Griot's Garage Car Care Products

Anyone use any of the Griot's Garage car care products. Just curious about your impression of there products. What products do you like, don't like, etc...

Griots is very, very expensive. However, with a few exceptions, he also has some of the nicest stuff available. Sometimes, you just get what you pay for. A couple of things that I've bought from him recently spring to mind as being exceptionally surprising good products are the interior cleaner, and those fancy new microfiber polishing cloths (like for buffing out the wax after applying it). When I win the lottery, I'll buy some of the other toys, like the chamois wringer and those awesome tools, but for now I just buy esoteric stuff that I can't find elsewhere. Michael

I more or less use those products exclusively. I particularly like the wheel cleaner. That is so expensive, however. The other cleaning products last much longer as they are applied less often--therefore they don't seem relatively expensive. Well, the tiregel goes pretty fast also. . .

I've tried a few of there products and my favorite is probably their SPEED SHINE. This is there quick detailer. I have a black car and it works great in getting rid of waterspots and finger prints. Other products I've tried from them: Best of Show Wax Leather Cleaner Leather & Vynal Dressing Clay BBS Wheel Cleaner Microfiber towels I mostly use Pinical Souvern on my Porsche. Easy to put on and take off. Great results on BLACk car. Anyone use their quick detail??

i use their stuff exclusively, until recently. i replace their carnuba and best of show was with P21S. still use their wheel cleaner, micro fiber, 100% cotton, speed shine, clay etc. their leather lotion works well, but lexol is just as good and much easier to use.

I will continue this positive thread on Griot' Garage products! I've probably used just about every product out there with the exception of Zaino. I've read posts here that people spend several hours every other wash applying Zaino. I think I would rather spend an hour or two using Griot's and then go DRIVING! I was a Zymol fanatic until I went to work for them, and I found out alot....I no longer use that crapola. I have a Signal Red 65 356 Euro C Coupe and used the polish with the Porter orbital buffer. Followed with the "Best of Show" wax and we won Best of Show at our PCA concours! Not that it wouldn't have won using another product, but you never know. Bottom line is Griot's products are easy to use and last longer than other stuff I've tried in the past. I have not thought their products to be overly expensive considering the cars we're talking about! <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

hey since you guys seem to know which products are best, I used to use mcguires exclusively, but unless I use the three step system, mucho labor and time, which yields decent results I tried the spray wax and it works terribly with the black. It worked well with my mb's silver but not the porsche black. What are the best products to do the paint on a black porsche? I am focusing on taking out the small swirl/scratch marks that the spray wax/quick detail did and to leave a lasting wax. If I have to do a multi step also that's fine as long as it lasts and gives the best shine! so? ps21? pinnacle? Please do a step by step. I plan on stripping what's on with some dawn then clay then whatever works! Thanks. Sean

Is there any other wax than ZAINO ????? I do not remember who turned me on to it but I honestly thought this was a no brainer. If there is something better I am up for it. Problem is I have a Silver P-car and my other cars are stongly colored. I have noticed that some waxes do better on some colors than others. Just my 2 cents MK

RJT 993 just curious about what you don't like about Zymol products? Cause I use a lot of them and they appear to do their job pretty well.

I will occassionally substitute other products when it comes to auto wash, wheel cleaner and carnuba, but Griot's is the only source I use for clay, speedshine, and cloths for drying/polishing/waxing. I also just love their top line hose nozzle. SPR, There is a lot of information out there on car care, but for what it's worth, here is how I keep my black P-car looking new - it's all about prevention: 1) Take your time washing the paint. Don't scrub; let the wash and water work for you. I use different brushes (boars hair) for the upper portions than I do for the lower. Rinse the brushes frequently with the hose as you go; don't just dump them back in the bucket (or your next swipe will be as good as sandpaper). 2) Before drying with a Griot's towel, I make one pass with a California blade (soft pliable squeege). I don't know if it's as safe as it seems, but it sure removes the temptation to use pressure when it comes time for the towel, which is more important. 3) Don't polish unless absolutely necessary. Try multiple coats of carnuba instead (the wax will fill in the scratches). If you have to polish, clay the paint first!! Go gently and work in small sections. 4) Don't mix towels. The ones that touch my wheels NEVER touch my paint. If you're getting swirls and scratches from waxing or detailing, perhaps you're not starting with a clean car, or your towels are the culprit. This is my daily driver. It's one year old and has 7K miles. Never been polished. Waxed just 3 times. Washed with care almost weekly! This is a recent picture, un-retouched. <img src="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/C4Hood.jpg" alt=" - " />

Keyvan... I have sent you a private email.

nice. Well I quick detailed it when it was dusty and that bought out the scratch marks again! I did the 3 step originally at first and the results were amazing, but I have heard that mcguires doesn't use carnuba in their system and so I was told to use other things hence the need to redo it all again! Anyone else with a black car have good success with the products after the claying process? Thank you in advance. p.s. I always use a special mit to wash the paint only, and a wash cloth for the rims Thanks.

