Claybar test: Riccardo yellow vs Claymagic blue (+ Blackfire clay extender)

[SR99]

What I did:
I tested Riccardo yellow clay versus my current favorite clay, ClayMagic blue. I first compared them using Riccardo clay lube for both, and them compared them using UWW+ as the clay lube for both (I wanted to see what difference if any, the clay lube makes). Then I did some experiments with the BlackFire Clay Cleaner & Extender.

Comparing the two clay bars before use:
The ClayMagic blue was originally a 200 gram block which I cut up into small chunks as shown (about half the 200g block is shown). The Riccardo yellow comes in a plastic flip-top container and weighs 8 ounces (227 gram). It comes in 3 flat sheets, each separated by a plastic sheet so they don’t stick together (sort of the way cheese slices are packaged)




Note in the photo above (the back of the Riccardo box) that AG is the distributor of Riccardo clay. I didn’t know that.

Room temperature softness:
The Riccardo is softer at room temperature, but they both require some effort to knead and flatten them.

Stickiness:
Both have good stickiness (helps prevent accidental drops) and you have to literally peel the clay off your fingers; you can't just shake it off (assuming you don't have clay lube on the finger side). The Riccardo is slightly stickier, but both are more than adequate to prevent accidental drops.

Ease of tearing:
The Riccardo is far more elastic. The Claymagic sort of fractures as it is stretched, so it is a bit easier to separate it into smaller pieces (see photo). I don’t know that the elasticity is an important parameter, and I just wanted to note it.



I did 2 tests of each clay, using Riccardo clay lube for the first test and UWW+ as the clay lube for the second test. In each test I taped off 4 quadrants on my roof, so each test has 2 quadrants of each clay. Later I taped off a second set of 4 quadrants on the other side of the roof for the second test using the UWW+ as clay lube.





The Claymagic blue was used on the 2 quadrants on the left, and the Riccardo yellow on the right. I clayed for fixed times in order to make the tests fairly even.

The level of contaminants on my roof was moderate. I couldn’t feel it with my bare hand but could feel it over most of the roof (felt like a bunch of small bumps) with a plastic baggie on my hand.

Using Riccardo clay lube:
I clayed the first 2 (upper) quadrants for 30 seconds and the second 2 (lower) quadrants for 45 seconds, just to see if the extra time removed more contaminants. After wiping the lube and residue away with a MF towel, I then cleaned all with waterless wash to get any remaining residue so the baggie test wouldn't be deceived by some remaining gunk which would otherwise just wipe away.

Result:
First I want to mention that the contaminants I have are colorless, so I don’t have any photos of the clay after claying. My guess is the contaminant is mainly sap but I’m not positive.

The Claymagic had slightly more residue after claying (and a bit more effort to remove the residue). The Riccardo (based on a plastic baggie sweep) did a better job removing the contaminants in the 30 second quadrant but was about the same as the ClayMagic in the 45 second quadrant. That would seem to say that (with the same clay lube) the Riccardo is a bit more aggressive than the ClayMagic.

Neither clay showed any marring, but I did get some fine scratches. In the photos below I used some post-processing in Adobe Lightroom to make the scratches stand out more. They were pretty fine scratches, and a later step with the Rupes 21 and a yellow Rupes pad and Prima swirl got rid of all of them.





I don’t think these fine scratches are caused by the clay. Clay itself (any brand) should not produce fine isolated scratches like this. Maybe some marring, but not scratches. My guess is (assuming the contaminant is sap) the sap attaches to atmospheric dust/grit while it is airborne, and that grit gets bonded to the sap, and as I abraded it away during claying, the grit particles did the scratching. Either that, or maybe some sap is abrasive. Since it’s colorless on the clay, it’s hard to tell how saturated the clay was.

While the Riccardo had less scratching, that was just the luck of the draw, and in the next test where I used UWW+ as the clay lube, the Riccardo quadrants had slightly more of these fine scratches.

But if anyone wants to challenge that conclusion (that the scratches are not from the clay itself), feel free to do so.

Using UWW+ as the clay lube:
Next, I used a different clay lube (Ultima Waterless Wash+), and repeat the 4 quadrant test on a different part of the roof.
I know most people says the lube doesn't really matter but I've never seen anyone actually test different lubes so I figured I'd test it.

As before, I did 2 tests of each clay (2 quadrants each: 30 seconds of claying for 1 quadrant and 45 seconds for the other), and I used new pieces of clay so no remnants of the other lube, and clean wiping towels.

