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Which Clay Towel is the BEST?
A past student of our classes sent me an email asking me which clay towels we used for the September class? We used 2 styles and various grades. I wanted to share the difference in the STYLES so here's a few pictures to show the differences.
We use both Nanoskin and Rag Company clay towels. The difference is, the Nanoskin clay towels have a SOLID rubberized surface while the Rag Company Ultra Clay Towels have a PERFORATED rubberized surface.
What is the practical difference?
With the flat surface design, any contaminants loosened or abraded off the surface are always trapped between the flat rubberized surface and in my mind, this could lead to extra marring of the surface.
With the perforated design, any contaminants loosened or abraded off the surface have place to migrate INTO and thus will not be trapped between the rubberized surface and the paint and in my mind, this can help prevent scouring of the loosened/abraded contaminants from causing unnecessary marring.
Both have benefits, my inclination is the perforated design is safer, but the solid surface design is faster. But the speed difference could be negligible in the big pictures.
Does Claying Cause Marring in the Paint
I know some brands state their rubberized clay substitutes won't mar the paint, but my experience is, anytime you're rubbing a tool like this over a scratch-sensitive surface like car paint, you're going to induce SOME AMOUNT of marring. And of course, the word marring is the fluffy way to say scratching.
For my own best practice and what I have always taught in my classes is that, KNOWING you're going to mar the paint if you clay it with a clay towel, mitt or disc, you should have ALREADY factored in that after the claying step, you're going to do at least ONE MACHINE POLISHING step to remove the marring. Otherwise, I won't clay paint.
So pick your poison.
Mike
A past student of our classes sent me an email asking me which clay towels we used for the September class? We used 2 styles and various grades. I wanted to share the difference in the STYLES so here's a few pictures to show the differences.
We use both Nanoskin and Rag Company clay towels. The difference is, the Nanoskin clay towels have a SOLID rubberized surface while the Rag Company Ultra Clay Towels have a PERFORATED rubberized surface.
- The Nanoskin design offers more actual SURFACE for removing bonded contaminants.
- The Rag Company Ultra offers less total surface, but the perforated holes provide escape voids for any contaminants loosened or abraded off the paint to migrate into.
What is the practical difference?
With the flat surface design, any contaminants loosened or abraded off the surface are always trapped between the flat rubberized surface and in my mind, this could lead to extra marring of the surface.
With the perforated design, any contaminants loosened or abraded off the surface have place to migrate INTO and thus will not be trapped between the rubberized surface and the paint and in my mind, this can help prevent scouring of the loosened/abraded contaminants from causing unnecessary marring.
Both have benefits, my inclination is the perforated design is safer, but the solid surface design is faster. But the speed difference could be negligible in the big pictures.
Does Claying Cause Marring in the Paint
I know some brands state their rubberized clay substitutes won't mar the paint, but my experience is, anytime you're rubbing a tool like this over a scratch-sensitive surface like car paint, you're going to induce SOME AMOUNT of marring. And of course, the word marring is the fluffy way to say scratching.
For my own best practice and what I have always taught in my classes is that, KNOWING you're going to mar the paint if you clay it with a clay towel, mitt or disc, you should have ALREADY factored in that after the claying step, you're going to do at least ONE MACHINE POLISHING step to remove the marring. Otherwise, I won't clay paint.
So pick your poison.
Mike
