What a let down - Griot's clay/polish/wax and porter cable....

C

ChicagoRay

New member
I just spent 10 hours on my car. I washed it with dawn. Then I used Griot's Speed Shine and Clay to clean the surface. The clay seemed to have no effect. There were visible defects that it didn't remove and it seemed to do nothing. I had difficulty feeling any improvement between the surface I had just cleaned and the surface I hadn't touched.



Then I used a Porter Cable 7336SP equipped with a Griot's orange pad affixed to the hook & loop pad to apply Machine Polish #3. This was relatively labor intensive and didn't seem to bring much results. Many of the swirls and small scratches survived unscathed. Again, the "cleaned" surface felt/appeared essentially no different. In addition, it was a pain in the a$$ to keep the polish off the black trim so now I of course have polish marks all over the trim.



I then applied two coats of their "best of show" (yeah... right) wax, let it "haze" and then removed it. First I tried to use the Griot's wax removal bonnet for my PC.... That didn't work for crap. 30 seconds into use it clogged up and was rendered useless. The Griot's representative I phoned for assistance informed me that she too thought the bonnet to be useless... Shame the guy who sold it to me couldn't have told me that. So I was relegated to using MF towels to remove the wax. This was by FAR the hardest wax I've ever had to remove. I was litterally straining. I had to crawl on the ground and look at all kinds of funny angles to see where the left over wax was.



So after 10 greuling, suspenseful hours of hoping for yet unseen results...................... Blah. The car looks LITTLE better than had I just washed it with P21s shampoo. No glossy shine. No swirl free surface. It doesn't even have that "just waxed" FEEL when I run my fingers along it.



In comparison - 3 months ago I did the following detail process: Dawn wash, P21s Paint Cleansing Lotion, P21s caranuba wax (1 coat). All products applied and removed by hand. The process took half the time and produced much better results. This Griot's crap was a waste of time and of a good saturday.... I'm so disappointed.



I read the whole Detailers Handbook that Griot's sent me, and also consulted on the phone with some of their people while I was in the middle of the process. But even if the results are from my lack of skill- the same skill yieleded excellent results with P21s....



So I'm at a loss at what to do. If I stick with P21s, I'll need something for swirls. Also, can I use the Porter cable to apply the P21s paint lotion and caranuba wax? I was thinking of trying Zaino....



Anyone know if I can return partially used products to Griots??????????
 
There customer service is great. I sent back some of their MF towels that I was not happy with. They gladly offered to refund my money or sent me new ones.
 
I Have Had Good Luck WIth Their Clay and Actually Really Like It. Their Polishes, Are Another Story. i Have All 3 And Havent Used Them In Along Time Because I Just Didnt Like Them. I Prefer 3m or Meguiars Over The Griots Polishes.
 
i had the exact same experience with those products. i simply packaged them back up and returned them for a full refund. the "best of show wax" was like trying to remove cement from my car. thank god i only did the hood and roof. try some other polishes and stick with your P21S.
 
Ship'em back and get your $$ back... they are good at it, and you should give Zaino a try.



Porter Cable is a handy tool for polishing but you just have to find a polish that will work with your situation.
 
If you are going to stick with caranuba try a nice glaze and then put a quality caranuba over it, you will like the results. P21s cleaner and then a coat of Blitz looks very nice.



Just remember, with Caranuba you have a lot of options. Quality polymer sealants like Zaino also give great results.
 
