kumayama

I was going to post this in the other Griot's thread, but found it got too long to serve as a reply. The following is my experience (often with comparison to other products) after several years using a wide variety of Griot's Garage products.

Griot's Car Wash: One of the better (and more expensive) car washes out there. Very convenient to use small clear bottle that seals well and offers measuring capabilities that can be refilled from a (relatively) money saving gallon size. Good suds, good lubricity, no apparent residue, and gentle on the existing finish. A lot more expensive then gallon sizes of, say, Meguiar’s Gold Class Car Wash that can be picked up in discount stores, but if you don’t mind the extra cost, you can be confident the Griot’s is about as good a car wash as you can use.

Best of Show Wax: Great shine, depth, clarity, especially on a black car. It can be hard to remove, leaving white streaks if you miss any of it, especially in cracks and along trim. Takes me about a week after use to track down and root out all the little spots I missed during initial removal. Leaves a tan stain on cotton cloths used for application. Modest durability, but easily extended and maintained by use of Speed Shine and Spray on Wax. All-in-all, pretty much the same as any other high quality carnauba final coat. I find it fairly reasonably priced given how much product is used to achieve initial results, but not the best of values when considering durability compared to good sealants like Zaino.

Speed Shine: My favorite product from Griot's. Excellent detailer with a good delivery system--available in small sprayers for carrying in the car, large sprayers for home use (love the long handle that will hang over my wrist while I'm spreading the product out or wiping it off) & bulk gallon sizes to save money for refilling. Good lubricity and cleaning make it great for removal of tree sap, bird droppings, etc. Excellent compatibility with most finishes, leaving a nice enhanced shine of short durability (like all detailers). Before the addition of Griot’s Spray on Wax and switching to Zaino for the Corvette, I used gallons of this in a year, now I expect I’ll still use a full gallon annually.

Spray on Wax: My second favorite product from Griot's, and much like Speed Shine above in application and removal, but with a higher wax content. Quite noticeably enhances the finish, giving a just waxed look. Appreciably extends wax durability. Used on a clean car after washing, it can double to triple the time needed before rewaxing. Also great to help in removal of stubborn dried carnauba wax. I often use a very light mist of Spray on Wax, when I am removing Best of Show wax after it has dried. This both aids in removal and helps to distribute wax to any tiny areas that may have been missed.

Griot's Polishes, #1 - #4 & Fine Hand Polish: A good system of polishes that cover the full range of needs with the exception of the very hardest of the new finishes. These are all relatively mild, so don’t expect to start with anything higher than #2 if you have more than fine swirl marks. Water based, easy application both by hand and machine, with good distribution and working time. Excellent compatibility with other products, as they remove easily from the paint surface. Machine pads clean up easily in soapy water (unlike, e.g., Meguiar's Clear Coat Prep and Swirl Remover which is really hard to get out of pads). Speaking of Pads, I find their Red (wax) and Orange (polish) machine pads to be some of the best I've used, and offer a simple but effective system. I haven't tried Mezerna yet, but as of now, Griot's are my polishes of choice. Can't say how they will do on the hardest recent clear coats.

Paint Cleaning Clay: This is my favorite clay. It is a tan colored clay which I find to be a good color to reveal the contaminants picked up during use. If you can’t see these well (as with some darker colored clays) you won’t be as able to appraise when you need to refold the clay, or how much contaminant was on the finish. Griot’s offers a more generous quantity for the price than most competitors. It comes in a very nice storage container. It works well with Griot’s own Speed Shine as a lubricant, though I more often use the cheaper Meguiar’s Quick Detailer that I find to work every bit as well for this purpose. Very similar to the Zaino clay in physical characteristics and performance, but without the red Zaino color. I like either of these clays a lot better than the Meguiar’s version for several reasons, including less abrasiveness, better short and long term pliability and less streaking.

