Mothers brand clay bar, great, ok or eh?

[Hellspawn]

Popped open my mothers clay box from under the sink for my new Infiniti g37xS, vibrant red in color, the other evening.

Went over the whole car using the show time detainee (awesome smell btw) and piled off very little of anything. A few things here and there but this car came by rail from LA to Missouri mind you.

Was wondering if the clay just isn't considered aggressive enough or if it was just that clean?

Just looking for comments here about the clay quality I guess.

By the way, iron-x was a complete disappointment except for a little on the wheels.

I don't believe they clayed it before delivery, it is cleaner now than the day I took delivery!

[Setec Astronomy]

The Mother's clay is pretty mild. Most cars these days have pretty comprehensive shipping protection on the upper surfaces; I would say that's why you didn't get much off with the clay or Iron-X. I think there are more problems when dealers get the car and strip the plastic, then let the car sit on the lot for months, or swap it to another dealer where it gets some truck time unprotected.

[swanicyouth]

I like the white OTC Meg's clay better. But, give your paint a "baggy test". If its smooth - looks like you got it clean. If not, you may need a more aggressive clay.

[SR99]

Yep, do the plastic baggie test. I recently had some unknown colorless contaminant and the paint felt and sounded very smooth with the Mothers gold clay but I could still feel something with the baggie test. It took forever to get one spot to pass the baggie test with the Mothers clay, so I switched to slightly more aggressive ClayMagic blue and it removed it faster.

So it really depends what the contaminant is. Mothers gold clay has worked fine for me in the past. Others have used even less aggressive clays and passed the baggie test.

Just as with polishing compounds, use the least aggressive that gets the job done.
Probably a good idea to have a couple different aggressiveness clays on hand, since it's impossible to predict what contaminants might land on your paint. I'm not sure what would be equivalent to claymagic blue from AG.

[mwoolfso]

Mother's Clay is very good IMO and like others said, your car must have been treated very well during transport. I used a new yellow bar on a 2001 GMC Yukon that had not been washed or waxed in 9 years..... the bar was super filthy afterward. For a mild clay, it did the job.

[Hellspawn]

Originally Posted by SR99

Yep, do the plastic baggie test. I recently had some unknown colorless contaminant and the paint felt and sounded very smooth with the Mothers gold clay but I could still feel something with the baggie test. It took forever to get one spot to pass the baggie test with the Mothers clay, so I switched to slightly more aggressive ClayMagic blue and it removed it faster.

So it really depends what the contaminant is. Mothers gold clay has worked fine for me in the past. Others have used even less aggressive clays and passed the baggie test.

Just as with polishing compounds, use the least aggressive that gets the job done.
Probably a good idea to have a couple different aggressiveness clays on hand, since it's impossible to predict what contaminants might land on your paint. I'm not sure what would be equivalent to claymagic blue from AG.

Feels smooth so I guess it is ok, I tell you that ironx was disappointing. I guess it was good there wasn't much of anything on there but I wanted a bit of a show! There were a few little lines of purple here and there, but very small.

[Bunky]

Mothers Clay is on the mild side but does not mean it can remove a lot with proper technique.

I did some side by sides with Meguiars OTC bar and really did not see any real difference in performance.

[BobbyG]

I think Mothers over the counter clay works pretty well. I've compared it to Meguiar's mild light blue clay and see very little difference in performance.

I've clayed new cars and have seen the paint filthy yet others exhibit little embedded contamination...The reason you may not have noticed much pickup is the car is new and the finish might just be clean.

[SON1C]

Mothers clay is the only Clay I use, great clay so I've seen no need in switching

[Hellspawn]

Originally Posted by BobbyG

I think Mothers over the counter clay works pretty well. I've compared it to Meguiar's mild light blue clay and see very little difference in performance.

I've clayed new cars and have seen the paint filthy yet others exhibit little embedded contamination...The reason you may not have noticed much pickup is the car is new and the finish might just be clean.

Well with the ironx no-show I'm guessing I just have a clean new car, HOWEVER it has a good application of DISO. Get this, instead of sending guys around the lot every week or two with a powerwasher, they drive them all through the on-site slap and scratch tunnelwash.

So... the longer your new car was on the lot, the more times it goes through the wash of horrors.