Has anyone used the Griot's Random Orbital polisher

I just borrowed one from a friend and orderd the Griot's Clay, polish & Wax and will attempt this in the next week or so on my Guards Red 2003 C4S. Any words of wisdom? Thx

It's okay. It's designed for people who don't know much about polishing paint--so you can't do much damage.

As mentioned, anyone can use it with no harm to the finish. Works great.

Do you have a lot of swirl marks? Our local club meeting just had a class this weekend given by probably the best detailer in Hawaii. Lots of good stuff he exchanged. One is don't wash your car in rotating motions. Just do back and forth. Have seperate mits so you only use one for the lower lips areas. A screen guard to keep grit on the bottom of the soapy water bucket is good so you can rub the mit on that before going back to the car. Good luck conditioning your car. Might be best to not be too agresive since it might be unknown how many times the paint has been polished and worn down. Polishing and waxing are two different things. Good luck. Oh yah, the black ice I think its called is what the detailer figures is the easiest polish with the way it polishes up so easy. After buffing the polish give it a day to cure before applying wax.

Griots has a facility here in Indy. Me and friend bought the 'I want it all' kit at a demo saturday a few years back. Ran us around $600 but we got it 'all'. 6 and 3" orbitals with all the polishes, waxes, leather cleaner, brushes, drying towels and on and on. The best thing though for a great finish is using a clay bar on your car. It is amazing what that does. Takes out the all the bad stuff that has attached itself to your paint. Be sure to use their 'speed shine' with the clay. It will take you a good day to wash, clay and buff your car but it is well worth it.

good advise!pac996,the darker the car the more noticable the swirls,you just have to take these precautions,if you wanna reduce the swirls in between complete details..good luck

I own the Griot's random orbital polisher. It's made by Porter Cable for Griot's, and it's a nice machine. If you're new to the world of machine polishing your vehicle, then Griot's does provide a nice step-by-step guide and products to use. You can certainly use whatever products you like if you have favorites, and the machine will work well. Griot's offers several different polishes with different abrasive levels. I've been very pleased with the results on mine.

Huh... I bought a craftsman. Whats so special? Enlighten me fellas

I think that as long as it is a random orbital, it's probably fine. The Griot's/Porter Cable unit has pretty good torque and motor power, so it doesn't bog down. Other than that, I don't know that there's much difference.

I've got one and I like it. You can also purchase pads that hold the clay bar as well so it cuts down your effort in detailing the car. The only thing I really can't get it to do effectively is to remove the wax. I still have to do that by hand. But when I'm all done the car really does look good for a period of time.

Back when I bought my Porter-Cable 7424, I also looked at the Griot's. It was a while ago, so memory is a bit vague, but I recall that the deciding factor is that the Porter-Cable follows standards and is compatible with every pad from every manufacturer that you may want to use. The Griot's one worked with Griot's accessories only. I believe you can get around it with adapters, but why should you have to jump through hoops?

I have 2 of them - dont ask!

I have polished and waxed my car a few times as well as several of my previous but never with an orbital. I also do usuallly block out the day when I do this. I even take the wheels off and wipe down the fenderwells and clean the wheels from the inside. Thx.

Just bought a Porter Cable 7424 XP. Should be delivered later this week. I am using Meguiar's Swirl Remover 2.0 to clean up the paint (after the clay bar) and have yet to decide on the wax / sealer (there are so many that I am frankly confused)

I have the griots setup with all the waxes and polishing compounds, thier stuff is very good and nuetral and it would take alot to screw up the paint. I like it other than its a bit loud but works very good.

I have one and love it. The new one with the 850 watt motor is really good and has a wider orbit than the last 750 watt model. It's as good as any of the newer "name brand" units out there. I say this because I have compared them and know. I use a rotary to handle the deep stuff and then rotate between the Griot's unit and my trusty Cyclo to remove residual swirls and buffer trails. One tip if I may: Buy better pads. All Griots has available are the orange "cut" pad and the red finish pad. The finish pads work great for final waxing or sealing, but will not cut. The orange pad is conservative and works to cut, but not like some others out there. You can buy 5" foam pads that will stick on the Griots backing plate and do a faster, better job. I think Griots needs to come out with a medium cut yellow or green pad, but I think their marketing scheme is more of a "keep it simple" approach and that's fine. I have and use some of the Groits finishes (the paint sealant works awesome), but my cutting pads and compounds are all from Gloss-It because they go further and cut faster. But getting back to the point, you can't beat the unit for the price. And you can't beat the LIFETIME REPLACEMENT WARRANTY , too! If anybody has questions or would like to order, please call me! We have a large assortment of the Griot's products HERE! The side of my truck before: And after!

