Best clay bar alternatives 2024
Using a clay bar can be time consuming so which versatile and longer-lasting clay bar alternative wins here?
If you want a blank canvas of perfectly clean paint before polishing and applying your chosen wax or sealant, you’re going to need to clay the surface. This process lifts off tiny contaminants that are left behind by a normal wash, such as tree sap, water marks, brake dust and tar spots.
Clay bars are the conventional way of doing this but they can be tricky to use, because they need to be kneaded into shape, constantly turned and lubricated. If you drop them, they must then be discarded, in case they’ve picked up grit from the ground.
The alternatives tested here are larger and easier to use, being either mitts or cloths with a surface coated in a substance that claims to have the same cleaning effect on paint as a traditional clay. They can be reused several times by rinsing after use.
So which gives the easiest spotless finish? We tried seven to find out.
How we tested them
The most important factor is cleaning ability, so we tested each of the products on three parts of a car. We used a side window, which had been lightly dusted with primer to simulate overspray, while an old bonnet was dabbed with roofing tar. Finally, we tried the clay alternatives on an alloy wheel with baked-on brake dust.
Used - available now
2021 Nissan
Qashqai
45,304 milesManualPetrol1.3L
Cash £15,400
2019 Vauxhall
Corsa
14,886 milesManualPetrol1.4L
Cash £10,100
2013 Mazda
6 Tourer
75,152 milesManualPetrol2.0L
Cash £7,950
2018 Mazda
MX-5 RF
23,755 milesManualPetrol2.0L
Cash £16,950Once these had been cleaned, we ran a finger covered in cling film over the surfaces to feel for roughness from any remaining contamination. Value and quality of each product were also considered in the scoring.
Reviews
The Rag Company Ultra Clay Scrubber
- Price: Around £26
- Rating: 5 stars
- Contact: cleanandshiny.co.uk
Unlike its rivals here, the Rag Company Ultra Clay Scrubber is a sponge block that is covered on one side with the clay substitute and a softer mesh cloth on the other. We found the fabric useful for moving bugs, while the clay waltzed through the tar, overspray and brake dust far more quickly than the others in this test.
The shape means it’s not quite as easy to handle as the mitts, but we were still able to gauge the cleanliness of our panel. Our only reservation is the price. However, the pack includes two scrubbers, so go halves with a mate or keep one in stock.
Farecla G3 Pro Deep Clean Clay Mitt
- Price: Around £13
- Rating: 4.5 stars
- Contact: farecla.com
The G3 Pro Mitt is our reigning champ, and it still puts in an impressive performance. The instructions say it is fine to use a soap-and-water solution as a lubricant to save costs, and the mitt itself is comfortable and easy to use. The ‘clay’ face has horizontal ribs, making it more effective at scrubbing trickier areas of contamination. Flip it over and there’s a super-soft microfibre layer.
It fared well on the overspray and brake dust in our test, but it wasn’t as effective on the tar spots as the Rag Company products. It is a much keener price, although you get only one compared with our winner’s twin pack.
Tunknew
- Price: Around £4.00
- Rating: 4 stars
- Contact: amazon.co.uk
We bought the cheapest clay mitt we could find, just to see what you get for your money, and we were shocked to find it did a decent job, despite costing less than the delivery charge of some rivals.
At 14.5 x 21.5cm, it is a little on the small side, but its clay-like material goes right to the edges, meaning there is plenty of cleaning surface available. It did a great job on our overspray and impressed on the brake dust, but it struggled on the tar – and we winced at the sandpaper-like noises it created. We’d be tempted to get one just to use on glass and wheels.
Autobright Clay Mitt
- Price: Around £10
- Rating: 3.5 stars
- Contact: ebay.co.uk
Autobright’s Clay Mitt is available in two grades, and we plumped for the red option designed for heavy contaminants, rather than the softer blue version. It’s virtually identical to the Tunknew in terms of size, but the Autobright’s clay surface is smoother, with no ribs or mesh. As with slick tyres, this meant it gripped harder onto our paint when we used less lubricating fluid, and was faster to remove the tar and overspray. However, it glided over recently wetted areas and left them almost untouched.
All this means you need to experiment to get the best out of the Autobright, but at least it is good value.
Buy now from eBay...
The Rag Company Ultra Clay Towel
- Price: Around £40
- Rating: 3.5 stars
- Contact: cleanandshiny.co.uk
While the emphasis in this test is on cleaning performance, we have to take value into account, too – and the Rag Company Towel costs a whopping £39.95. On the plus side, it is big, measuring a full 30 x 30cm, and it has all the cleaning ability of the company’s winning pad, with a meshed material to clay the paint on one side and a softer woven fabric on the other.
This means you could use both hands to clean large areas of paint if you were feeling energetic, but the cloth needs to be folded to deal with smaller panels. We simply found the mitts and pads easier to use.
Sealey Microfibre Clay Bar Cloth
- Price: Around £12
- Rating: 3 stars
- Contact: sealey.co.uk
If you prefer a big cloth to a mitt or pad, the Sealey may appeal, because it offers a full 30 x 30cm of claying material. That’s the same size as the Rag Company Towel, which costs more than three times as much.
The material is certainly sticky, although this can make it tricky to handle when the cloth has dried out, because the surfaces stick together. As with the Autobright mitt, it worked better on test when there was less lubricating liquid on the panel, which allowed it to better grip the surface – and dirt – rather than glide across it.
Turtle Wax Ultimate Synthetic Clay Mitt
- Price: Around £15
- Rating: 3 stars
- Contact: turtlewax.co.uk
As with our winning Rag Company Scrubber, the Turtle Wax Mitt has a textured claying surface that we were hopeful would mean it gave the same cleaning ability on test. It performed well on the brake dust, and did a reasonable job on the overspray, too, but it really struggled on the tar-splattered paint, seemingly making no difference to the contamination after several passes, even with varying amounts of lubrication.
At £15, it is on the expensive side, too, although the instructions suggest you can use normal car shampoo to save costs. Even so, we’d choose one of the cheaper rivals that does the job better for less.
Buy now from Halfords...
Verdict
The Rag Company products gave the best cleaning performance, rivalling a regular clay bar in their ability. While the cloth’s price is too high to put it in contention, we think the Scrubber pads are worth the money, especially because you get two in a pack. These take the win on this occasion.
Second place goes to the Farecla G3 Pro Deep Clean Clay Mitt, with a strong showing on our glass and wheels. Third goes to the surprising Tunknew, which cleaned better than some rivals, despite costing so little.
- The Rag Company Ultra Clay Scrubber
- Farecla G3 Pro Deep Clean Clay Mitt
- Tunknew
