Griot`s Garage Rubber Cleaner

[autoguru21]

I`m looking at ordering about $300 worth of products from griot`s garage,including their rubber cleaner,and i was wondering if anyone has pictures of a tire cleaned right after using griot`s rubber cleaner and no dressing applied, and i was wondering how everyone feels about it`s cleaning power on a scale of 1 - 10.



I would also like everyone`s opinion of their vinyl & rubber dressing,in terms of shine,durability & i would like to know whether it`s water or silicone based, if anyone has pictures of their tires cleaned with griot`s rubber cleaner,then dressed with griot`s vinyl & rubber dressing i`d appreciate that,don`t mean to sound like a pain in the butt,i really appreciate it fellow autopians,and i think i`ve gotten the sickness,because i have about $1,500 - $2,000 of detail supplies in my basement :spot :werd:

[Accumulator]

Well, I can`t help with pics as I`m still in the stone age with this internet stuff, but I`ll give you my $0.02 on those Griot`s products as I just used them on the S8 this afternoon.



The Rubber cleaner is mild. *Very* mild, quite possibly *too* mild. It`ll take multiple applications and agitation (brush, etc.) to get the tires clean. I pre-clean with EFHI first when I use it to clean tires. I still like it for some reason, but I can sure understand why somebody might like another product better. Tires/etc. cleaned with it (cleaned *thoroughly*, which might take some doing) look nice and black, just like new rubber oughta look. Trick is to do it thoroughly.



The V&R dressing is OK, not too shiny/slimy/tacky-sticky. I`d guess that it`s water based. Doesn`t last all that long but it looks OK. I greatly prefer Zaino Z-16 for tires both for the more-satiny look and the *FAR* greater durability. I generally prefer Pinnacle`s V&R dressing for interiors/etc., but it behaves strangely on some interiors (Audis and C5 `vettes come to mind). Durability isn`t very good for stuff like tires/etc. that are exposed to the elements or washed frequently. With all the other V&R dressings out there, you might wanna rethink buying from Griot`s. I`m basically just using mine up (I have a bunch left over from when my late father was ordering stuff, he liked Griot`s for one-stop shopping). But it did make the S8`s interior look nice and I`m pretty careful about what I use on that car.



If you do the tires with these two products you`ll have to work a bit and you`ll have to redo them after a few weeks if you want to keep them really nice.



For rubber weatherstrips that contact paint/glass, I`d use something with a lower slime-factor. I like Wurth`s Rubber Care or their Gummipfledge stuff the best.



There are some Griot`s products that I consider indispensable, but those two aren`t really among them.

[JeffM]

If the rubber cleaner is anything like the trim cleaner, then it is very weak.



If you are spending $300 bucks on products from Griots, you can do better. Griots isnt that cheap, and their products dont perform as well as some of the other ones talked about here.

[Accumulator]

Yeah, I could easily spend $300 at Griot`s, but it would be on their Car Wash (I buy gallons of it), BHBs- both the little ones (pn 15520 IIRC, I recommend these so often I think I`ve memorized the number) and the ones for wheels, their polypro window towels, their Interior Cleaner, maybe their Undercarriage Spray, uhm....I`m running out of ideas right about there. Their swabs are good, but probably available cheaper elsewhere. Oh, their tire-dressing applicator thing with the replaceable pads is nice, a lot better than I expected.



I have a garage-full of Griot`s stuff, but a lot of it really is overpriced and underperforming compared to the competition. But some things they offer are great, just gotta separate the wheat from the chaff.