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Griots Garage 3-1 Ceramic Spray Wax

6K views 25 replies 6 participants last post by  Mantis 
#1 ·
Hello everyone,
This weekend I did some super light paint correction, it's brand new with 430 miles on it now and I only found a few minor blemishes to correct. I went over the finish with a clay bar but I didn't find hardly anything which is surprising as I usually have to do a full clay to get all the rail dust and shipping crap off of it.
I took her home un touched by the dealership. I didn't want them to clean it I wanted to do it myself especially since it's black and didn't want them to wash scratch it with whatever they use at the dealership.
Anyway After a full wash partial clay and partial Correction with Griots Garage G9 polisher and Polish , I coated it with Griots Garage 3-1 Ceramic Spray Wax. I still had over 1/2 bottle left after doing my 2017 Durango R/T , our 2010 Audi S4 and our 2019 Charger AWD. It worked so well on those vehicles I figured buying new stuff would be a waste of money and I already have this.
So I washed the car Friday night, used a Leaf blower to get all the water out of the cracks, used a light drying agent in Adam's Polishes Detailer the standard pink stuff and let it sit in the garage overnight to fully dry out.
Saturday morning which was a nice 65 degrees and went up to 73 was the perfect weather for applying the coating.
I put a nice layer over all the exterior surfaces including the glass, wheels and trim. Then I left it in there the full day and didn't drive it at all. The paint looks great and I'm very happy with the results.
What do you guys use ? I'm the kinda guy who washes their car each week and uses the best quality soaps and drying towels. I have several from different companies. I almost always use a drying agent and like to put a topper on at least once a month or every other week. I'm super tempted to do it each week but after talking with the guys at Griots and Adam's they both suggest only doing it once a month so I don't get any excessive build up.
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#2 ·
Supplies used
Adam's Polishes Car Shampoo using Chemical Guys Micro Fiber Wash mitt.
Adams Polishes Tire and wheel cleaner using Adam's Wheel brush kit
Adam's Polishes Detail spray
Chemical Guys 3 gallon buckets
Honda Pressure washer using a TirNova Foam Cannon
Adam's Polishes Microfiber drying towel
Rag Company 300 General Purpose Micro Fiber towels for the door jams and underneath the hood wiping.
Rag Company 500 plush microfiber Towels
Griots Garage 3-1 Ceramic Spray wax
Jay leno's Trim and Rubber care for the tire dressing.
 
#3 ·
You don't need detail spray to dry your car. That's a waste of detail spray and you're doing nothing but giving your money away. Add to that, if you use the pooling rinse to dry your car, you know.... dry your car with water, that will kill a major amount of the water that you will have to remove when you do dry the car with air. Now for those who don't know what the pooling rinse is, watch:



Also, if you:
:
A) have a good foundation of a sealant topped with a good carnauba paste wax and...
B) Wash your car INDOORS like I do, you won't end up with hard water spots that are created by washing your car in direct sunlight. Add to that...
C) The combination of a good sealant topped with a good carnauba paste wax acts as a big time barrier to hard water spots. It will also keep you from constantly having to apply any more protection to your paint so often.

Now how do I know this? Because, look at how much dirt is on my car and peep those hard water spots when I show them. Watch how EASY they come off the car.:



If I can let that much dirt and hard water spots sit on my car for that long, you know that protection is the shizzle. 👀
 
#4 ·
Great work and the car looks great. Just curious what your (Mantis) connection to Adams is since the logo appears all over the place in your images. Hell, I'm pretty anal about taking care of my vehicles and I like some of the products I use, but I can't recall ever putting up wall hangings or posters with car care product labels on them. :)

However, it does provide me with some motivation to clean out my garage and organize my jumble of chemicals, oil, wax, polish, solvents, etc. Gotta make sure my wife never sees that third image. If she does, I'm just going to tell her it isn't real and someone did that shot with CGI. :)

Best,
 
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#12 ·
My Son and I are detail freaks. We both like Adam's Polishes a lot. He got Adam to sign one of my Signs which he got me for my last years birthday. I just hung some new Craftsman boxes on the wall to house some of the detail supplies and Towels.
I'm stongly considering getting rid of the home made table I built like 18 years ago and going with more Craftsman wall units. The setup is very tired and old those shelves have been up there for 18 years and need to go with a new all unit. I plan on repainting the garage and giving it a full makeover. It's tire, sorta clean but needs a refresh.
New Floor tiles of Gray and Red will go in as well and those steps will get changed to something nicer.
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#5 ·
Personally I use F12 on my latest toy when I brought home my new Charger Scat Pack I didnt even have to clay it.
I put on a coat they say spray on and wipe off I found that spray on a micro fiber towel then applying on the car .
I then let it dry for 5 to 10 minutes and wipe off.
What I like about F11 you can use it on everything including the tires which make the tires look new but not shiny.
1st coat 2nd coat 24 hrs then give it a week for a 3rd coat.
Living in Florida it usually rains overnight which I dry the car every morning with a water blade.
If the car gets dirty I just spray the car with hose and it removes most of the dirt if necessary I then wash the cars with just water.
If the car is not extremely dirty you can just use F11 on a rag to clean your car.
Been using it for about 2 years now on 5 Different cars and get a lot of comments about the shine.
Nice thing you can also use the F11 as clay bar lube.
I have tryed several other products that claim they are better only to be dissatisfied.
Only down side it is expensive
It also will hide small defects in your paint.
I know I will get a lot of flack about using F11 however you use what you like.
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#8 ·
... Living in Florida it usually rains overnight which I dry the car every morning with a water blade.
Nooooooooooo!!!! 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

This is not the video that I normally post concerning this but the message is the same. That thing is the work of the devil. The damage they do over time is horrendous. It's an accumulative damage if your paint is in bad shape but if you have perfect paint, you will instantly see the damage. If I find the other video, I'll post it. I haven't posted it in awhile because I thought everyone had quit using those things.