I dont know what to tell you about the swirls. I bought a PC and all the polish's to remove swirls 3M MSR,3M fine cut rubbing compound,Meg. Scratch-X 3M Finesse it etc. Nothing removed my swirls and these are very minute swirls I might add. You can not feel them with your fingernail or anything. Once the weather cools off I plan to wet sand the car and buff it back out with a rotary buffer. I may even sell my PC as it appears to be useless for removing minor swirl marks, which was the whole reason for buying it in the first place.:( :nixweiss
 
I dont know what to tell you about the swirls. I bought a PC and all the polish's to remove swirls 3M MSR,3M fine cut rubbing compound,Meg. Scratch-X 3M Finesse it etc. Nothing removed my swirls and these are very minute swirls I might add. You can not feel them with your fingernail or anything. Once the weather cools off I plan to wet sand the car and buff it back out with a rotary buffer. I may even sell my PC as it appears to be useless for removing minor swirl marks, which was the whole reason for buying it in the first place.:( :nixweiss
 
I have some "crappy" (mod freindly version of the word i want to use) pictures of a car i did yesterday. This car was a 91 integra that was grrey. i looked on the door seal at teh sticker, and it said black paint. I asked the owner and he said it used to be a litle black, ,then it turned grey and he can't get it black. The reason is becasue he has sooooo many swirls his car looks grrey. well it looked grey. I used a 7336, yellow pad, and 3m finish restorer. I was told by 5 people there is no picture that could ever do this car justice.



In this pic you can see how the car was grrey.



646-1681-25393.jpg




Here you can see it black, and swirl free





646-1681-25400.jpg




It took time to do the car (over 4 hrs just for swirl/oxidation removal). Thats the price you pay when you let your car go outta hand.
 
Scan the pics upside down by any chance?;) Looks a lot better from what I can see since the last pic doesn't really show the paint too well.
 
I have to agree with some others on KEEPING the Porter-Cable unit. I have the similar 7424 and wouldn't hand wax again! I don't use Griot's waxes, but I do use their application pads. If you find waxes and polishes you like then you will really appreciate the PC. Now you did overpay for the Griots PC, but I would still keep it. And as for the removal bonnet....keep using microfiber hand towels.
 
dr427 said:
I have to agree with some others on KEEPING the Porter-Cable unit. I have the similar 7424 and wouldn't hand wax again! I don't use Griot's waxes, but I do use their application pads. If you find waxes and polishes you like then you will really appreciate the PC. Now you did overpay for the Griots PC, but I would still keep it. And as for the removal bonnet....keep using microfiber hand towels.
Click to expand...



well thankfully i bought the PC at Lowes for $109 and then just got the griot's stuff, so at least I didn't get raped for the PC... BTW - how CAN they get away with that????????



So their pads are pretty good as compared to CMA? Also, any favorites as far as MF towels? Currently I'm using Viper/CMA MF, but I need to buy some more.
 
I am glad to here you got that for less! I like how they advertise their backing plate as almost a custom made item for them. I can't remember the part #, but it is a PC sanding plate I think. I got one online somewhere a couple of years ago because the velco can't be beat when switching from Polishing to Waxing. As for the heat dissapation holes???:p Don't think it gets hot enough.



I recently have been doing research on Microfiber towels and CMA seems to have done a lot themselves. Not sure if your paying for their efforts or not, but you definately can't go wrong theirs. I think you can get pretty high quality on ebay if you look and ask the right questions before bidding. There are more sellers of microfiber on the net than I thought possible!



Read CMA's info it just about sums it up quite well on Microfiber:



http://www.properautocare.com/micwhatbigde.html



As far as polishing and waxing pads. I really can't comment. CMA has a microfiber one. I like Griots for ease and have only truthfully used 2 other types of pads, and switched only because of the velcro and I get there magazine weekly it seems like!
 
I have used an orbital to apply paste wax in the past but IMO, it really is more work than applying by hand plus you tend to use much more product with the orbital. I used a small, flexible blade putty knife to skim off some paste wax and spread it onto the bonnet (just like buttering a piece of bread).



With the P21s being sooooooo easy to use, I really think using a PC to apply it (or even remove it) is a waste of time and money. Just my .02.



Natty
 
Supposedly Griot's got a no time limit money back guarantee. You should be able to call them to arrange an RMA. Or just e-mail them. You'd probably want to have your order number handy.
 
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