Purchased new products after much forum research - still have ?

goldretrvr

New member
My most recent process involved the following products:

- Griots Car Wash (also have BMW labeled car wash)

- Griots Machine Polish (applied with PC)

- Griots Best of Show wax (applied with PC)

- Griots clay (if needed pre-wash) with Griots QD

- wheels: BMW labeled wheel cleaner - which far outlasted my BMW :D

- Tires: Meguiars Gold Class Endurance

- trim: various products (Meguiars, Mothers, etc)

- windows: stoner

- bug & tar: stoner, citrus cleaner, ISA..



After much research on these forums, tonights online shopping resulted in the following replacements to the list above (or additions)

- Optimum No-Rinse (gonna give this a try)

- Optimum Compound

- Optimum Polish

- wheels: Poorboy's World Spray and Rinse

- some new 6.5" pads for my PC

- fresh supply of Griots car wash and QD

- some 3M Cleaner (need to try this out on the Artillary Fungus spots :wall )



So - whats missing.. well - I am still not sure what direction to go to replace the Griots Best of Show wax.. I want a product to use as a last step after using Polish (for most detailing, wifes car, my truck, etc), but I am also interested in learning more about alternatives to waxes.. for my own car.. I was considering the Optimum Poly-Seal..



So my questions are:

- Whats next after Optimum polish.. (I dont want to get too crazy - I can work my way up to multiple products and steps.. but a good next step for someone who has traditionally gone the wax route)

- My Griots clay is just about gone.. and all the posts about clay leave me thinking the "old" stuff worked best - the new stuff is all crap.. I was going to go with Sonus Gray..

- Micro Fibers (I mainly use cotton) - time to step up to MF.. and good suggestions on which to get started with



Your feedback is appreciated.. as is all the info I've gotten from reading through the forums these past few weeks.. great site!



Thanks!

Sean -



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After the Optimum Polish you can use the Poli-Seal.

If you use the No Rinse it will help your LSP last longer. I always follow every wash with a quick spray of the Optimum Spray Wax. This in on my cars as well as customers.



I use WW towels to to dry. I picked up towles from david at Optimum that are very soft and have a silk type edge. I think the other companys call them Cobra towels.

I use the yellow MF from costco for wheels and door jambs and blue MF from Sam's for Glass.
 
if i recall Ron^post above^ posted to another member switch your Optimum Compound for Optimum Hyper Compound the reason behind this is so if you need a inbetween polish like OC you can mix 50/50 OP/OHC ......
 
goldretrvr- Welcome to Autopia!



From your user-name I gather you're a fellow dog-lover :D



I bet some of my posts about the current clays are contributing to your quandry...the SmartClay at the Autopia store would be my best guess, but you can quite probably get by with just the green Sonus Ultra-Fine. Unless you have some nasty contamination it oughta work great, and it's the clay I use the most by a *WIDE* margin. You might also try ClayMagic as a Griot's replacement, but get the Sonus green and some Glyde to use with it.



I hate to recommend MF sources as I'll be omitting people that I also like to do business with, but IMO the one-stop/no-brainer MF source is Aloha & Welcome to Our Oasis for All Your Auto Detailing Supplies & Accessories



Sometime you might try a different QD. Much as I like SpeedShine, I truly think that FK 425 is better stuff. I'm still using up my gallons of SpeedShine, so I've been able to do direct comparisons between it and other QDs, so I like to think that my opinions have a decent basis in objective observation ;) The FK 425 is really good stuff and at least worth a try sometime especially for use over a sealant.



You might try sealing your wheels and then just washing them with a stronger-than-usual shampoo mix.
 
Thanks for all the responses so far..



MDRX8 - Does the ClearKote Red Moose Machine Glaze go after a polish.. or is it the polish? Which pad - white or black?



Accumulator - thanks for the info.. I have been thinking the same with the Clay - my needs re mostly light for the clay - with the exception of some seriously stubborn mold spores (The artillery fungus that grows in garden mulch - and literally shoots spores short distances.. of course on the hood and roof of my car.. but the griots clay did nothing except remove the surface.. only thing that got rid of it was Rubbing Alcohol and lots of effort..)



You are correct about the dogs.. my current guy is a 7 year old golden retriever who loves to chill nearby when I am outside cleaning the car.



Dents and Details - is the poly-seal considered an LSP?



I appreciate your suggestions.. so much info to digest!



Sean -
 
Djmigs said:
if i recall Ron^post above^ posted to another member switch your Optimum Compound for Optimum Hyper Compound the reason behind this is so if you need a inbetween polish like OC you can mix 50/50 OP/OHC ......





Not me. You must be thinking of scott.



I don't mix products just drinks:spit:



The Poli-Seal is an LSP
 
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