Alternative for clay bars

[Car Groomers]

Claybars like Meguiars, Mothers,etc. cost a bomb here in India. A 7oz (200 gms) bar comes to about 65$. In addition, customer awareness wrt detailing is very low and customers are very price sensitive. So it becomes impossible to use professional detailing clays. Is there any cheaper alternative to clay bars?

[Desertnate]

One alternative that gets a lot of discussion here are the Nanoskin products.

It might be worth doing some searches here for reviews and checking out the products in the Autogeek store. I don't know what local availability might be like in your country, but it might give you an idea of what options are available.

[swanicyouth]

Ultima Elastafoam, CG's Clay Block, and the Magna Sponge are all about $20 USA and can be used many times. Where a clay bar cost about the same (here), and degrades much faster - if you drop it it's garbage.

[tersplat]

Like someone above said, nanoskin autoscrub, they make sponges, towels, mitts,and DA pads.

[peter hurcos]

For $65 (US?) a claybar I'd quit detailing and go into smuggling.

[Car Groomers]

For $65 (US?) a claybar I'd quit detailing and go into smuggling.

And this quote is from authorised Meguiar's dealer here.

[Prestige.Detail]

Agreed, try using a nano skin pad.. It will cut the decontamination process in half and you will be able to easily remove contaminats from dozens of cars

[Car Groomers]

Ultima Elastafoam, CG's Clay Block, and the Magna Sponge are all about $20 USA and can be used many times. Where a clay bar cost about the same (here), and degrades much faster - if you drop it it's garbage.

Since nothing is manufactured here; the price goes up 3 times with shipping and import duties. The money people pay for detailing here is laughable compared to that in west. So I guess no solution to the issue?

[JWilliams.RadiantDetail]

I have a question, I was Googling reviews of the various Nanoskin mitt's. I didn't find a lot, but what I found was all very positive. One thing I can't find is how long do they last? The drastic reduction in time, and ease of use over a clay bar's great. But @ $60-80 how many uses do you get out of one? I did find one blurb that said "lasts 4 times as long as a Claybar" if this is the case it puts it right in line price wise.
But I tend to be wary of marketing hype.

[08ChevImpala]

I have a question, I was Googling reviews of the various Nanoskin mitt's. I didn't find a lot, but what I found was all very positive. One thing I can't find is how long do they last? The drastic reduction in time, and ease of use over a clay bar's great. But @ $60-80 how many uses do you get out of one? I did find one blurb that said "lasts 4 times as long as a Claybar" if this is the case it puts it right in line price wise.
But I tend to be wary of marketing hype.
I'm wondering the same thing. If Nanoskin lasts longer, cuts process time by 3, and is easy to use, why aren't people like us talking about it more?

[Odisious]

I'm wondering the same thing. If Nanoskin lasts longer, cuts process time by 3, and is easy to use, why aren't people like us talking about it more?

Every detailer by profession I have identified on here uses a speedy prep product of some kind...not necessarily nanoskin, but some form of speedy prep...Clay takes so long by comparison. I only clay three vehicles a year, and I still have nano skins because of efficiency. I found the two grade sponge combo the best value...then you can use clay for tight spots...or the nano skin speedy towel (too scared to use the DA nano pad) Anyway, I think that more people use some form of rubberized decontams than you're aware of.

[Kamakaz1961]

Nanoskin Sponge and the Nanoskin 6" Pad disc. They are great. Blue and Red. Blue is for fine and Red is for more course work.

I have had great success with Nanoskin!!

[bbattle]

This may have been beaten to death already, but has anyone tried modeling clay from the hobby store?

[PurpleTowel]

This may have been beaten to death already, but has anyone tried modeling clay from the hobby store?

This ought to be fun.

http://simsarabim.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/popcorn.gif

[davey g-force]

This may have been beaten to death already, but has anyone tried modeling clay from the hobby store?

Actually, yes, it's been tried before. It works just fine, but the ease of use is compromised somewhat. Check out this thread:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/40864-detailing-modeling-clay-you-decide.html

Also this (Blu-Tak):

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/49580-clay-clay-experiment.html