Extending the Life of Clay Bar

[Waxman]

Learned this from an employee:

Take a used piece of clay and knead under hot water.

This cleans it out and renews it for further use.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Great tip! That should come in handy in the next few weeks

Wax: Thanks for the e-mail. I have tons more questions for you. Talk to you soon.

 

[rph9168]

Waxman,

Does that remove any grit that might be in the bar from previousl usage?

 

[smokun]

ooops!

Keep in mind that the clay bar has detergents embedded throughout, so you may actually be compromising its life cycle.

 

[Waxman]

Hmmm, well I don't know about compromising the life cycle by the method I described. I guess I would notice its ineffectiveness at some point if that were true. So far the process I described has had no adverse affect on the clay bar and its ability to remove surface contaminants.

Probably not what those selling detailing clay want to hear, but nonetheless true for me so far at my detail shop.

 

[bcwang]

With this technique, how many cars can you clay before you replace have to replace it?

 

[Waxman]

I cut the bar in half and use half at a time. I get many many cars out of one clay bar.

 

[smokun]

Just curious as to what you actually pay for a clay bar?

 

[MEP001]

Have you considered, instead of the time and cost of kneading a clay bar under hot water and potentially working impurities and grit into the bar for it to resurface later, using a cheese slicer and removing a thin layer of clay to reveal a fresh surface?

 

[Waxman]

$15.99/200 gram clay bar.

The clay is not affected so far by the process I described. I clayed a black Cadillac CTS and it worked great and in no way marred the finish.

 

[Danny]

I have had customers tell me they spray a small amount of clay lubricant in the container if the clay will be sitting on the shelf for a little while and this helps keep it moist and from drying out.