Vinyl & Rubber Dressing. Ties with their wheel cleaner as my third favorite product. As Bill said, this is very expensive (a gallon is over $90) but has been one of my favorite rubber and vinyl dressings. Non-greasy with a natural shine. I've been using this for over eight years on one car and the weather stripping and other exterior rubber looks as good, maybe better, than the day it was delivered. I believe it is the best weather stripping protector on the market. Great appearance on tires, but poor durability in that application. I like the look on vinyl, such as dashes, but with multiyear extended use it can result in a slight dulling of the finish, which can be resolved with occasional use of another detailer (favorite right now is Meguiar's NXT Interior Detailer), to bright things up and presumably remove any of the Griot's build up. [My supposition is that the UV protectant in Griot's V&R Dressing UV is what builds up and also gives the white appearance to the product in the bottle. This wears off in most applications, but can build up with regular use on something like a dash. But again, it is easy to remove if you sense a buildup, and then you can start over. Keep in mind that that what is usually invisible residue is also what is giving you the UV protection.]

Griot’s Long Lasting Tire Dressing: As stated above, I’ve always liked the look of Griot’s Rubber and Tire Dressing on my tires. It gives a nice soft natural shine to the rubber that wasn’t messy to apply, went on easy with a rag, and didn’t sling off. The only disadvantage is that it didn’t last for much over a week, looking best if renewed with each weekly car wash. Frequent application had a financial disadvantage as well, in that Griot’s V&R dressing is rather expensive. I’ve recently tried Griot’s Long Lasting Tire Dressing, and find it a much different product. It gives the same visible appearance that I like (it can be made brighter if you put on a second coat), but comes in a clear thick liquid that is close in consistency to the Meguiar’s tire dressings I detest. The thickness means it is best put on using a foam applicator. You can use a cloth, but plan on it being disposable, the dressing never really washes out and will likely contaminate anything washed with it. So does it work? Yes it does. It doesn’t sling off like the Meguiar’s dressings, and lasts a long time. I’d say you can count a month of good shine for the Long Lasting version, compared to a week from the Rubber and Tire Dressing. It hasn’t browned like some other products. I’m going to be trying Zaino Z16 when I’ve used this up, but given the life of this stuff, that won’t be any time soon.

Undercarriage Spray: As far as I’m concerned, this very strong coconut smelling, initially very slippery and messy, silicone-like product is not for the easy to clean wheel wells and undercarriage of a Corvette. It is, however, a wonderful product for the relatively exposed wheel wheels and visible undercarriage of a SUV. The blued dyed liquid tends to streak and run on spray application, but semi-dries a dark (almost black) semi-gloss color that looks good, is moderately durable, and resists road residue. I only use it for my Suburban, on which it greatly improves the appearance for very little effort.

Wheel Cleaner: The other item that ties as my third favorite product from Griot's. Simply the best balance between effectiveness and gentleness of any wheel cleaner I've tried (and I've tried a lot). You need to use a brush with this (I use a flat brush for the face of the wheels, and the EZ Detail Brush to get between spokes). Very effective in removing brake dust and other dirt. Hand sprayer bottle is very effective and the price is good when you get it by the gallon for refills. Next to Speed Shine, I go through more of this a year than any other product.

Rubber Cleaner: Cleans rubber such as tires and weather stripping more effectively yet gently than most soaps meant for paint. You won't need to use this often, but you'll appreciate it when you do. Clean rubber of old sealants and coverings before starting with new Rubber sealants and you'll get better adherence and a better appearance.

Griot’s Window Cleaner: One of the better window cleaners I’ve tried, both in the old and new (now CA compliant) formulations. Like most window cleaners, I doubt either formulation has anything all that exotic in it. Comparable (though no better than) Stoners, but at a better price when bought in bulk sizes. Without the dyes, better performance than Windex. Recently I was running low on Griot’s window cleaner and split it 50/50 with Windex to get rid of some that my wife had in the house. It was immediately clear that I had lost the cleaning power and had increased streaking compared to the Griot’s alone.