Compared to the Riccardo clay lube, both clays were more grabby when using the UWW+ as the clay lube, but the Riccardo clay more so than the ClayMagic.
As before, the Riccardo was slightly better at removing the contaminants in the 30 second quadrants but they were about equal in the 45 second quadrants.

Due to the grabbiness with the UWW+ as the lube I had to go a bit slower, so that might explain why even the 45 second quadrants for both clays had some remaining traces of contaminants that I could feel with the baggie. However, this test did seem to confirm that the Riccardo is slightly more aggressive than the ClayMagic, as I saw with the Riccardo lube.

The claymagic in this case had slightly fewer fine scratches, but as I noted above, I don’t think this is a function of the clay but has to do with some abrasive grit in the contaminants and it’s the luck of the draw which clay got the most.

Clay Lube test summary:
Overall, compared to the UWW+ as a clay lube, the ease of use is better with the Riccardo lube, regardless of which clay. There was no grabbiness and you can move the clay pretty rapidly. I didn’t have any complaints with using UWW+ before, but I do like the Riccardo lube better. So it seems clay lubes are more than just a gimmick and they are better optimized than a general purpose lube such as using a waterless wash as a clay lube. Grabbiness can lead to marring (raw clay on paint), but if you’re going to polish afterwards anyway I don’t suppose that makes a big difference. Still, if you’re looking for a clay lube, the Riccardo lube is good stuff.

Clay comparison summary:
I don’t want to go too far and draw definitive conclusions based on using Riccardo just this one time, so I’ll just say that it’s a strong contender to unseat the ClayMagic blue as my go-to clay. It seems slightly more aggressive without adding any more risk, and is slightly less expensive than the ClayMagic at regular prices. It’s also slightly easier to work/knead, and is slightly stickier. So it seems to slightly edge out the Claymagic blue in several categories, and doesn’t trail in any. It’s worth a try if you’re in the market for a claybar, and I’d consider getting the Riccardo lube while you’re at it, since it was designed to go with it and is a good match.

Now for the real surprise…
I also tested Blackfire clay cleaner and extender (but not for its intended use)...


I didn't have any visible contaminants on the clay so I couldn’t test how well the BF clay cleaner cleans the clay, but others have shown it works well for that.

However...I did try using it to see if this chemical itself can remove contaminants (without using clay).

I sprayed some on a vertical panel with above-surface contaminants verified via plastic baggie. I used a window (no nap) microfiber (the green one in the photo) to work it in for about 15 seconds. For this particular contaminant (which I think is also sap but I'm not positive)...it absolutely does work!

At first I didn't think it did, because when wiping it off, it felt grabby (which I guess was just the dissolved contaminant, spread around). But once I cleaned that off by spraying with UWW+ to wipe away the residue using a new towel, it was smooth and the contaminants were gone. A nice result.

What I don't know is whether the Blackfire Clay Cleaner is paint safe (especially if it's only on your paint for a few minutes), and I couldn't find an MSDS (yes I know I should have thought of this before I tried it on my paint ;o).

If it turns out it's paint-safe, I'll be trying this "liquid clay" some more. Who knows, it might only work for certain contaminants, but the results for this case were great.

Well that’s it…Merry Christmas!

[TundraPower]

Ricardo clay is as good as it gets. I have never used their clay lube. The best clay lube I've ever used by far Dodo Juice.

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Very nice review. Thanks for taking the time and sharing on the forum.

Never used Riccardo before but it does intrigue me. Will have to look into it now after hearing about your experience.

[Bunky]

Thanks for the review! And someone says all clay is the same!

[Pureshine]

I have a about 30 bars of Riccardo clay and it's the best clay I have ever used.

[WAXOFF]

I've got a the 3 bar pack of Riccardo clay sitting in front of me on top of a box with Pinnacle Souveran. Picked those up up on one of the the recent sales. Just haven't been able to use them yet with the winter weather in PA.

[WAXOFF]

SR99,Is that a VW in Candy White you are working on?

[Radarryan]

Interesting test and thank you for doing it! I think Riccardo will be the next clay I buy. Interesting final test, too. I wonder if anyone has attempted to clean clay using Iron-X, or something of the like, since the BF clay extender seems to be similar to it? If the BF CE is just dissolving the iron in the clay, then I think it would work. The only thing is that clay removes all bonded contaminants, not just the ferrous particles.

Happy detailing!

[Richsq]

Very very nice review. Base on your conclusion I will try Riccardo clay and lub. It will be my first time claying my car and I hope it will go well. Thank you so much for a very good review. Very informative.

[wantboost]

The Ricardo blue is a stronger clay ??