Products Clay bars

Products
Mothers California
Gold Clay Bar
Price: £21.95 Rating: HHHH
Despite its name, this is a kit, which
includes a pair of 80g bars, 473ml
bottle of lube and a good-quality
microfibre cloth. Although the
cheapest of the kits here, it lacks the
polish or wax of rivals, or a container
for unused clay. It worked well on
the roof, but wasn’t so good on glass.
Meguiar’s Smooth
Surface Clay Kit
Price: £24.99 Rating: HHHH
THIS kit contains a lubricant, large
microfibre cloth and a 118ml bottle
of cleaner wax, which will run out
long before the two 50g bars are
spent. The clays work effectively, if a
little less aggressively than the top
performers, and dealt well with the
overspray. Our pick of the kits.
Clay bars
Clay bars
smooth ope rators
To give your car’s paintwork the ultimate look, you should prep it with a clay bar. We tested 12 to find the best
Kim Adams
Once a dark art practised only by diehard detailers,
claying has gone mainstream in the past few years, with
bars now lining the shelves of most accessory shops.
And there’s something magical about them, as they
can pull off contaminants and debris from freshly washed
and apparently clean paintwork, providing a pristine
surface for a wax or polish. As the clay bar glides over
sprayed-on lube or water, it effortlessly removes tree
sap, overspray and bird droppings from paintwork
or glass, and stubborn disc dust from wheels.
As trees, bugs and birds do their worst, now is a good
time to banish all traces of them from your paintwork,
then add a protective coat of wax or polish. But which
clay bar should you stick with? We tried 12 to find out.
The test
KEY to this test is how well the bars clean, so we used
them all to the maker’s instructions, with water or lube.
We carried out limited wiping on a section of roof, looking
for the smoothest finish. We also lightly spray-painted a
side window and checked how much was removed after a
set number of passes over the area. While you only need
to use a clay a few times a year, they can be expensive,
so we awarded marks for value for money. In addition, we
assessed whether they needed lube to work, and came
with extras such as storage boxes, cloths, polish or wax.
Autoglym Surface
Detailing Clay Kit
Verdict
cellophane or plastic helps
accentuate any imperfections
in the surface. Try it before
and after using a clay bar.
Reigning champion Bilt-Hamber (Issue 1,037) hangs on
to its crown, but this time with its Auto-Clay Regular. It
combined super cleaning with a cracking price. Past
winner, the Soft, slips to third place. Splitting the BiltHamber pair is the new Vertar Medium V bar. Among the
kits, Meguiar’s just snatches the verdict from Mothers.
1. Bilt-Hamber Auto-Clay Regular
2. Vertar V-clay Medium V
3. Bilt-Hamber Auto-Clay Soft
2 Once a clay bar has been
dropped, it must be thrown
away as any tiny pieces of
grit it picks up can damage
paintwork. Don’t take the risk.
Halfords (Meguiar’s, Autoglym)
0845 762 6625 www.halfords.com
Race Glaze 01780 749449 www.raceglaze.co.uk
Smartwax 01992 466481 www.smartwax.net
Ultimate Finish (Sonüs, Mothers, Bilt-Hamber)
0845 838 1200 www.theultimatefinish.co.uk
3 Some clays require a
lubricant to make them work,
while others just use water.
Generally, a lube is easier and
water more cost effective.
Zymöl 0845 474 0167 www.zymol.co.uk
Race Glaze Clay Bar
Price: £12 Rating: HHH
The Race Glaze bar is pricey. You get only 100g
for your money, and it will cost
£19.99 if you include the
required 500ml trigger
pack lube. It also performs
less aggressively than
rivals, needing more
passes over the paintwork.
behind stubborn baked-on
brake disc dust spots.
However, these can often be
lifted off by using a clay bar.
Price: £9.95 Rating: HHHHH
BEST BUY Our new champion offers superb
performance and value for money. You can also
use it without lube. It ripped
through our tests, removing
virtually all the overspray and
left a super-smooth finish on
the roof, despite the limited
number of passes.
5 EVEN a few passes over
an apparently clean, freshly
washed panel can remove
‘invisible’ grime. Save
money by dividing the bar.
Vertar V-clay Fine V
BEST
BUY
2010
RECOMMENDED
2010
Price: £10.95 Rating: HHHH
It might have lost its crown to its Regular
stablemate, but this Soft version is still brilliant
at lifting grime. It’s very sticky to
the touch, yet it’s able to glide
over paintwork with just water
to ease the way. Two 100g
bars and a plastic storage
case are included, but who
needs more at this price?
Price: £9.45 Rating: HHHH
RECOMMENDED New to the UK and already a rival
to more established names. You get two
100g bars, making it among
the cheapest here. It can be
used with water or a lube;
we chose the former as it’s
cheaper. It was among the
best performers on the paint,
but left a bit more overspray.
Zymöl Lehm-Klay III
4 WHEEL cleaners can leave
Bilt-Hamber Auto-Clay Regular
Price: £21.94 Rating: HHH
AS with Race Glaze (opposite),
Smartclay is pricey – which we could
forgive if it was more effective. It gets
the job done, but not as quickly as its
rivals, barely touching the overspray.
On the plus side, there’s a 180g bar
in a resealable case, and the £9.99
473ml lube delivers a wide fine
mist, so a little goes a long way.
Vertar V-clay Medium V
Bilt-Hamber 01277 658899 www.bilthamber.com
Meguiar’s 0870 241 6696 www.meguiars.co.uk
Smartwax Smartclay
Bilt-Hamber Auto-Clay Soft
Autoglym 01462 677766 www.autoglym.com
Vertar 0800 177 7808 www.vertar.com
68 autoexpress.co.uk 14 July 2010
1 Feeling the paint through
Contacts
Price: £27.99 Rating: HHH
Autoglym pack comprises a 100ml
sample bottle of polish, 100g clay
bar, microfibre cloth, stockinette
and 500ml of lubricant, which
goes some way to justifying the
high price. While it matched the
Meguiar’s (above) on our test roof,
it struggled with the paint overspray.
Price: £8.95 Rating: HHH
Although cheaper than its Medium stablemate
(opposite), it struggled to match performance
on our roof. It fared better on the glass
overspray, though. Both
products are very sticky
to the touch and a bit
harder work than some
when used with water alone.
Claying
top tips
Products
Price: £30 Rating: HHHH
Nothing could touch this clay in either test,
although Bilt-Hamber came close, and that’s
the problem. Add the 354ml
lube to the 140g bar and
the combination is £45.
A fantastic product, but you
have to be serious about your
detailing to justify the outlay.
Sonüs SFX Ultra Fine
Detailing Clay
Price: £19 Rating: HHH
Detailed instructions wrapped around the
resealable case set this clay
apart here. You need a lube for
the 170g bar, which adds £10
to the cost, but you get an
effective combination that was
only beaten by the top cleaners.
Smartwax Clayblock
Price: £25.60 Rating: HHH
Clayblock is essentially a fine sponge with a
stiffer than usual clay bar surface on one side.
It needs a lube, which adds to
the hefty cost, but the design
means you can cover big
areas quickly. It starred on
the glass and roof, yet was
tricky to use on alloys.
14 July 2010 autoexpress.co.uk 69