ah i see. i have my plan of attack ready now. how long does this whole process usually take? i was thinking maybe around 4 hours total for washing, claying, polishing, waxing, ect. Is it safe to use just a 100% cotton towel to wipe off excess?

 

I use 100% cotton towels to take off the residue.
Caution, some towels are not really 100% when they say there are.

If you stick with Cannon and Griot's, and a few others, you are safe.
I currently use some 100% shop towels I bought from Sam's Club in the automotive section.

Not sure of the total time from start to finish as I don't factor in the wash job.
An average wash job for me is close to 2.25 hours as I am a picky SOB.
That includes a total wipe down of the entire rig head to toe twice.

And also opening all the doors and drying and wiping down the door jams, pillars, the foot thing you step over etc.

And putting on the meguiar's tire gel.
By the time I put my hose & car wash supplies away and wash my hands, close to 2 to 2.25 hours have passed.

Doing the clay bar with the buffer and wax job takes be about 2.25 hours.
If I had to do it by hand, figure 6 to 8 hours to do those two steps.
This is where the buffer shines (no pun) as it cuts yours time involved way down.
Corey

 

maybe its just me but there is nothing like doing it be hand .
I like to feel my rig as i wax it .
It could be that i have not had it for long enough yet to want to rush the waxing?
mind you 8 hours to wash and wax is taking things to the extreme

 

I found the sander at Lowe's but it only had an on off switch. I have read many posts that talk about changing speeds, #1, #4 etc... The one I looked at was a 7336. Is this the right one? How do you change speeds?

 

Mine is the 7336. There should be a dial on the back of it to rotate to change your speeds.
See where the cord exits out the back? That is where the speed control is.



Corey

 

Anyone have a phone number for Griot's? I can't seem to find it on the website. Or I'm blind!

 

Never mind. if it were any more noticable......:pat:

 

I got the griots wax removal pad with my order. The guy taking the order talked me into it. I have not had good luck with it though. I just finished doing my other truck a black F-150 and I didnt even bother using it. It just doesnt seem to remove all the dried wax. You end up going back over it by hand and its seems faster to just do that to begin with. Both of my trucks are black and its a full time job keeping them clean. Once you have clayed, polished and waxed you can give it another wax job a couple months later, I did this with my 4Runner and it didnt take me more than an hour to wax it with the porter cable. The polishing part takes along time for me. Next truck I get will be white or silver.

 

White is not a whole lot better

 

Well I took the plunge and bought the PC and the Clay Bar, Polish and Wax package from Griots. Let me just say I have been working on cars since I was 12 and have never...ever used such an inferior product as the garbage that Griots sells. First the clay bar got stuck in the holder. Upon calling Griots they inform me that I was supposed to spray the Speed Shine on the pad BEFORE putting the clay bar in. Of course they only tell you that after the fact, it is not written in the directions any where. Did they offer to replace the holder....NO. "Just try and get it out with a butter knife", is the expert advice I got. An hour later I have a holderr that's all chewed up. I get to the polish and after working with it on the roof of my 4Runner, I thought it was very hard to remove. I kept going to the hood and it seemed as though I needed a chisle to get this crap off. Again I called the company and they inform me that I should have used their Paint Prep first, another $25 for the bottle. Apparently Griots products don't work well with others. I was told the reason I was having so much trouble was because the Griots polish didn't react well with whatever I had used in the past. The paint prep would have stripped off the old stuff and made my life alot easier. The guy on the phone tells me to wash the truck again with Dawn dishwashing soap because that will stirp it. I did it, against my better judgement, but no difference. The polish just would not come off any easier.

Needless to say I am sending it all back and getting my money back. I thought it was amusing how insluted the Griots people seemed to be on the phone when I told them their stuff is garbage. I had used maguires all my life and went back to it after this fiasco,let me tell you it is a much better product.

Let this be a friendly warning or whatever, I would think twice before using this stuff. By the way the Porter Cable works great!!!

 

Sorry to hear you had bad luck with Griot's.
I have nothing but high praise for them and their products.

Many on the forum here have used thier stuff with great success.
This forum too has nothing but good stuff to say, and they are a detail forum, and that is all they talk about all day.
http://www.autopia.ws/index.php?s=

Not sure if you have read my detail site listed in my sig file below, but I mention there that you should lightly put a little Speed Shine in the clay bar holder, but not much, as the bar will "Frisbee" out on you.

I could not imagine switching to anything else to detail my rig with.
I'm very happy with all their stuff.
They do stand behind their product, and will make it right.
I don't use the Paint Prep, I use the "Dawn" trick to get all the old dead wax off, and it works on my rig.

 

Glad to see you've had success. After reading some of the comments over at autotopia I think you may be in minority. It appears folks over there aren't too flattered with Griots either.

I'm begining to think you work for them the way you rave about their stuff! (lol)

 

All the posts I read over there a few weeks back when I found their forum had nothing but good to say about them.

Me work for them? No, but there is a Corey that does answer the phone there when I call to place my orders.

They do have me in the summer catalogs though.
That pic was from last August at the Boeing car show.

From CTapia:
http://candidotapia.tripod.com/trdrunner/id14.html

I'm not sure what Wyatt used for wax though:
http://www.disknet.com/ExideC/tips_n_trix.htm

Corey

 

tpg013:

Funny, there are a lot of folks here who swear by certain products, manufacturers, stores, etc...so why aren't you picking on them and just singling one person out? Just curious.

Furthermore, I think its in poor taste that you accuse anyone of working for a company solely based on their loyalty to a product. If you really wanted to know, why didn't you call the company and ask if Corey worked there?

I think your ham-handed attempt to smear someone's good name is pretty juvenile at best.

And yes, I work for Corey (lol) :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Bob

 

Bob, chill out man. No one is smearing anyone's name. I was kidding with Corey and I think, or at least I hope, he knew that. I've got nothin' against the guy. Hell, if it weren't for him I would have never have found out about the whole Porter Cable system.

FYI there is a Corey that works at Griot's.

I was just giving my opinon on Groit's stuff. If I can't post an opinon that dosen't agree with the masses that's pretty poor. I'm glad for Corey that he has had success with Giot's stuff. Good for him. I'm sure there are other folks out there who haven't had success with it and I just wanted to post my experience. Yes, I posted it after much frustration with it and maybe that came across, but it is a free forum and I didn't read anywhere where I couldn't post a negative comment.

If I have an experience with another product written about here good or bad, I'm gonna give my opinion. I kinda thought that's what this was all about.

Sit back, pop open a beer and relax dude.

 

Corey, after I clay the 4runner do I then need to wipe it down once again with a cotton towel before I start to apply the polish?

 

Yes you do.
But since there is hardly any residue, it's as easy as wiping off water almost.

All you are wiping off is the Quick Wax type spray that was used for lubing the clay bar.
Corey

 

Thanks. Man griots has some of the best sales\service that I've ever experienced. They're such nice folks to deal with.

 

Holy Shiite!! I have truly been slacking when it comes to washing and waxing my rig!!
I do have two questions though ...What is the name of the P/C you are using and what is the difference in using a regular 'ol Orbital sander (the type with two handles on it??)
Thanks...this site ROCKS!
Zach

 

http://www.pnw4runners.net/tando/wax/detail1.htm

explains everything!