My vehicle was covered in overspray when a building was repainted near my parking area. I tried a fine nankin clay sponge and the Meguiar's regular clay from their clay bar kit, both of which removed some of the paint but left the majority of it. This CG heavy clay removed all of the overspray after going over each panel twice with a fair amount of pressure. However, due to the clay being a heavy composition, be prepared to induce marring and light scratches to the surface. My vehicle is a '17 WRX, which is known for having soft paint, but the marring was quite significant. Fortunately I expected that result, and the claying step was in preparation prior to machine polishing and applying a ceramic coating. All of the defects were able to be removed using a medium pad with M205. So, I would only use this clay as a last resort if finer grades are not removing your contamination.
I have a "retro-bird" (Thunderbird) that, like any vehicle over the years, has collected a series of clear-coat scratches, discoloration, and lack of luster. I've had it detailed by a personal friend multiple times over the past 12 years, but the paint really needed a major "refresh". I began researching several "how to" videos on YouTube for auto finish restoration. I learned how to correct clear-coat scratches (with sandpaper, no less), use rubbing compound to remove discoloration, and to blend the clear-coat finish. Mind you, my lifetime experience ends with wash, wax, and protect.
After correcting all of the blemishes, I ordered this Chemical Guys Medium Clay Bar after watching the company's "how-to" video. The detailer made it look easy as he demonstrated tips, techniques, uses, and explanations. I learned that the medium clay is their "go to" for most jobs where the finish is in relatively good shape but never had a clay bar before. I did purchase their lubricant, but.... opted not to use is as I was fortunate enough to be able to clay-bar the Tbird during a day of light rain. (note: rainwater is naturally clean, naturally "soft" leaving no hardwater spots, and offers a continuous lubrication and rinse action).
You can really see and feel a difference in the clear-coat. It stripped out all of the rough contaminants, wax, oxidation from the finish. Lastly, I used Turtle Wax hard wax and laid down a heavy coat before buffing out.
The end result was car-show competition finish! It took me about 4 days from start to finish, but the clay bar process was actually the easiest, fastest part of the process yielding the highest possible return on results. If you are like me and have never clay-barred a vehicle before, you owe it to yourself to strip the wax off, clay-bar, then use a good hard wax. you won't be disappointed.
One last thing - I'd like to pass one of the most important tips the Chemical Guys passed along in the video. DO NOT USE THE WHOLE BAR OF CLAY AT ONCE. What I mean is, cut about 1/4 of the bar off and use that. If you DROP the clay-bar onto the ground, you cannot use it - throw it away immediately. It will instantly pick up and embed any grit from the floor, and will ruin your finish. Just cut another 1/4 of the bar and continue on. Trust me, I dropped two pieces during the process. If it had been the whole bar at once, I would have been sunk.
Pretty new to the whole clay bar and not-half-baked detailing thing, slowly acquiring a supply of Chemical Guys products and picked up this black clay bar since it was recommended for cleaning glass. Did all the windows on my Jeep Grand Cherokee with this clay bar and Chemical Guys Clay Luber (also awesome) and was amazed at how much junk it removed. Per other reviews, I didn't use this on the paint because it might be a little too much, I started with the gray medium bar instead, and save this one just for glass.
The process of detailing a car roughly goes wash, clay, polish, wax. Clay barring is a very important step in the detailing process because it removes contaminants from the car paint so that you have a perfectly clean surface to polish. This clay bar gets the job done for sure. After using this clay bar my paint feels smooth as glass. I was dealing with day to day contaminants like pollen, sap, dirt, etc. Nothing too heavy so if you're car is covered in over spray and industrial contaminants you may try a heavier duty clay bar. The bar is also very large. I broke off about a quarter per side of the car. This may have been overkill but I didn't want to rub contaminants all over my car, but this bar is big enough to get you through a detail or 2.
The paint on my 05 Highlander has been deteriorating over the last few years, especially the hood looked beyond repair and horrible. The black clay bar is a game changer. While it does not look like a brand new paint job, my hood especially looks 100xs better. It took off bumps and spots I had not been able to do anything with for some time. I wish I had known about this long ago so I could have prevented a lot of the buildup that was too stubborn.
