Product Review: 22PLE Clay Bar
by Ivan RajicI was lucky enough to try this clay bar a while back when it first came out and after using it recently on a coated car I wanted to write a review since it did so well, again. A lot of what I say will echo Zach’s thoughts on it in his review of the 22ple clay bar, but I’ll add a few thoughts based on my experience.
22ple Ultra Soft Glass Coat Clay will help you remove lightly embedded contamination from the paint with ease! This truly unique clay is specially formulated without abrasives, allowing it to not only work well on bare paint but to work on a glass coated surface without leaving micro scratches. The incredibly malleable bar is easily shaped and with some clay lube, it will glide across the surface readily. It works great with virtually all clay lubes, so keep using your favorite one. You will notice right away this bar has the rare balance of great cleaning power but very gentle on your paint so you don’t introduce marring. 22ple recommends storing this bar in a cool area in between uses. If it is stored near heat, it will become a little tacky but you can easily fix it by placing it back in a cool area. The bar will regain its original feel and work great for you! This is a really remarkable type of clay that will impress anyone who loves car care. So take your paint to the next level with a deep cleaning from the 22ple Ultra Soft Glass Coat Clay!
The main feature of the 22ple Clay Bar is how soft it is and won’t introduce marring to paint, especially coated paint. The bar comes in a nice box split into two pieces…
Upon opening the box and bag first thing you notice is how soft and malleable it is compared to other bars out there. Figured it was best to test this on black paint as it would show the most marring, so I got to work right away. For lube we use NanoSkin Glide but 22ple says any good lube should work well with their clay bar. I sprayed liberally and went at it…
After doing a small section on some contaminated paint I wanted to inspect the clay bar and this is what I found…
It definitely collected a lot of embedded contamination and made the paint smoother. It also didn’t leave any noticeable marring in the paint. In short, it did it’s job and did it well.
Normally at my shop we use Meguiar’s mild or Claymagic fine clay bar 99% of the time. For some really heavy and stubborn contamination we use the Claymagic red medium grade clay bar. As I said, the more mild blue bars do the job for us just about every time and leave mild marring depending on the paint. On some harder silver paint they leave no visible marring, but either way we recommend polishing after to clean up the finish and get some shine back. Even though we can’t see it, there’s usually marring after a clay bar and even a very quick polishing with something mild will make the paint look much better. When using the more aggressive red clay bar you will definitely get marring pretty much regardless of the type of paint, so I definitely recommend polishing/paint correction after that.
Main point of all that info is to compare the 22ple Clay Bar to the usual stuff we use and see how it fits into our arsenal. I am rarely a fan of something that’s “in between”, such as an all-in-on polish, soap with wax, etc. However I think this may be the exception because this claybar does everything it says and is unique in that way. It can definitely pick up a lot of contamination without leaving any marring or at least much less than something like a Meg’s blue bar. This may not be a big deal to us shop owners who are normally polishing after any clay bar work is done. However, this is a great option for DIY enthusiasts who don’t want to polish their car every time they clay, especially those who have a ceramic coating on the paint.
The only thing I didn’t like is that it is very soft especially when using it for a while. Sometimes my fingers would just dig right through it so I need to knead it a lot more often than usual. Colder water in the clay lube, colder temps and using the full piece (putting 2 bars together) helps a ton in this situation. The price is basically double that of the other clay bars I mentioned but considering it’s a specialized product not used as often I think it’s pretty fair.
Overall I would highly recommend the 22ple Clay Bar for anyone in the industry because it works very well on any paint.
I’m surprised you are still using clay bars and have not switched over to one of the clay towel type products to save time and money. Do you think the contamination was iron and would have been dissolved by Iron-X? I usually use Iron-X and a strong soap to Decon my coated vehicles. Most coatings need removing after 12-18 months anyway from minor washed induced scratches. I can’t really see me ever using clay on a coated car. Is this clay softer than Pinnacle Ultra Fine?
The 22ple clay is non-abrasive and designed for coatings to avoid marring. It is not like the pinnacle clay bar as that is an abrasive clay bar even if it is ultra fine. The 22ple works well on coated paint. Ironx doesn’t always get everything out.
It really all comes down to personal preference. Clay mitts, pads, and towels are great options that save time and effort, however, clay bars still marr less in my experience and are great for tighter, harder to reach areas. Please also remember that clay bars are designed to remove embedded contamination, not iron deposits. While it can remove some iron, this is not what clay bars are designed for and are not that efficient in doing so. If I am going to use a clay bar I will still use something like Iron X if I am seeing iron deposits.