I've got some of Griot's products and think they are ok. I do however think there are a number of better products out there. I'd suggest you take a look at a web site called Autopia that is dedicated to the art of detailing cars. Lot's of very talented folks providing some great tips on detailing and product reviews. The web site is <a href="http://www.autopia.com" target="_blank">http://www.autopia.com</a> . I don't have any affliation with this web site but have certainly learned a lot from it.

OOPS, my apologies, the web site for Autopia is <a href="http://www.autopia.org" target="_blank">http://www.autopia.org</a> , not a .com Sorry for the confusion! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

So after some research it seems the best way to do it for my 99 black c2 is to dawn it, clay with quick detail or other lubricant, dawn, use 3m swirl mark remover or if deeper, finesse 2. then use zaino z5, z6, then a couple coats of z2. This sounds good to me, but the question is whether it will make any difference to apply by hand or random orbital, which I might buy. How do klasse all in one, pinnacle souvergn, and p21s work in comparison to zaino, and more specifically which step are they for? polish or wax, or swirl removal? Thanks. I want to do it once like crazy right and then just maintain it. What would also be a good maintenence wax afterwards every 2 months or so? Also how does meguires scratch x compare to finesse 2 or 3m swirl mark removal in terms of abrasive ranking? another fyi for anyone after I did the recommended 3 step meguires it was great but when I used the spray on wax to maintain it, it didn't like the other wax and gave bad results, I guess they aren't compatible FYI. Thanks everyone! Sean

I have also had good luck with Griot's. Very good results from using the Dawn wash, clay, machine polish #3 with porter cable, followed by best of show wax. Zaino is very popular with people because the synthetic shine is said to last longer than carnuaba. I have heard lengthy debates as to whether the Zaino shine is as deep and rich as the wax shine, but both approaches seem to yield good results.

When you say dawn wash. Are you referring to dish Soap???

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by dcvenom: <strong>When you say dawn wash. Are you referring to dish Soap???</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Yeap, to be used ONLY when stripping the wax or preping the car for clay, etc. For regular maintenance/ washing after you have done a zaino or wax treatment do not use Dawn.

What do yo mean when you say to use "clay"? Is that simply a wax paste? Or is it something to remove scratches? Thanks, Mark

clay is actually a piece of clay and you spray a lubricant like quick detail and then glide the clay over the paint to remove surface contaminants. YOu should strip all the wax and stuff with the blue dawn first of course. BTW the products that I used in my ultimate detail rival any zaino combo. Zaino and black cars don't mix well. Their scratch remover I believe z5 or whatever doesn't work for jack. I am going off the meca autotopia research. It is good stuff, but just not the best overall for each different step.

Clay is exactly that....Clay!! IT's a clay bar used to remove contaminats in your paint that polish wont get out. Pretty cools stuff!

Sean, Thanks for the insight. Mark

I have used Griot's for these last couple of years. I have found them easy to use with excellent results. My favorite product is the Speed Shine, Microfiber cloths, and lint free paper towels. I have a question for other Speed Shine users. I park my car in a garage at work. The garage is near a freeway so I keep a bottle of Speed Shine in the trunk and give my car a wipe down after work. My question is, on the initial wipe down, I am removing a fine layer of dirt. I'm worried this is scratching the paint. I've thought about first using one of those hand held dust mop thingees to first remove the dirt, then the Speed Shine, but I'm worried this would do even more damage. Any thoughts or techniques? TIA Erik

if you are diligent and **** enough to speed shine after work everyday, why not wait until you get home, hose the car with water to loosen up the dirt (as long as you got enough wax on the car, water will bead up quick and easy to wipe off), while car is wet, spray speed shine over car, then wipe off speedshine and water as you would normally. IMHO, that's less likely to scratch the paint. but then you have silver car, like mine, it's hard to see scartches.

Cableguy, Thanks for the help too. Mark

Erik, If you have a good coat of wax on your car, I would lightly dust the car first with a California duster, then do the speed shine. The duster works great, just don't use pressure.

SPR mentioned that zaino products don't mix well with black cars? I am planning on doing zaino process on my new black c4 cab this weekend. now I am worried. Who used the Zaino on their black cars?? and how did it turn out?? thanks, Peter

Ditto...Just gettin' ready to apply first application of Zaino myself. Tell me it's ok!