The Griot's clay is my choice. It's the largest over the counter quantity I've seen, comes in its own air-tight jar (smart) and Griot's doesn't package it with a detail spray to up the price. It's first rate clay and the quantity is more than enough for one year on a daily driver. I clay before each seaonal polishing/cleanign, usually during the car washing while the suds provide plenty of lubrication. Once its been clayed (and washed again to remove remnants) and polished, I follow up with a layer of synthetic wax for durability vs. going with a pure carnauba paste wax. I do this twice a year maybe three times at most. The less you touch the paint the better.

I also, generally try to avoid applying a paste wax in between seasonal polishing since a top quality spray wax like Griot's Spray Wax provides an excellent finish and require much less paint touching. Only a well trained eye could tell the difference between a car that had a manually or machine applied wax vs a spray wax with a decent amount of wax.

 

I love the Griot's Spray Wax, it's a truly fantastic product.

 

I like most of Griots stuff and used to use it, but once you go on any detailing forums, you open up a can of worms. I haven't gone back to Griots since.

 

d post

 

Griots is a fantastic, family owned company with great products. There are too many detailing products out there to list. I have been amazed by the advancement in detailing technology over the past five years. No longer are the hobbyists relegated to buying whatever is on the shelf at the parts store. A whole new world is now open to hobbyists and pros alike. You can buy virtually anything I can with very few exceptions.

I urge my clients to step out of the box and experiment with new products. They are usually amazed at the results.

On my upcoming detail thread for my 996, I will be showing some of this new technology. Micro fiber polishing pads, high tech paint cleansers and semi permanent coatings to name a few. I will shoot as much video as I can and post them here in segments.

The point of this post is to urge you guys to step away from the routine and try something new. You will not regret it!

 

Awesome! Can't wait.

 

Cool...I also have a GR 996 so I can't wait to see the results.

What is the condition of your paint now?

 

The paint on the car now is clean. Thundertub kept the car washed and waxed regularly. But, as detailer, I see beyond the cleanliness. What I see are years of micro marring, ie, swirl marks. Disclaimer: 99.9% of cars have swirl marks...mine included. It is inevitable through washing and drying. They can however, be minimized. What is a swirl mark? Look at your car in the sun or under bright lights. You will see what look like spider webs. They are typically circular as that is how we wash and dry.

So, although the paint is clean it is not flat. Only true, flat paint will reflect correctly. The only way to remove the swirls is to remove clear coat down to the level of the scratch and it disappears. Leveling clear coat or paint is not as extreme as it sounds.

I will machine polish the paint in three steps. Step one is a mildly aggressive compound to do the grunt work and then two more applications of machine applied finer polishes.

The cool thing that I will do is top the now "perfect as I can get it" paint is with a semi permanent nano coating. This coating will allow me to not have to wax the car for at least one year and most likely two years or more. The coating is applied by hand in two coats, curing in between. The result will be rich, dark paint that is scratch resistant. Nothing out there is truly scratch proof. With a proper wash and dry regimen, the risk of adding in new swirls is minimized.

I think that it will be a very informative thread. And yes, everything that I show you is something that all of you can do with a little patience and practice.

 

NICE!!!

Looking forward to this!!!

 

Thanks! but still prefer the gator girls...

 

Gator, the claybar info is great, thanks but I find your latest avatar far more interesting. Im sure theres a story behind your new choice.

 

I can't wait to give it a try.

 

A clay bar tip I got from a detailer years ago...

Never use the whole bar, or even large pieces of the bar! Keep it in a sealed zip-lock and just take a very small piece of it to work with, marble sized. Flatten out and use that piece, folding/flattening it frequently. When you accidently drop it on the ground (as you inevitably will!) or when the piece starts to get dark with contaminates, toss that piece and start over with a new piece.

Even a tiny contaminant from the ground that you didn't spot scratch the heck out of your paint, often not right away but after it gets exposed in just the right way...

 

+1 on that. Only use what you need. It also warms up faster.

 

+1 damn right!!!! nice avatar!!! what's the story?

Eagle One makes a "Nano Wax," I use it all over the car....dark plastic/rubber bits...paint...everywhere...well, not on the interior, nothing there but micro-fiber cloths...brings it back to factory look and it lasts a long time....wonderful product