Does One Company Have it all?

jared6180

New member
Maybe I am not very smart, but am I the only one that gets confused by all the different offerings and all the different colors of products and then the colors of pads and then the colors of towels? Is there ONE company that does it all really well? For a while it seemed it was Sonus, then Chemical Guys, then Adams, Meguires...the list goes on and on.
 
Simply my opinion here but for me it’s a NO. Don’t get me wrong here. I sincerely believe that a person could choose for example Poorboys, Meguiars or McKee’s 37 (there are others) product lines and have vehicles that are simply top notch as an end result in every aspect of the detail. That said, I’m someone that finds favorites for what ever reason, if only for a short period of time. While I can get perfectly acceptable results from a single product line, it doesn’t mean that their products are my favorites across the board.
 
I tend to shop a few very long-time companies for certain products they sell that fit my business plan and give me the best results..
No one place has everything that passes my stringent quality control/assurance process, to my knowledge..
I purchase from a select few companies that have been around long enough that I can see their work history and feel confident that I am getting what I am paying for..
It all depends on what your needs are, and are they just temporary or long term needs, etc...
Dan F
 
I personally like different things from different companies. When you are new at this it is normal to feel that way. I started all poorboys. Worked great for me. I still use a lot of their products. They along with Ron gave me most of my early education on all things detailing.
 
CarPro comes close to having everything you need. If McKees added pads they could be a one stop shop. I would rather cherry pick the best from every brand. It’s hard for one company to be the best at everything.
 
Meguiar`s has nearly everything a car guy needs. While they may not be the best in every category, they don`t really have any junk either. 117 years in the business doesn`t happen by accident. There are some missing products like coatings, but they have almost every category well covered. I buy products from a few select companies who have demonstrated commitment to excellence in product breadth, quality and to customer support.
 
Even though I use a mix of brands for just about everything, IMO we`re splitting hairs based on individual preferences. It`s not like somebody`s vehicle would look better "if he`d just quit using all-[whatever brand] stuff".

jared6180- Maybe some of your confusion is from giving a lot of consideration to stuff that doesn`t really matter. Other than the convenience of using pads that color-code by intended use, I wouldn`t give any thought at all to the color of products. Only reason I`d care about colors of MFs is that contamination shows up easier on light colors so I don`t want dark ones.

Sorta-related, I don`t *use* all that much stuff and/so it`s easy to keep track of the few products I do use regularly. If you only have a few products on the shelf...

For any non-Pro, I`d hope that polishing is such a rare occurrence that keeping the pads straight might be tough simply because they haven`t been thought about for years. If a non-Pro uses any compounding/polishing Pads often enough to remember what they are then I`d worry about "why all the correction?!?"
 
As a weekend warrior, McKess get`s my vote. Their line has about everything you can possibly use or need for car care. And I have not used one of their products that has disappointed me.
 
I would second the use of Meguiar`s products that fit the bill for professional and hobbyist detailer alike. I`ve used all three vehicle product lines: Consumer, Professional, and Detailer. I like the Detailer Line because it is cost-effective and produces the results I like.
That said, there is a reason that there are SOOO many car-care chemical manufacturers out there. Each has their niche and advantage. I have been using Optimum Polymer Technology products more and these four REALLY stand out for me as a hobbyist:
1) Power Clean All-Purpose Cleaner. Expensive, but a great degreaser and cleaner for exterior work. Try it on tail pipes FULL STREGTH to remove carbon build-up or to remove road paint on vinyl trim/lower body cladding.
2) Optimum Metal Polish. Really good at cleaning chrome and offering some protection for metals. Really good for bug residue without scratching chrome or brushed aluminum/stainless steel trim. Try it on tail pipe tips after cleaning them with Power Clean.
3) Opti-Bond Tire Gel. This one I tried as a suggestion from members in this forum for a no-gloss-natural-rubber shine. Works as advertised AND I`ve used it on plastic wheel wells to get them back to that new black plastic look. The down side is it does not last for more than 3-4 weeks, but I`ll live with that. Easy to apply with a tire sponge without the `slime" and sling or having a tire shinier than the paint.
4) Optimum Carpet and Fabric Cleaner & Protectant This one was also from suggestions by Autopians. I had used Power Clean on carpet floor mats but the industrial smell was terrible and lingered for weeks. So I thought this would be a good alternative and it is. Cleans very well on tough stains with a pleasant smell. Works great on fabric headliners with a microfiber towel-only wipe/extraction method (You DO clean the interior roof headliner, don`t you??)
Expensive, but it does work, especially on fabric seats. If you have kids or clean soccer-mom vans or SUVs, OC&FC&P might be worth considering adding to your car-car chemical cleaning arsenal.


