gator88

I really like their stuff and the support they give over the phone with even the most noob like questions.

Anyone use their stuff and if so what?

BILLY_BLING

I use some of there stuff !!!!great stuff

90sedan

I personally haven't used any of their products, but i have only heard great things about them.

Not only that, theres one just down the street from my work and during the summer months there are always countless numbers of exotic/collector cars parked out front. And they offer free clinics on detailing and car care.

builthatch

Griots is "ok" stuff, but it's overpriced and not the best. most of it is better than what you can get from the auto store, but not as good as most of the stuff you can get from an online boutique reseller. the guy i work for uses all of their stuff for his cars; ferraris, etc. it's marginal, actually, compared to what else is out there in the boutique detailing market. what i do like about them though is they make product choices simple. some of these companies cash in on the fact that people like to collect detailing products, so if you go on like, autogeek forums for example, you will see that people use 80,000 things during a detail session. it's stupid.

and, you are correct about their customer service. very good people to deal with.

however, i find that the products from optimum car care seem to outperform everything i've tried from griots, cost less, and you can get awesome support from either autogeek or david at optimum.

but, like anything in today's world, you just have to pick something that most people like, try it, and run with it, because otherwise you get caught up in all the nonsense.



Modified by builthatch at 12:39 AM 11/5/2008

gator88

built hatch, i appreciate your response.

You say optimum costs less and outperforms, so may I ask which of their polishes and wax i should use for a summer time daily driver? It is 20 year old paint that needs to be polished out again, but i fear it may be getting thin and i cant afford a depth guage. I need a wax that looks good close to a month, and still offers protection for a little time after that. I usually rewax around this amount of time, but do frequent gentle hand washes once or twice a week. I plan on stripping all old wax in the spring and starting fresh since I dont like trying to lay brand A over brand B etc. I have about $150 to spend on supplies. I already have a griots garage buffer and pads, clay kit, and some of his one step sealant, a mostly empty bottle of best of show wax, and enough machine polish 3 do do my car once or twice. Any recomendations? Thanks for your time and I look forward to your response.

builthatch

what is the car/color?

what you have there is actually not a bad choice, but it's really mild. there isn't anything there that corrects really since the machine 3 is so light. the one step is sorta like a combo of the machine 3 and BoS, except it outlasts the best of show by a long shot because it's totally synthetic.

oh, before i forget, do you find their yellow clay really sticky and kinda of soft? i HATE their clay, it's so messy!

what color pads do you have?

i'm unsure of the griots machine you have...the griots machine my boss has is a PC 7336 that he got from them years ago , but i think since then, they've developed their own based on something else. i'm unaware of its power compared to the usual suspects. any info you have, if any, would be appreciated.

anyway, the optimum line is really simple, just like the griots line. in fact, it's even more simple. if you want a basic all-in-one, and are basically satisfied with your finish, their poli-seal is a great polish and sealant. it doesn't fill or hide, which is a nice feature.

anyway, if the finish is in great shape, and you don't want to use an all in one, you can use their polish, called just 'polish', and then top with either their spray sealant called 'opti-seal' which is THE **** (ask anyone) OR you can top with their spray wax, which doesn't seem to last as long as the sealant, but it offers a bit of a different look vs. the sealant, especially in the sunlight. instead of a hard shine, it's more of a glow (depending on the color of the car). the cool thing is, both final finish products work well for moldings, you can even get it on glass, rubber etc and it'll do nothing but help.

HOWEVER....i think that it might be worth your investment to get a 4" yellow pad called a "spot buff" from lake country, appropriate 3.5" backing plate for your buffer, and the optimum compound called 'compound' so you can attack any possible larger or deeper scratches that need spot attention. compound is also nice to hit the entire car up with an orange pad to assure that there are no defects. then polish, and top.

very easy!

i dunno, i hope that helps. your budget will allow you to def get what you need. their spray detailer is solvent free and really is great too!

gator88

once again, thanks for your response.

My crx is the factory rio red which is a lighter color red. As for the clay, by hand I absolutely hate it. With their "power clay" backing pad which allows you to use their buffer (I have the actual griots one that isnt a PC, fan cooled 6 inch Random Orbital) http://www.griotsgarage.com/pr...al.do it is a pretty sweet setup that I personally love and will keep using, as long as I have a TON of spray lube as it is very sticky. The one step sealant i have never used on my car, just my dads honda pilot and that worked good, but i wanted more of a shine for my car. I have his orange polishing pads and red wax pads. Honestly I have found meguiars nxt 2.0 almost as good shine wise as Best of Show, and that is what made me really think their is better out there. I would like something I could layer and get good protection out of.

Now I am not sure how much paint i have left to work with, and cant afford a paintjob to my standards anytime in the near future if I start burning through. This is what worries me most. I dont have any deep scrathes, either very minor swirls from using the wrong towels which a polish should handle, or rock chips which cant be removed. Therefore i was thinking I may not need to compound the car, just a medium polish, a finer polish, and a great wax or a sealant with good shine. After that a nice detailer spray for some mid-week upkeep and such.

Here are two pics to show what I am working with. This is actually all meguiars products as I didnt have enough B of S wax to do my car. This is their scratch-X and nxt 2.0 and chased with quick detailer.

Would you recomend the opti-seal or poli-seal? Which could I stack ontop of the other time when I need a fresh shine without stripping? I am all ears as I am obviously new to their product line and I dont see just a "wax" offered by them.




Modified by gator88 at 6:58 PM 11/5/2008


Modified by gator88 at 7:53 PM 11/5/2008


Modified by gator88 at 7:53 PM 11/5/2008

gator88

Alright, this is my plan I have come up with.