Feature Product
- Flex-Clay Technology
- Removes contamination, overspray and pollution
- Works on paintwork, glass, plastic and metal surfaces
- Easy to use
- Smooth as glass feel
Description
The Chemical Guys Heavy Clay Bar is the safest and most effective way to remove contamination from your vehicle's paintwork. Flex-Clay Technology easily removes years of heavy overspray, rail dust, brake dust, pollution and contamination for a smooth-as-glass feel. The unique elastic black detailing clay pulls off heavy and rough contamination like a magnet. The advanced Heavy Clay Bar is designed to cleanse vehicles with years of stubborn contamination and pollution. The Heavy Clay Bar works great on paintwork, glass, plastic and metal surfaces. Detailing clay bar safely removes overspray and pollution without damaging the surface. The Chemical Guys Heavy Clay Bar is the perfect choice for removing embedded contamination from new and old vehicles. The Heavy Black Clay Bar is the safest way to cleanse virtually any painted surface. Great for removing contamination before applying your favorite coat of carnauba wax or paintwork sealant. The Chemical Guys Heavy Clay Bar is non-abrasive and safe on aluminum, chrome, fiberglass and all painted surfaces. Restore the smooth feel back to any car, truck, motorcycle, RV and boat with the Chemical Guys Heavy Clay Bar. The Heavy Clay Bar is the perfect choice to remove the heaviest contamination from older vehicles. The non-abrasive detailing clay restores the smooth-as-glass feel to virtually any exterior surface. We designed the Heavy Clay Bar to gently cleanse the surface of stubborn contamination for a perfect finish. The Chemical Guys Heavy Clay Bar works great on paintwork, plastic, wheels, glass, metalwork and fiberglass. Perfect for cleaning specialty carbon fiber and Kevlar surfaces. The Heavy Clay Bar works best with Chemical Guys Luber for the ultimate clay bar experience. Simple spray Luber directly onto the surface and cleanse the panel using the Medium Clay Bar.
I was a little concerned when the bars showed up and they were as small as the Turtle Wax ICE bar (discontinued?) or the Maguire's clay kit bar, but that soon passed as soon as a started using it.
These things are TOUGH. I used it first on a never-before-clayed VW Passat (white) with fantastic results. Then I used it on my S60R which had been clayed numerous times as well as wet sanded, and it still managed to make it smoother.
Unlike other bars, which get really soft and thin as you are using them, requiring constant kneading and reshaping, these bars maintained a usable thickness, even on the hot black paint of the R.
I haven't even tapped into the second bar yet, I think I can get 1 or 2 more uses out of the first bar.
The only con (which really isn't) is that the black clay can make rub marks on white paint. However, I found that waxing the car with Chemical Guys Butter Wax removed all those rub marks with zero effort.
Worked really well for my heavily oxidized truck paint, it is more rubbery than clay like compared to the other brands but what I figured out is don't use spray wax as a lubricant, use your soapy water as you wash, make sure the water is hot and just toss it in the bucket to warm it up and it will soften the you just stretch it around now and again to reshape/turn it over and it really takes all the crap off the paint. After using this the truck had some shine to it and felt very smooth but I still color sanded, compounded, then waxed and restored my truck that I didn't even wash for 6 years.
I love chemical guys cleaning products and this light clay bar is great for those 'lighter' jobs. There is no marring with the yellow clay bar and it performs the job well. I usually end up splitting the clay into quarters to maximize its longevity. Pick up a bottle of the their Clay Luber as well you won't be disappointed.
Clay work great. Much easier to mold than any other clay bars I’ve used before. Is plenty to divide into 2-3 separate bars and I highly recommend doing this as with experience you WILL drop clay bars on the ground hence leaving them unusable so have the other pieces for backup instead of ruining entire bar and having nothing left. Do not use this bar with soap and water mix as lube. This bar seems to deteriorate substantially compared to other clay if used with soapy water.
This is the first clay product I've used, so I can't compare it to similar products. However, I can say that my experience using this product was excellent. I washed my car with soap and water like normal, and then used clean, very soapy water to lubricate the clay. My method was to gently wipe the wet, soapy clay over my car's panels, and if there was a particularly tough spot, press a little harder and use it as sort of an eraser - it has the same effect. Afterward, spray down with water and admire! Using just this product (no polish or wax) restored an incredible shine to my car that I have never seen before. I highly recommend using this product for removing surface contamination. As a follow-up, I used Meguiar's G19216 Ultimate Polish and Meguiar's G18216 Ultimate Liquid Wax, and my car now has a mirror finish. Excellent!
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