Matt300ZXT
Well-known member
I must say, I'm pretty impressed so far with this Griot's compound and their G9 random orbital with a 5" backing plate and LC SDO CCS pads. I'm a novice weekend warrior, as I like keeping my cars as clean as I can...when I have a place where I can actually do that.
I've had an older Griot's G6 random orbital forever and bought a bunch of stuff from a local detail instructor/retailer several years ago, but he mostly carried meh-level products. I didn't know the difference at the time, so I got some of his Chemical Guys V34 and V36, a few hexlogic pads of theirs, and some soap and glaze, then bought some Car Candy leather cleaner/conditioner, and Poorboy's World black car glaze, and some clay, and who knows what else. I was never able to get any real results out of any of that stuff on my Mercedes clearcoat other than the clay bar, though that glaze did help and smelled great.
Fast forwards to 2 years later when I actually have space again, and I bought a buttload of stuff from Detailed Image over the past couple weeks. Car soap, clay bars, compounds, polishes, pads, ONR for a million different uses, BDX brake dust remover, etc. A few days ago I just washed the car in some Dawn and sprayed it down with BDX (man that stuff smells great), rinsed it off and went to go get Taco Bell. Today, I was able to get back out there and wash it down again with Dawn to get any dust or dirt off, then clayed it and washed it off again. Then I finally got up the balls to dive in and went out and tested Griot's Correcting Cream on a LC blue pad and even though it took a little out, it wasn't enough. So, I hit it with Griot's Fast Correcting Cream on the blue pad and that did the trick. There are very very few scratches left (other than stuff that only wet sanding or paint would fix) that the microfiber pads I bought would probably fix, but I'm satisfied with the amount of current correction; and it looks like a million bucks already, and I haven't even hit it with the Griot's Polish yet before I seal it.
For someone who's never really done this kind of stuff all that much, I'm getting fantastic results from cheaper SDO CCS pads and some of the cheaper compounds that are acceptable in the pro setting. I can't wait to see what it looks like when I finish the first stage and can hit it with the polish. It's too bad my driveway is gravel/grass, and I decided to wear shorts, flip flops, and a hoodie when most of the areas I'm standing/squatting are wet, and it's like 34 degrees outside. I got the hood, driver fender, and door done today before I had to come back in to clean off the pad I was using and determined it's just getting too dark and cold to put another pad on and continue working. It'll unfortunately be Saturday before it's dry/warm enough to continue the first stage of paint correction.
I've had an older Griot's G6 random orbital forever and bought a bunch of stuff from a local detail instructor/retailer several years ago, but he mostly carried meh-level products. I didn't know the difference at the time, so I got some of his Chemical Guys V34 and V36, a few hexlogic pads of theirs, and some soap and glaze, then bought some Car Candy leather cleaner/conditioner, and Poorboy's World black car glaze, and some clay, and who knows what else. I was never able to get any real results out of any of that stuff on my Mercedes clearcoat other than the clay bar, though that glaze did help and smelled great.
Fast forwards to 2 years later when I actually have space again, and I bought a buttload of stuff from Detailed Image over the past couple weeks. Car soap, clay bars, compounds, polishes, pads, ONR for a million different uses, BDX brake dust remover, etc. A few days ago I just washed the car in some Dawn and sprayed it down with BDX (man that stuff smells great), rinsed it off and went to go get Taco Bell. Today, I was able to get back out there and wash it down again with Dawn to get any dust or dirt off, then clayed it and washed it off again. Then I finally got up the balls to dive in and went out and tested Griot's Correcting Cream on a LC blue pad and even though it took a little out, it wasn't enough. So, I hit it with Griot's Fast Correcting Cream on the blue pad and that did the trick. There are very very few scratches left (other than stuff that only wet sanding or paint would fix) that the microfiber pads I bought would probably fix, but I'm satisfied with the amount of current correction; and it looks like a million bucks already, and I haven't even hit it with the Griot's Polish yet before I seal it.
For someone who's never really done this kind of stuff all that much, I'm getting fantastic results from cheaper SDO CCS pads and some of the cheaper compounds that are acceptable in the pro setting. I can't wait to see what it looks like when I finish the first stage and can hit it with the polish. It's too bad my driveway is gravel/grass, and I decided to wear shorts, flip flops, and a hoodie when most of the areas I'm standing/squatting are wet, and it's like 34 degrees outside. I got the hood, driver fender, and door done today before I had to come back in to clean off the pad I was using and determined it's just getting too dark and cold to put another pad on and continue working. It'll unfortunately be Saturday before it's dry/warm enough to continue the first stage of paint correction.