Found another one:

 
#6 ·
I'm just really jealous that you have the time to hand wash your cars weekly... I hand wash mine a few times a year and really enjoy it. Usually do some paint correction like a Meguiar's cleaner wax or Ultimate Compound depending how bad it is before finishing with something like Hi Tech Yellow wax. I just don't have the hours needed to do it the way I really want so I have to come to peace with that and do what I can for my daily drivers.

When I got me 2019 I did have to go a bit nuts on a big trunk scratch meaning wet sanding with 5000, 3000 and then compounding. I can still see that scratch but I didn't want to burn off all the clear coat and it looks so much better. I do have some swirls even after using ultimate compound but like I said outside of COVID19 this car is daily driven 40-65 miles thru rain snow, sleet, ice, salt you name it.

Maybe when I'm older and kids are older I can have more time but I feel guilty if I'm in the garage for 5-6 hours washing cars!
 
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#7 ·
I am retired and due to COVID 19 I no longer do volunteer work for the Salvation Army full time.
I have nothing but time on my hands !!!
I am also a clean freak
Dealers love it when I trade my cars because they don’t have to recon them to sell and I have been getting over book for all my trades .
I live in Florida now and I don’t drink fish or play golf 🤣
 
#9 ·
I have been using a California Water Blade for over 10 yrs and never had any damage however only if the car is soaked if you have dry patches I can see where It might damage.
Anything can damage your car if not used correctly.
Same goes for clay bars or claying your car if used correctly no problem if not a clay bar can do serious damage.
 
#11 ·
He's right on the water blade... I do use one sometimes but in general it is a bad idea... dragging anything across the paint like that can and will damage it. Same thing with California car duster... I have one and occasionally use it for a few days after a fresh wash when the car just sits in garage and gets dusty.... but I know it isn't what you should be doing.

I settle for 90% because my paintwork isn't going to be perfect and I'm driving thru salt and bugs and everything and just don't have all the time it takes to approach perfect paint.
 
#10 ·
You also need to keep the edge of your water blade clean I usually use a Clorox wipe at least once a week to clean the entire blade especially the edges.
I have also bought a couple of blades that I just threw out as soon as I took them out of the of the package.
Buy the best and keep it clean !!!!!
You get what you pay for !!!
 
#21 ·
I usually wash my car once a week in the shop that I work at, but I have been lacking lately because I am having the front end PPF'd here soon. We are going to put some Ceramic Pro on the rest of the car after paint correction. I have tons of detailing supplies here at home, but it would take me all day to list all of them. A majority of my collection is made up of Meguiar's products, but I do have some other brands as well.

Here's my wash method and (some of) the products I use:

Rinse - Pressure washer hooked up to de-ionizer system (pretty much necessary here in Indiana to prevent water spots)
Wheels - Wash Soap (Meguiar's Shampoo Plus), Meguiar's Non-Acid Wheel and Tire Cleaner, Meguiar's Wheel Brightener (never needed for my wheels), 3 gallon bucket, Wheel Woolies and other assorted brushes.
Foam - Foam cannon, Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II
Hand Wash - Two 3 gallon buckets and a wash mitt, wash soap, and sometimes a small soft-bristle brush for intricate areas.
Rinse
Sealant - CarPro Hydro2 (touchless sealant, easy to apply)
Rinse
Dry - Blow Drier

I then dress the tires with Meguiar's M40 which is a water based dressing that we use on exteriors and interiors. It's not a very widely known dressing compared to some of the other ones, but it works really well. I don't like using solvent based dressings because they are oily and difficult to remove during the washing phase. I also dry out the jambs with a towel combined with Meguiar's Last Touch detail spray.
 
#24 ·
Wagner Thermo Quiet Brake pads huh, cool tip. I don't drive fast unless I'm at the track which I only go down there a few times during the spring summer and fall. I also maintain wash each week or if it didn't get very dirty every other week but usually once a week. I also can wash my wheel and tires with just car shampoo. I never use wheel cleaner or tire cleaner. Unless I want to remove the current tire dressing or there are times I use Tire Armor. Tire Armor is nice if you don't enjoy dressing your tires, it stays on for 4-6 months easy. It's kinda boring though as I actually enjoy dressing and using different products to get a slight different result. I don't however like the higher shine dressings.
I also use a spray wax or a paste to help repellants dirty and grime. It's so nice as this is what keeps things not sticking on my wheels. I usually start with a Ceramic coating first and then top it with a spray or paste topper about once a month.
Never ever do I ever spray tire dressing of any kind on my tires. I use the same exact Sponge you have. Those things last for years and years. I'll have to check that stuff out, Optimum Tire dressing. Thanks again for the tip. I never tried that stuff out. I do however gets years out of a bottle of dressing. I do it exactly has you do and store my sponges upwards.
American buffing, I'm gonna check them out when I need new ones. Mine is probably 3 years old and is basically like new.
 
#25 · (Edited)
.... American buffing, I'm gonna check them out when I need new ones. Mine is probably 3 years old and is basically like new.
Don't bother. Shortly after I made that video, they were bombarded with request and apparently, they were a one-man show. He couldn't handle the demand and got pissed at all the business he picked up. I don't even think he's in business anymore. 🤦‍♀️
 
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