1. Good wash with whatever soap, I cant justify $30 no matter how good it is, I am not showing my car.
2. 3M adhesive remover to get rid of tar and nasty *** tree sap from my driveway.
3. Griots Garage Paint Prep to strip old wax etc.
4. Griots Garage Power Clay system
4.5. Griots Garage Glass Polish with Griots polishing pad
5. Optimum compound with Lake Country orange light cutting pad
5.5. Optimum Polish with Lake Country white polishing pad
6. Optimum Poli-Seal with Lake Country gray or red finishing pad?
7. Optimum Opti-Seal with applicator to be determined?
8. Optimum Detailer and Gloss Enhancer wiped down with Griots microfiber towels.
9. Tire spray to be determined.
10. Invisible Glass and microfiber window cloth(s)

Would anyone be so kind to recomend any microfiber towels I could get from autogeek.net sort of cheaper? Also what hand pad to apply the Opti-Seal?

Sorry for all my questions, but dont want to be dissapointed when swtiching product lines and feel i wasted a buck and a half or maybe more.

Modified by gator88 at 7:51 PM 11/5/2008


Modified by gator88 at 8:30 PM 11/5/2008

builthatch

wow, that car is gorgeous. and on the east coast, no less. sheesh. well, western east coast if that 814 area code is correct, lol.

the autogeek MF towel thing is interesting. everyone and their mother recommended the cobra indigo towels. i ordered several and each and every one of them linted no matter what i did. (EDIT: hmm, it looks like the cobra indigo is backordered...but it's not even on the comparison chart they have anymore. kind of interesting considering my issues.) on the other hand, my cobra deluxe jr. has never had any issues, and the indigos i got for my boss have NOT linted, and he can't take care of a towel to save his life...

i like to have a few of my polishing/ instant detailer towels, and less of the final buff soft towels. if it were me and i had to do it over again, i guess i'd get the 3 pack of the supreme 530 (white towel with soft dark border), and one cobra deluxe jr. (purple towel with purple border). the 530 is a little plush for what i like to remove polishes, but it's so versatile and it seems like it's assembled more precisely than the indigos (and maybe the rest of their 80/20 towels). also, the cobra jr. is a REALLY nice towel, especially for final buffing. the 530 is right inbetween a universal polish removal type towel and a uber soft buffing towel.

all of the optimum stuff is compatible. you could do polish, then opti-seal, or, polish then their spray wax, or compound then poli-seal (well, not you, but for a customer or something). once it's polished, and protected, if you need to brighten it up just use the optimum detailer like you've mentioned...and every once in a while possibly apply the spray wax to make it glow. there are a ton of options here. the optimum detailer has no solvents in it so it won't degrade the wax or sealant.

re: the optimum detailer, there is a size that is in a whitish bottle as opposed to a spray bottle. it's a concentrate and will last you forever. it's a better value than their pre-mixed smaller spray bottle. i just mix it and put it in an old meguiars quik detail bottle. it's used the most so i think having a value sized bottle is ideal.

you don't sound like a poli-seal candidate, and even with an orange pad it can't correct as much as the polish. i'd say you sound like want more flexibility, so i'd consider maybe the first time using an orange pad with the optimum polish, then a white pad with the same stuff (because your car is not white or silver), then opti-seal. optimum polish is so flexible, it's really pad dependent as far as correction, so the same stuff can be used for a variety of work.

the opti-seal if you buy from AG will (should) include these little yellow hand app foam pads. i think they call it a bonus deal or something. they are nothing special, they are like most of those little hand pads that come with product, but they are perfect for the job. if it doesn't come with it, i will send you one. i have a bunch.

i'd do like 3 coats of opti-seal (it's literally the easiest product to use ever) and you should be good for months on end, using the optimum detailer after each wash. just make sure, and i know you will, but make sure you don't use a soap that is not meant for cars, and make sure you do the best you can to use a clean MF or sheepskin mitt. this could include a simple grit guard in your bucket, etc. from the looks of that thing, i'm sure you have all that dialed.

as far as pads, the lake country pads low profile pads are great but they are 5.5". they are what i use because my biggest plate is 5". the other lake country pads in the sizes for you are like $10 each and are not low profile. i have only used the CCS pads, the ones with the little dots. i haven't used the cross cut ones, but if it makes a difference, they are on sale and they are usually more expensive than the CCS pads (whatever that could mean).

here is my optimum collection at the front of my garage bench-


i actually keep it all inside the house now since my garage is not heated well. i do this to keep the emulsions nice and mixed well. it's overkill but it makes me feel better.




Modified by builthatch at 8:33 PM 11/5/2008

builthatch

gator i found out something today.

opti-seal traps water spots to keep them from damaging the clear. this means that despite the fact that opti-seal will help keep water beaded and make it easier to run off, it can still evaporate and leave a deposit. this doesn't mean much, other than you will have slight waterspots.

these deposits some times can't be removed by washing or anything else that WON'T nullify the opti-seal. so the founder of optimum told me today that the best way to handle it is buff the cleaned car with a white pad and poli-seal. it will breakdown the opti-seal and polish away the deposits, and then as the poli-seal is worked in it'll actually reapply the opti-seal polymers and wah lah, you have your perfect finish back. and since water spots will typically only show up on horizontal surfaces (roof, hood, etc) you will only have to hit up those portions.

the coolest thing aside from the fact that you can do this w/o hurting your protection is that the paint through the whole thing is protected. the opti-seal did it's job.