Claying: traditional bar or a mitt?

[Rod]

Hi guys I am looking to stock some clay and I am not sure whether to go with the traditional bar or try out a mitt. I have read that mitts not only are faster to use but also are less risky of leaving marks. Is that true?

If I would go for a bar, the options are: 3D, 3M from China, Meguiars, Chemical Guys, Sonax

If I would go for a mitt, the options are: 3D, Chemical Guys cleansing mitt or Nanoskin autoscrub

What would you guys recommend me? Is the result the same between both methods?

Thanks!

[Just02896]

I've used both and now am using mitts almost exclusively. I use a mitt and 2 bucket wash method with either CG Wash Clear, CG Honeydew, or DG901 mixed heavy. Seems to work best for me with no marring. The key is to rinse the mitt after EVERY panel!

[WillWashesCars]

I say give the Nanoskin Clay Mitt a shot. Get a bottle of ONR and use that as the lubricant and just be gentle. It makes the process stupid quick and easy.

Or get Nanoskin's Shock and it will leave a layer of protection behind simplifying the process.

[Pureshine]

NanoSkin wash mitt faster and safe than clay and each mitt you will get 45 uses out of it. If you drop it just rinse off and keep going. I would get the fine grade one and just like clay make sure you use plenty of lube.

[Rsurfer]

Anyone use the 4" disk by hand? Stick 3 fingers in the holder and it's awesome.

[Rod]

Thanks guys for all the inputs I have merely reduced the search to nanoskin or 3D clay mitts

[HateSwirls]

One day I need to buy the Nanoskin towel to see what the rave is all about.

The clay bar is still working for me, the bar is the only thing ever used to remove contaminets so for me it's hard to walk away from it to try something else.

[Rod]

One day I need to buy the Nanoskin towel to see what the rave is all about.



The clay bar is still working for me, the bar is the only thing ever used to remove contaminets so for me it's hard to walk away from it to try something else.


I understand what you mean, but don't fight evolution :-) hahahahaha

[HateSwirls]

I understand what you mean, but don't fight evolution :-) hahahahaha


The "Fight" is just about over. Lol

[asalesagent912]

havent tried the wash mitt but loved the 6.5 pad on the DA. would never go back to clay

[Joeyavhu]

I have a medium and a fine grade nano skin mitt. Its hard to think about moving back to clay. You just rinse off the mitt often, foam the next panel, and move on your way. They work very well.

[Rod]

I have a medium and a fine grade nano skin mitt. Its hard to think about moving back to clay. You just rinse off the mitt often, foam the next panel, and move on your way. They work very well.


Any negative marrying experience with the mitt?

[BrianMcLeod]

I am trying to make the same decision! Let me know what you get I am still trying to figure out what grade to get!

[Joeyavhu]

Any negative marrying experience with the mitt?

I have not noticed any, although I visually inspect the mitt at least 2-3 times per panel, rinse it off 2-3 times a panel, and run my hand over it each time I rinse it off, so that may help.

Also, I am almost always doing correction work after, so I'm certainly not saying that I don't care, but Im not always looking for any kind of marring.

[AuroraDetailing]

Are these mitts somehow different now? I bought 2 mitts from a different company last year, and I swear they were only about $8 each. I'm sure I wouldn't have purchased two of them if they were $50+. I did have some issues with crap getting stuck in them so I planned on buying some new ones, and was doing some latex painting work for a friend and needed to clean some overspray off some stairs, and decided to use the mitts since I was going to get rid of them anyway, and my friend said he would buy me some new ones since they were only about $8. Now I'm ready to buy some more and see that they are $50, and checked where I bought them last year, and they too are $50. But everyone keeps saying they can just rinse these off, and the ones I have didn't rinse off well at all and were pretty tacky. They were hard to store because they stuck to anything I put them in.

My experience with them is that they are fast, but can't get everything that a clay bar can get, so sometimes I would have to hit certain spots again with a clay bar, like road tar and bugs. If I tried to go a little too hard, it would leave some of the clay from the mitt on the paint, and it couldn't get itself off. Luckily it would come off really easy during polishing with a DA.

I guess what I'm looking to find out is if anyone has used the mitts back when they were cheap, and tried out these new expensive ones. I'm not even sure if they had the same name. I believe they were just called clay mitts before, but these being named nanoskin, and quite a bit more costly, I'm guessing they are different. I don't think $50 is worth the mitt that I had experience with, but if these can be easily rinsed and don't get contaminants stuck in them, and you can work the paint hard when needed, I think it might be worth the $50.

EDIT: Just looked at my old invoice and I must have been smoking something because it was $39.99, so not a great difference in price. But it was called "Surface Cleansing Mitt medium gray clay system". But either way, it still didn't seem to be the same as everyone is describing about the nanoskin mitts