Must-have Griot's products?

[jsilas]

Sorry for the thread-jack, but that's a nice garage...is that floor stained concrete or something else?

Thanks!



The floor is untreated concrete - I've been looking at various floor covering but am not sure if I'll end up doing anything.



My father in law worked for a custom home builder for years, and he told me many horror stories about those floor coverings. Ultimately his company stopped offering them due to them being a huge warranty/maintenance nightmare.



His stories have certainly given me pause.

 

[jsilas]

I will tell you that the best of show wax is horrible. The stuff is impossible to get off and ended up marring the paint just trying to remove the stuff.

Agreed - very difficult to remove. In my applications, I've used their Spray-On Wax to reactivate the BOS wax for easier removal. This works pretty well, although I may be compromising the protection of the BOS by doing this.



I've started using their Carnauba Paste Wax far more often as a result, usually over a layer of their Paint Sealant.

 

[jsilas]

Any experiences with their one step sealant?

One-Step Sealant is pretty good, just don't expect it to be all that useful in actual removal of defects in the paint.



I used it a couple times, but then stopped in favor of separate polish and sealant steps.

 

[Accumulator]

Akimel- Yeah, I never spray it, rather I spray it onto some kinda of application medium. Overkill perhaps, but man-oh-man did an "oops!" with it make an impression on me. Good stuff though...



jsilas- Off-topic, my epoxy-and-stone garagefloor coating has worked out super (nine years of hard use now), but it *did* take them multiple tries to get it right (days spent removing the botched job ), and even then it had to be sealed with additional expoxy to work properly in a wet-shop. It can be an great thing *IF* they go about it right, but a real nightmare when they don't.

..I've started using their Carnauba Paste Wax far more often as a result, usually over a layer of their Paint Sealant.

It looks like they took a page from the Autopia playbook, putting that stuff in a twist-up dispenser.

 

[xconwrathx]

I have the rubber/vinyl dressing and really enjoy it. The 8 oz. bottle with the push sprayer is great, very even and smooth spray pattern, controllable enough to spray directly onto tires and not get it on the fender/rim. Leaves a nice matte shine that lasts for a week or two.



I have the Speed Shine as well and I don't like it! I tried it as a clay lube (clay used was from the Meg's OTC kit) and it caused the clay to stick to the point where it was nearly impossible to slide, even with very light pressure. I switched to CG anti-static QD and the problem went away. I tried using it after a couple of layers of Natty's Blue carnuba wax and when I tried wiping it with a Cobra Shamrock towel it was resistant to the wiping motion and also seems to leave a streaky residue. Not a fan of the spray nozzle on the 32 oz. bottle either, it will either not spray at all or just spray a fine stream. It seems that no matter what I do I cannot get it to spray an even mist. I do like the price though! $9.99 for 32 oz. ain't bad!



Any suggestions as to how I could be using this QD wrong?

 

[jsilas]

I have the rubber/vinyl dressing and really enjoy it. The 8 oz. bottle with the push sprayer is great, very even and smooth spray pattern, controllable enough to spray directly onto tires and not get it on the fender/rim. Leaves a nice matte shine that lasts for a week or two.



I have the Speed Shine as well and I don't like it! I tried it as a clay lube (clay used was from the Meg's OTC kit) and it caused the clay to stick to the point where it was nearly impossible to slide, even with very light pressure. I switched to CG anti-static QD and the problem went away. I tried using it after a couple of layers of Natty's Blue carnuba wax and when I tried wiping it with a Cobra Shamrock towel it was resistant to the wiping motion and also seems to leave a streaky residue. Not a fan of the spray nozzle on the 32 oz. bottle either, it will either not spray at all or just spray a fine stream. It seems that no matter what I do I cannot get it to spray an even mist. I do like the price though! $9.99 for 32 oz. ain't bad!



Any suggestions as to how I could be using this QD wrong?

To the point of spray pattern, you might just have a fouled-up spray tip, because the Griot's sprayers are typically pretty awesome in the ability to adjust the spray pattern. Pick up a new sprayer for your bottle to see if you get better results.



As for the lubrication (or lack thereof), I'm not sure what to say. I use Speed Shine for my claybar lubrication, and it works like a top (I use the Griot's clay, if that makes any difference). It also leaves behind a beautiful finish when used between washes for maintenance.



I've never noticed any unwanted streaking or other residue after use. :nixweiss

 

[xconwrathx]

Is it normal for the product to stratify when left to sit for a couple of days? I'm thinking I might have a gotten a defective bottle!

 

[jsilas]

Is it normal for the product to stratify when left to sit for a couple of days? I'm thinking I might have a gotten a defective bottle!

Yes, it's normal. I notice it with my Speed Shine more than anything else. I just give it a good shake before use and it's all good.

 

[Accumulator]

I do *NOT* like SpeedShine as a clay lube, not a bit compared to, say...Glyde. Too much wax/stuff for my taste.



