Desertnate
Active member
Another catch up post that is long overdue.
Back in April a generous individual sent me a few products to try out. A couple I`ve yet to use due to an unexpectedly hectic summer, but I was able to try out the coatings. On the same job I was able to also try out a couple new-to-me products and I`d thought I`d share my thoughts on those too.
Griots Garage BOSS Perfecting Cream Based on the reviews of individuals I highly respect here and over at AG, I thought I`d give the Griots BOSS polishes a try. Since I already had a nearly unused bottle of DP Compound and I rarely ever use compounds, I only purchased the Correcting Cream and the Perfecting Cream. The Perfecting Cream has turned out to be so versatile, I`ve not even opened the Correcting Cream. Perfecting Cream seems to have a bit more cut than some finishing polishes I use, but it polishes down just as well, if not better. I was really blown away by the results I got when using just a polishing pad. Not only does it correct and finish well, but it is REALLY easy to use. Perfecting Cream has a very long working time and removal is painless and fast due to little/no oily residue.
In the top picture below you can hopefully see some marring on the hood of my car from snow removal this winter. Despite my best attempts to be gentle with the brush and foam blade I still had some marks. In the second picture they are totally gone after using just Perfecting Cream and a Rupes Yellow pad (more on that later).
Once finished, I stepped back and think I literally muttered, "holy cow..." when I saw how good the entire car looked. Not sure I`ve had a polish impress me enough that I stepped back and snapped a quick picture like I did on this day. The picture is below. Needless to say, I really like Perfecting Cream. I`ve got a growing number of Griots products in my garage and this polish has joined the ranks.
Rupes yellow pad. A few months ago I asked for everyone`s thoughts about some new pads and in that conversation Rupes yellow was mentioned. It wasn`t even one I`d considered, but I am so glad you all did. Not only is it more economical than others I was looking at, but I`m really happy with the way it performs. The foam is more firm than the Lake Country Flat pads I`ve been using, but it finishes just as well, if not better. I also found the thickness of the pad to hit the "sweet spot". Many times when using my new G15 on cars with lots of contoured surfaces, LC ThinPro pads are hard to keep flat when using a 15mm throw polisher. The Rupes yellow strikes the perfect balance and after using it on two different cars, I found it much easier to use in every situation. I also like the beveled edge to the pad. This design feature makes it really easy to get into tight spaces like the tiny lip along windows where the glass goes into the door.
My one complaint? That silly red logo on the backing felt(?) created a pink spot on one of my white LC pads because they were touching while soaking in a bucket of cleaning solution.
As my LC white polishing pads start to wear out, I`ll slowly start replacing them with Rupes yellows.
Lake Country HDO Orange pad. Another great pad. It polishes out just as well as the Rupes, but differs in the thicknes and rigidity. The HDO pads are layered with one layer being the foam of the working surface and another, more dense layer which gives the pad some real structure. After using this pad on two different cars and back-to-back with the Rupes, I can see them excelling in different areas. The Rupes pad is less stiff which makes it better for areas with shape or contour and it`s beveled edge makes it better in tight spaces. The HDO`s I found to be great when doing large flat areas such as a hood, trunk lid, or roof. The thickness of the HDO pad makes it a challenge to use in really tight spaces since it isn`t beveled to the same degree as the Rupes.
Complaints? It`s a little too thick and the edges are pretty square. Oh...and it is more expensive than the Rupes.
I liked the pad, but it just isn`t as versatile as the Rupes. HOWEVER, If was in a situation where I had to do pickup trucks and large SUV`s with acres of flat sheet metal or even RV`s, I could see this pad being a good choice. The firmness will help you keep the pad flat on the surface and you could just mow through the swirls.