I must add, if you want to try Chemical Guy`s products, check out your local Walmart. Here in Green Bay, WI they are stocking some of their products. Yes, they are more expensive than their usual car-care product offerings (at least for the usual Walmart shopper), so they may be in Clearance Isle if you wait long enough.

And if you have been on the fence about McKee`s 37 products, go to their website and check out the Car Care Kit 12 Pack (actually 13 as a bonus) offering for $149.99 plus shipping of 16 oz. (or 8 oz) products combinations that you can mix-n-match from. If PA Detailer is correct, this may be a very good opportunity to try them and see how good they really are and still be left with enough product for additional uses to make your own evaluation of.
 
I will start by saying I use the best products I can find which means using multiple companies.

For this discussion I`m going to play the other side and say yes. There are many shops and companies out there that use one company of system and it works well. Look at Meg`s or even 3D. They have an entire detailer line that will work for everything you could want as far as detailing. Are there better options available from other companies? Sure; but it doesn`t make their product bad.
 
Griots Garage, McKees 37, Sonax, Optimum Technologies, and Meguiars all have great full product lines for both pro`s and weekend warriors.
I personally use a mixture of all these companies products as some out there do work better than others for my specific needs and environment.

If I had to choose just one it would be hard but it would be a close tie between Griots Garage and Meguiars. Granted I have not used every single product in each of these companies line ups but I have used a good amount of them from their compounds/ polishes/ pads, glass cleaners, wash soaps, towels, interior cleaners and dressings, wheel cleaners, and trim dressings etc. They are widely pretty available and the price points are very reasonable as well.
 
Gee, it`s great to see how Griot`s Garage has become so widely valued here at Autopia. I just can`t get over the diff between now and just a few years ago.

RaydiantDetail said:
If I had to choose just one it would be hard but it would be a close tie between Griots Garage and Meguiars.

And to think that (as best I could tell) the original GG-branded products were relabeled Meguiar`s! BTW, if that was *NOT* the case I`d like somebody to post about it; I absolutely COULD NOT discern a diff between the two and I`d used the Meguiar`s versions for ages so I`d think I could`ve noticed.
 
Gee, it`s great to see how Griot`s Garage has become so widely valued here at Autopia. I just can`t get over the diff between now and just a few years ago.



And to think that (as best I could tell) the original GG-branded products were relabeled Meguiar`s! BTW, if that was *NOT* the case I`d like somebody to post about it; I absolutely COULD NOT discern a diff between the two and I`d used the Meguiar`s versions for ages so I`d think I could`ve noticed.

What years are we talking about here? I havent been around that long. lol
Maybe thats why they are such a close tie for me and to be honest that may have been before my foray into "real" detailing. What I did back when I was younger could not be considered anything but hack work by my now/ autopia standards and back in the day I thought armor-all/ turtle wax were amazing products. Though I do remember buying Megs Gold Class when it first dropped and loved it.
 
CarPro comes close to having everything you need. If McKees added pads they could be a one stop shop. I would rather cherry pick the best from every brand. It’s hard for one company to be the best at everything.

I agree. If you own a Rupes, their pads and polishes are color coded.
 
I recall reading some threads that were from 2014-ish where GG was not looked upon as highly as it is now. When I got into all this stuff in 2016, those threads kept me away from GG and I still haven’t ventured over to them (except for GG 6 DA). I have too much stuff now to start with them, despite all the recent accolades.
 
Gee, it`s great to see how Griot`s Garage has become so widely valued here at Autopia. I just can`t get over the diff between now and just a few years ago.



And to think that (as best I could tell) the original GG-branded products were relabeled Meguiar`s! BTW, if that was *NOT* the case I`d like somebody to post about it; I absolutely COULD NOT discern a diff between the two and I`d used the Meguiar`s versions for ages so I`d think I could`ve noticed.
From my limited experience with griots before this forum to now, without a doubt in my mind the transformation from where they were to now is because of Jeff Brown. He was the main driver in the pfm, boss system (polishers, compounds, polishes, waxes, etc), and many others. I certainly use other brands besides griots such as 3d and McKees, but when it comes to polishing I`m sold on the boss system.
@mikelambert would be a good one to chime in on griots given his transition to them recently.

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