As a QD, I've simply never had any issues with it :nixweiss I do use it pretty sparingly though, maybe that's the key. I've only used it a few times with my Shamrock MFs, and it worked OK, but it did have the usual "drying a liquid with a plush MF" issues, where it wants to leave residue/tiny drops of the liquid behind. Gotta buff buff buff, refolding the MF to expose a dry section; I'll go through a few Shamrocks on even a small vehicle. Because of that kind of thing, I usually use SpeedShine with WWMFs (while drying, a little bit of water doesn't hurt anything). Try using less SpeedShine, and make sure the part of the Shamrock doing the drying isn't already too wet. And if it still gives you trouble, switch to a very soft WWMF (which will have to be laundered very thoroughly to get all the SpeedShine stuff out).



Heh heh, the separation gets pretty extreme if you let it sit long enough...like a layer of wax over top of the liquid. No problems though, and some of my SpeedShine is getting mighty old (I don't mean just a year or two ).



I only use their Vinyl/Rubber Dressing for exterior stuff in an attempt to use it up It just doesn't last long enough for me. Yeah, it looks OK, but so does Zaino Z16, and that stuff lasts for a nice long time. No way am I gonna redress stuff every week, or even after every wash.

 

[ThrillHo]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I figured it was better than starting a new one? I'm looking at a couple griots products (and now even more after finding this thread) but in particular does anyone have any experience with their waterless car wash? I believe it's called the "Spray Wash." I'm really excited to make to move to waterless car washing, and have been considering Griots (along with ONR.. kicking myself that I missed that 50% off sale last month).

 

[Legacy]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I figured it was better than starting a new one? I'm looking at a couple griots products (and now even more after finding this thread) but in particular does anyone have any experience with their waterless car wash? I believe it's called the "Spray Wash." I'm really excited to make to move to waterless car washing, and have been considering Griots (along with ONR.. kicking myself that I missed that 50% off sale last month).

ONR is not a waterless wash, but a rinseless wash.

 

[ThrillHo]

ONR is not a waterless wash, but a rinseless wash.

Thank you Dr. Semantics. For those of you who were utterly confused by my horrible use of detailing terminology, my question was whether Griot's version of a rinseless wash was comparable to the other ones on the market.

 

[Accumulator]

.. my question was whether Griot's version of a rinseless wash was comparable to the other ones on the market.

Somebody here, forget who... (maybe BlackSunshine :think: ) tried the Griot's Spray-on Car Wash and, IIRC, had a bit of streaking or somesuch issue.



Noting that I've never used the Griot's Spray-On Car Wash...



The semantics just might matter a bit here, or at least offer a clue about these products. "Spray-On" is different from "rinseless"; though rinseless washes *can* be used that way, it's not the general idea.



Note that the Griot's is designed to be used kinda like a "super-QD" whereas ONR/etc., while they *can* be used that way, are generally used in a very different manner for whole-car cleaning, namely with a bucket full of the ONR-mix.



So my (completely hypothetical) take on it is that the Griot's is just that, a Super-QD, and the ONR/QEW type washes are in a different, use-a-bucket, type of category. I might use one for certain jobs, but I'd want the other for other cleanups.

 

[jsilas]

Thank you Dr. Semantics. For those of you who were utterly confused by my horrible use of detailing terminology, my question was whether Griot's version of a rinseless wash was comparable to the other ones on the market.

Calm down - I don't think Legacy99 was trying to hassle you on semantics.



There is a notable and important difference between waterless wash products and rinseless wash products, and I'm sure he was just trying to help clarify for you.



Now, to the subject at hand - I would not consider these products in the same class, and therefore comparing them is problematic.



ONR is a fabulous product in my opinion; I personally don't use it for heavily-soiled vehicles, but as a between-regular-washes maintenance step, it's fantastic.



The Griot's waterless car wash is a decent product, but I have a hard time figuring out how it's much different from their Speed Shine. Both seem geared toward the quick-detailer side of the product shelf, and while I assume the waterless car wash has a different formulation than that of Speed Shine, I don't keep Waterless Car Wash in my collection because I think the ONR does a better job for a wash, and the Speed Shine does a great job as a QD.



There's my .02 for you...

 

[TGates]

Accumulator was correct. I did not care for the Spray on Car Wash, at all. It was just an absolute nightmare trying to get it all off the surface (kinda like BoS wax, which is a shame because I love the finish it leaves.)



The best waterless wash I have personally tried is Adam's. It is very user friendly and cleans really well.



I also noticed Griot's has a Paint Glaze available. I don't have a very good track record with their polishes and waxes so I think I'll pass on this, although I will always have some Speed Shine, Interior Cleaner, and Leather Care Spray on hand.

 

[Accumulator]

I also noticed Griot's has a Paint Glaze available...

And they were saying it was supposedly compatible with their sealant. Hmmm...shades of DWG, huh? :think: Haven't seen it in the last few catalogs though...is it in their latest one?