Nice!! I oredered a gallon of speedshine from you guys last week....you can never have to much of that stuff and the griots stick wax and spray wax works fantastic used on top of each other.

I have also used it on our Corian counter tops and the bathroom tiles.

My advice: Practice! First practice with your daily drive, or wife's car, or mother-in-laws car. Don't "learn" on your Porsche.

You can come to St Paul and practice on my Cherokee

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whoops - too late

Tirerack sells Griot's now? Great! Shipping from DE should be a lot better than shipping from CA.

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Yep! It has been a great addition to our lineup for awhile now. Give me a call if interested! Nah, The Griot's stuff is pretty conservative. Unless you are using a rotary with a wool pad you won't mess your paint up. Promise.

No disrepect Damon but wouldn't it easier to go directly to http://www.griotsgarage.com/ to purchase?

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Not if damon could give us a group discount....aka rennlist discount maybe 5-10% off

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Depends on if you would rather support a longtime Rennlist sponsor and source for information or not.... Our shipping is most likely cheaper and you'll almost for sure get it faster by ordering from me, too.

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Spot on. I've burned paint enough with a buffer to wish I had used an orbital. 2 911's and my 4Runner. Even my dad who has restored dozens of cars burns the paint every now and then. Not sure if you ever get experienced enough to avoid it.

I love Griot's stuff and have used it for years. That said, someone needs hook the electrodes up to Richard Griot and force him to give up the names of all the 99� Wal-mart products he re-packages and sells for $14.99 a quart.

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You confirm this?

You can buy the cornflakes with the tiger on the front and all the ad money behind it, or you can buy the cornflakes that came from the same factory in a big plain box. If I wanted to sell "Jon's Special Blend" wheel cleaner, would I go build a chemical factory from the ground up, or source from one that already makes wheel cleaner?

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FYI - My Griot's orders are shipped from Indiana and have arrived in GA within a couple days.

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I live 15 minutes from their place in Indiana. I go to the will call window. But I hear you loud and clear

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I have all of the above . . . The RO polisher works great, like the clay (use with their Speedshine), but I found their wax harder than average to remove. I went to Swissvax for the waxing step. . . . Have fun

Errr uhhhh are you well versed on which grit to start with if needing more than one step? Or are you just buffing? Best to be in the know before ripping away. The pads with cuts in them are great for edged areas. Have while while you are at it. Now a moment of silence for those that have burned or worn through the clear coat and or paint Heard a story about a guy who had done a fantastic job polishing just to do a final touch and the pad grabbed and torqued the tool handle into the body and dinged his car. Play safe.

The stuff I think works great if your finish isn't trashed is BLACKFIRE Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection. It will reduce visible swirls. The thing about attacking swirls by polishing is every time you are loosing clear coat and possibly paint. Then if the washing practice isn't changed the swirls will be right back. Seeing the age of 10 years possibly on a car you have to wonder how many times the car got a detailers polishing job done on it before a sale or just by force of habit of an owner. The Blackfire stuff can be applied by hand and buffed off by hand. Another thing to watch out for washing the car is direct water blasting. Do an angle so you aren't embedding stuff into the paint. Have fun making a fantastic shine on the car.

OK while you guys were sleeping I was hard at work. Really Here's a good place to get some information to prep for a busy weekend of not driving or for you guys stuck in winter a fun time rubbing your baby. The Porsche one that is. The Doctor section has a lot of info. http://www.properautocare.com/detailingtips.html

http://www.autopia.org/index.php good site too

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You don't have to wonder. It's easy to check paint thickness. Any body shop or used car dealer will have a gauge. And short of using a real rotary polisher with serious cutting compound, you're not removing a significant amount of clearcoat with any of the DIY stuff that Griot's sells.

You can check the manufaturer numbers for year model thickness of paint and clear coat. Nobody has made to date a paint thickness reader that reads the clear coat and paint as seperate numbers. Those gauges read the combination of paint and clear coat. Just a heads up in case somebody along the road corrected agressively for a sale or just wanted to save time blasting away.

