991Dreamer

Will be taking delivery of my new 991 soon and wanted to check with all of you regarding car care products. I’ve been using Meguiar’s Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner but am thinking about a first time order from Griot’s. Does anyone have any thoughts about the Griot’s products below or any others you like?
Long-Lasting Tire Dressing
Stay Soft Chamois
Sheepskin Wash/Dust Mitt
Car Wash
Ultimate Micro Fiber Car Duster

Alstoy

Good stuff. You may have already thought about claying the car upon delivery. It is a labour of love.

chuckbdc

The soft microfiber towels and wash mits at your local car care store are every bit as good as stuff you can pay X2 for. I have found that Chamois is effective at removing wax and detailing solutions and have discarded mine. Use very clean microfiber towels and top wax lasts a long time. Have always found McGuires peroducts to be as good as any.

daddyscar

I really like Griot products. Favorite and most often used item is Speedshine. If it hasn't rained for a while I can often get away with just dusting off my car with a california style micro fiber duster and speedshine to clean off bugs and droppings along with a quick wheel wash. Other items I use is their car wash soap (love the smell), random orbiter, wax and polishes. All their stuff is on Amazon with free shipping.

The random orbiter and polish has cleaned up some pretty nasty looking blemishes that I thought could only be cleaned up by a body shop. It's also great for applying a quick wax coating. Apply and rub most of it off with the orbiter, then use speedshine to wipe off any excess. Waxed my 997 in 30 min a couple weeks ago.

rnl

Good choices i would add two rinse buckets. After washing a section of the car I rinse the wash cloth in two buckets of water and change the water as required. The first rinse bucket water does get very dirty

911 Crazy

I have lots (over $1000) of Griot's products. Very good indeed. Can get the best deal on Griot's and other items from autogeek.net. They put on a great 2 day detailing boot camp which I attended last year. Wax wise I use Dodo Juice. Great product from 2 quirkie European guys who also have Porsche's. GL

Hammer911

see my new thread I will post in a few minutes "black is beautiful"...
just cleaned up my new 991 C4S with Griot's products:
Foam gun, wash mitts, car wash, microfiber towels, speed shine

991Dreamer

Don't know much about claying. Would love more info.

chuckbdc

Claying is easy and does an amazing job of removing anything on the paint- making is smooth as glass and easy to polish and wax. It seems totally senseless on a newish car until you do it. The resulting increase in shine and paint quality is obvious. Just look at Hammer's thread!

Just wash the car thoroughly with any car soap and rinse completely. Follow the instructions re starting with a clean car and keeping the surface of the clay totally clean, with lots of lube- water or the lubricant that comes with the clay. Apply NO pressure- not needed. Work carefully in small areas. wipe gently, polish out any scratched clear coat or paint (by hand or using an orbital with gentle polishes, then apply a wax.

911 Crazy

I use Speed Shine more than any other product. On claying, did for the first time in the Fall and couldn't believe the difference! Was so easy with clay bar and Speed Shine.

chuck911

Been using Griot's almost 15 years now. All their stuff is good, especially the core items, while some other stuff you could get equal quality for a lot less elsewhere. Like the earlier mentioned microfiber, Costco will get you a huge bag of 50 for about the cost of three from Griot's. The only items on your list I would get from Griot's are the Car Wash (excellent) and maybe the microfiber duster. The chamois and sheepskin I would recommend not getting at all, from anyone. These products are hanging around from familiarity and long past their usefulness. Avoid. Use either 100% cotton wash mitt or even better microfiber. When your paint is clayed and waxed, and when you are using the right rinse technique, then virtually all the water runs off leaving only a few drops here and there to towel off. You should be able to dry your entire car, including wheels and door jambs and such, with one towel and soak up so little water you cannot squeeze out one drop. Seriously. Makes the chamois redundant, on top of being an anachronism.

My shopping list for you would be:
Essentials: Car Wash, Paint Cleaning Clay, Speed Shine, Machine 4 Polish, Best of Show Wax, Wheel Cleaner, Orange Polishing Pads.
Really nice to have: Boars Hair Brush, microfiber mitt and cloths, Plastic Cleaner, Rubber and Vinyl Conditioner, Interior Cleaner.... the list can go on and on ....

Best way to buy these is look for a kit that has most of what you want. The kits all come with stuff you don't really need, but will save enough money to look at those as being free anyway. Nearly as important is learning the techniques that will get you outstanding results efficiently. Like the rinse trick. But for now its enough to just start using the best products.

gota911

See link below:

Detailing clay bar

Nicoli35

ahhh... ! I will finally use that clay bar in the Griot's starter pack now. Thanks

rpilot

Claying is certainly worth it and it is not hard to do. But I will recommend trying it on another car before you attempt it on a brand new Porsche to get a hang of the process. And remember, never ever use a claybar after you drop it.

FWIW, I have used Zaino's products for around 10 years now and have been very satisfied. Cars keep looking like new other than the imperfections that happen otherwise like road chips, dings , etc.

For leather I have simply used the lexol stuff but I am thinking of trying something different for my Porsche.. not sure what yet..

I am sure Griot's makes good stuff since many speak highly of them. I just have not used them. I am thinking of buying their cool wash bucket on wheels and some other items from them.

One of the things I would recommend is to use a polymer coating instead of conventional wax or polish. Wax is great, but well, you have to wax more often to keep the car protected. Polishes protect longer, but they are just that.. a polish (ie: abrasive to some degree even if very very very small). A polymer coating.. for instance, like Zaino is neither, it is applied like a wax and buffed off (by hand.. easier and faster with Zaino instead of using a buffer) and a couple of properly applied coats protect for atleast 4 months, maybe upto 8 months... it depends. The better products that fall into this category are Zaino and Regex. I think the GP place in california who posts here sells something along those lines although I do not know how good or bad it is. And there are other manufacturers as well. Some say regex is better, but I have not used it or tried it mainly because it leaves a very high gloss shine.. almost protection film like gloss. Zaino on the other hand leaves a subtle & protected finish. They have some add on products like a high gloss shine, etc. if you like your car to be concours ready everyday, but I have not used those. Ideally if I had more time or patience to wax every month or trust a detailer to handle my car, I would try Griots or use Zymol again like I used to. Until then I will continue to use Zaino.

And, I will ask a question of my own.. I always have to wash and dry pretty quickly, so as not to leave water spots.. is one of those deionizers either from griots or elsewhere really worth it or a bit over the top? Also, if some someone knows a bit about these de-ionizers, which one has the least running cost in terms of the replenishable items that are needed? I never cared about these before, but for a 991, I am willing to examine these. Maybe I will find another use for these too...

Hothonda

With a good wax job - 2 bucket wash & follow w/my leaf blower (especially on the wheels) to blow the rinse water off. Then follow up w/soft terry or microfibre.

Windows last.

I've used everything from Zymol Concours to Mothers & the prep (clay etc)
is the key.

I recently purchased from Autogeek their Pinnacle "Souveran" carnuba. Nice shine,
but history after washing - snake oil @$90. IMO most of their private label products are too pricey for what you get, even after discounts.