. If it feels like sand paper you should use clay bar before you polish/wax. Clean paint will feel smooth as glass.

I recommend the nanoskin mitts, which is a clay bar wash mitt. You do a preliminary wash and get all the dirt and grime off and then go back over the vehicle/plane with the wash mitt (it must be lubricated with lots of good wash soap! Do not do this dry - you can marr the paint). The towel is meant to be used in a similar fashion.

The original clay bar method is quite time consuming and no longer necessary with the creation of these new nanoskin mitts/towels. Some detailers do use them to hit certain spots that the nanoskin mitt/towel might have missed or maybe wasn’t aggressive enough (there are different grades of nanoskin mitts/towels).
 
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CC268 said:
I recommend the nanoskin mitts, which is a clay bar wash mitt. You do a preliminary wash and get all the dirt and grime off and then go back over the vehicle/plane with the wash mitt (it must be lubricated with lots of good wash soap! Do not do this dry - you can marr the paint). The towel is meant to be used in a similar fashion.
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@CC268, what kind of wash soap? I fear a nanoskin mitt will open up a new world of OCD possibilities.

Thus far I've been using wash wax all with good results. I use aviation simple green if the fuel hose leaves marks on my leading edges, or if corrosion-x weeps out on a hot day. The paint on my 140 is in good shape so I haven't broken out the HD Speed or Collinite yet.
 
GeorgeC said:
@CC268, what kind of wash soap? I fear a nanoskin mitt will open up a new world of OCD possibilities.

Thus far I've been using wash wax all with good results. I use aviation simple green if the fuel hose leaves marks on my leading edges, or if corrosion-x weeps out on a hot day. The paint on my 140 is in good shape so I haven't broken out the HD Speed or Collinite yet.
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It doesn’t matter really...just any good quality wash soap. Meguiars Gold Class is cheap and can be found anywhere. It’s one of the few consumer grade detail products I will recommend.
 
These look like a major improvement in ease of use over a clay bar.
How long does a clay towel or mitt last? How much surface area will each treat?
 
I've used a clay bar on my pickup. Doesn't seem to take all that long. It's been parked outside for several years and I will be the first to say I don't take care of the finish like I should... it seldom gets washed. It was developing little dots of rust that I had read somewhere were likely embedded bits of metal from brakes, that were rusting. Five minutes with a clay bar and some detail spray and they were gone like magic, and the area looks like glass. Amazing. I haven't done the whole truck yet, but it probably wouldn't take more than 30-45 minutes. A fender or tailgate takes maybe 5 minutes or so.

We had some paint overspray on the outside of the airplane after painting the interior. A red (more aggressive) clay bar removed that with almost zero effort, and again left the paint looking much better than it did before. I've been very impressed with the performance of the clay bars, and I bought the cheap stuff on Amazon.

The towel does look like a time saver though. I may buy one to do my wife's vehicle and to do the whole truck. The stuff is cheap enough, why not?
 
Artimas said:
These look like a major improvement in ease of use over a clay bar.
How long does a clay towel or mitt last? How much surface area will each treat?
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Clay mitt will last a long time assuming you keep it clean after use and store it in a decent environment. Had mine for 3+ years now.
 
DaleB said:
I've used a clay bar on my pickup. Doesn't seem to take all that long. It's been parked outside for several years and I will be the first to say I don't take care of the finish like I should... it seldom gets washed. It was developing little dots of rust that I had read somewhere were likely embedded bits of metal from brakes, that were rusting. Five minutes with a clay bar and some detail spray and they were gone like magic, and the area looks like glass. Amazing. I haven't done the whole truck yet, but it probably wouldn't take more than 30-45 minutes. A fender or tailgate takes maybe 5 minutes or so.

We had some paint overspray on the outside of the airplane after painting the interior. A red (more aggressive) clay bar removed that with almost zero effort, and again left the paint looking much better than it did before. I've been very impressed with the performance of the clay bars, and I bought the cheap stuff on Amazon.

The towel does look like a time saver though. I may buy one to do my wife's vehicle and to do the whole truck. The stuff is cheap enough, why not?
Click to expand...

IronX is an amazing product for removing brake dust and other iron particles from paint. It’s not cheap but it’s amazing stuff.
 
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