Here's a great example of the capability of the polisher. This last weekend I did a co-workers car. This was done with the polisher, stock backing plate, a Gloss-It Heavy Cut Orange Pad , and Gloss-It Extreme Cut cutting compound. After taped off I used the polisher on 4.5 (of 6) for about 5 minutes on the right side, with alternating up and down passes. The results were this. No surprises. After cutting I came through with a finer polish once and then waxed. Again, it was the better pads and compounds that do most of the work. I bet the Gloss-It stuff is easily 25% faster than Griot's pads and polishes and yields better results.

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Griot's: Great stuff - I'm their biggest fan. Did not start using the products until got a Black 911 - Looked wonderful after using it....ust the product on all my cars. 99C2

I finally got around to doing the Griot's clay polish and wax today. Here are my impressions: Clay: worked fantastic. no problems. It removed some things that I have not been able to get off the last few times I wased the car. Machine Polish 3: This worked pretty well. it was a little hard to remove but not terrible. I actually got some pretty good scratches out on the valance above the spoiler (below the rear window) I was really happy abpout that. I was not expecting to get those out. I would use this again. P.S. dont take the orbital off before it stops spinning. I actually picked it up and then could not turn off the machine because of the thumb lock. Polish was flying everywhere. One of those moments you whish you had on tape and could send to one of those funniest video shows Best of show wax: Yikes! It went on really smooth but was insanely hard to remove. I did only the hood in 3 sections (no I did not appy to much wax) and did let it dry as they recommend but only for about 5 min. If that. . I was rubbing so hard to get it off I was almost scratching the paint again. I had to go over and over getting it all off. This was stupid. This wax is going back. I switched back over to my P21S and Ahhh. This stuff goes on and comes off like butter and you can see the paint geting deeper red as I took it off. I will finish it up tomorrow and take some pictures.

as for the wax - I have been putting on best of show all day today (multiple coats) the secret to removal is the speed shine.... spritz it on and that wax come right off... 1st time I used it I though i put cement on the paint... now its fine. The Zaino is SOOOOOOO easy to take off, but I have more trouble with it because I dont like to wait for it to fully dry. Application of an extreamly light film is tough for me too and I tend to get more on my applicator than the car. its finding a balance of things you like and dont.... i would try the best of show again and let it get really dry, use the speed shine as suggested and see if you like that - BTW the speed shine is one of the best things Griot's has.... I use that stuff after every wash - it is amazing!! Get a hold of some even if you send back the best of show cheers, nice job...... all weekend all i got dont was the roof and deck lid.... and I am not dont with those yet - hoping for about 7 coats of best of show....if I dont like it, i will switch to Zaino and start over - I guess its cheap entertainment

Griots: Been using the kit for 2 years - there is no better way to wax your car! 99C2

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For many years and multiple cars, once the wax sets up, lay a clean terricloth towel on the wax, polisher on top; hold one end of the towel so it doesn't spin; don't press hard and regularly move to clean spots on the towel. Works great; no swirls. I do tight areas by hand.

I thought I would show you guys a great looking Boxster I did this weekend. I used the Griots polisher and a Gloss-It white cutting pad and his Extreme Cut compound to remove scratches. I then followed up about 3 times through with a Gloss-It green mild cut pad and Gloss-It Evolution Polish . The final coat was Gloss-It Gloss finish and a red foam pad by hand.

Looks brand new...any before pics to compare?

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Nope, sorry. Camera had a dead battery and my timing didn't allow me to wait for it charge. The car has 20k on it and the paint was in pretty good shape. Was still just this side of being able to skip the cutting stage. I've done FAR worse.

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Guys (and gals), just to add a data point, I masked off the middle of the hood of our Laser Red Audi A4 and Black Sapphire BMW X5. On the passenger side, I did a Klasse Sealant. On the driver side, I did the Zaino Z-5 Pro Show Car Polish. I probably did this wax job sometime in the fall in preparation for the winter. Each time it rains, I can VIVIDLY SEE the middle line to where the Zaino and Klasse meet... Although I thought the Zaino was pretty pricey after shipping (around $25 for 8 oz!!!), I couldn't believe the difference. Although I thought the Klasse lasted pretty long, the Zaino lasted even longer. It still beads (although it doesn't bead like a new application would) while the Klasse side seems to have worn off. Also, I like that the Zaino makes the paint look a little darker. p.s. - I did this with my lawnmower too and had the same exact result!

You should be fine. Just take your time until you get comfortable with the polisher. It won't take long. Claying...LUBRICATION...LUBRICATION...use what they give you(and plenty of it), soapy water or Meguiars or whatever you prefer. If you make a mess and need to clean up when your done, you did it right. It'll take you all...day...long to do everything, but is well worth it.