Griot’s Glass Polishes: These are more abrasive than their paint polishes, but otherwise are rather similar in characteristic. Don’t apply these by machine unless you intend to immediately wash the car off afterwards, as you don’t want any of the polishes abrasive residue to spatter up on your paint. Hand application will usually be quite sufficient to accomplish what they can do. They aren’t going to be effective in removing scratches or pits (though I suppose they might round off the edges slightly), but they can be effective removing mineral build up from water spots and solvent resistant road contaminants. If you have a real problem with this, or have a use for it around the house, then they might be worth obtaining. I find it is a lot easier, and paint safe, to just run my machine polisher over my windows at the same time as I am polishing my paint, using whatever polish is going on the paint at that time.

Interior Cleaner: Rather surprisingly effective cleaner that works especially well for cloth surfaces such as carpet. Being not sure of just how strong it is, I’m a little reluctant to use it for regular cleaning of vinyl, but I’ve found it effective when necessary to remove a stain or particularly dirty area that hadn’t responded to water. Again, I don’t suspect there is anything particularly exotic about this formulation, just some simple but effective traditional cleaning agent.

Leather Cleaner and Leather Rejuvenator: I’ve tried a wide variety of leather products over the years, and until trying the Zaino products, these from Griot’s were my favorite leather products. I still use them occasionally, rotating them with Zaino on a 1 to 3-4 ratio. In my opinion, they are far more effective and with a better final finish than the lanolin based products from folks like Meguiar’s. Like their Zaino counterparts, they won’t clog perforated leather if applied reasonably. I find they leave a slightly harder/slicker final finish than Zaino products as if they have some carnauba in them (I don’t know this for sure, it just feels that way). Pleasant, but minimal odor (not nearly as strong as Zaino). Again, for me, it’s this or Zaino, nothing else.

Leather Scent: Griot’s sells small bottles of “leather” scent. You mist it on your floor mats, or put in on a small cloth or foam rubber and tuck it away under a seat. The odor is rather leather care product like (which supposedly creates the leather association) and is not unpleasant. It’s not very strong, and in my experience, it’s not very lasting. I used to use it in my wife’s MB two seater, which has a very small interior volume. Can’t say it provided much odor after a day or two, and I just don’t find I get around to renewing it in her car very often. If you want a prominent leather odor in your vehicle, use the Zaino leather care products. They don’t require any additional applications of scents, and smell better to my nose.

Oil and Grease Cleaner: This is a somewhat unusual product in that it includes live microbes that “eat” oil and grease. As a result it can be effective without strong chemicals. I’ve found this to do a good job as long as the area can be kept moist and you can break up heavier build ups with a brush. I think this is a good product to have in your arsenal if you have an older car you are cleaning up, or one where you are having to fight regular light oil films from say a power steering line.

Plastic Polish: This is a mild plastic polish that has nothing to recommend it over other plastic polishes. I usually use the Meguiar’s version to maintain a plastic bug shield on my Suburban. Griot’s works about as well but seems to have a milder abrasive.

Chrome Polish: This is a non abrasive chrome cleaner, at the opposite end of the spectrum from the venerable, but highly abrasive Dupont #7. Being nonabrasive, it won’t scratch chrome, but it also won’t cut the most stubborn dirt or rust. It works best for intact new chrome that you want to keep looking that way.

Bill Baird

Thanks for the reviews kumayama!

kumayama

It was your excellent reply in the other post, and the model that you set, that got me started. I was just going to chime in with you, then got rather carried away. :-)

ZaneO

Thanks for the thorough reviews!

JVM225

Thanks for taking the time to write the reviews.

agentf1

Nice reviews.

SEVNT6

I LOVE SPEEDSHINE!! I've used nothing but Griots for a few years now. This is a pic of my all original paint baby.........

Sleper

Thanks for your opinion. Very interesting reading.

GizmoZ

AWESOME reviews, I agree with you on most points. I absolutely LOVE Speed Shine and the Spray on Wax is so nice. The Wheel Cleaner is nice, too, but I think I prefer P21S Gel.

Try the new Leather Care Spray. It's super easy to use and cleans quite well.