Jade Quartz coating. It`s a nice coating. Application is easy with a moderate flash time that reminded me of CQuartz UK 2.0 or CarPro`s now departed TiO2 Coating. I used the Savers applicators for the first time with this coating vs the traditional suede swatch and foam block and found I could spread this coating a long way with very little product on the applicator. In fact, when starting out I was putting it on way too heavy and found I could do quite a few sections without refreshing product on the applicator. Appearance-wise, I found the coating to provide more of a glossy, wet, sealant-like appearance. It doesn`t seem to be as reflective/glassy as the CarPro products I normally use or even CanCoat. In all fairness, I didn`t get much time to look at it due to applying Jade Ice over the top of it. That leads us to...
Jade Ice coating. I would like this coating if it wasn`t so difficult to apply due to a really short flash time. It seemed to start flashing as I was spreading it, which lead to small high spots I`m still finding and fixing. The appearance seems to be more glassy like other coatings I`m used to and when paired with the Jade Quartz, it gives my metallic black car a really nice look. I`m not one to layer coatings, but since I had both coatings and some of the Jade information I found suggested putting Ice over Quartz, I figured I`d give it a try.
I can`t comment on the performance of Jade Quartz since it`s under a layer of Jade Ice, but I`ve found the Jade Ice to have really good sheeting, but beading isn`t quite to the CQuartz UK level. After coating my car with these coatings, we hit peak pollen "storm" and this year every type of tree bloomed at the same time. My car was covered while going about it`s daily driver routine. At first I was a little worried because the pollen seemed to cling to the car like I`d waxed it, and there was no water behavior at all. Zero. Nada. Nothing. Rain laid flat on the surface like I`d done nothing at all. I`d seen pollen dull the water behavior of coatings before, but not like this. About two weeks after application I gave the car a good bath with Hyperwash and it seemed to bring the coating to life. Beading was at the level you`d expect from a coating and sheeting is very good.
In regards to sheeting, I play a little game with myself. When driving my car after a rain, I judge the sheeting by the speed I hit when the water beads start to roll up the hood and either drop into the drains by my wipers or fly off. Cancoat was about 35mph.` CQuartz UK is similar at about 40mph. Jade Ice starts water moving similar to CanCoat at about 35mph. You can see this when washing too when water sheets off really rapidly.
Durability is unknown, but after four months the combination of the two coatings is still going strong.
Here area couple pictures of the car after the application of the coating.
Back in April a generous individual sent me a few products to try out. A couple I`ve yet to use due to an unexpectedly hectic summer, but I was able to try out the coatings. On the same job I was able to also try out a couple new-to-me products and I`d thought I`d share my thoughts on those too.
Griots Garage BOSS Perfecting Cream Based on the reviews of individuals I highly respect here and over at AG, I thought I`d give the Griots BOSS polishes a try. Since I already had a nearly unused bottle of DP Compound and I rarely ever use compounds, I only purchased the Correcting Cream and the Perfecting Cream. The Perfecting Cream has turned out to be so versatile, I`ve not even opened the Correcting Cream. Perfecting Cream seems to have a bit more cut than some finishing polishes I use, but it polishes down just as well, if not better. I was really blown away by the results I got when using just a polishing pad. Not only does it correct and finish well, but it is REALLY easy to use. Perfecting Cream has a very long working time and removal is painless and fast due to little/no oily residue.
In the top picture below you can hopefully see some marring on the hood of my car from snow removal this winter. Despite my best attempts to be gentle with the brush and foam blade I still had some marks. In the second picture they are totally gone after using just Perfecting Cream and a Rupes Yellow pad (more on that later).
Once finished, I stepped back and think I literally muttered, "holy cow..." when I saw how good the entire car looked. Not sure I`ve had a polish impress me enough that I stepped back and snapped a quick picture like I did on this day. The picture is below. Needless to say, I really like Perfecting Cream. I`ve got a growing number of Griots products in my garage and this polish has joined the ranks.
Rupes yellow pad. A few months ago I asked for everyone`s thoughts about some new pads and in that conversation Rupes yellow was mentioned. It wasn`t even one I`d considered, but I am so glad you all did. Not only is it more economical than others I was looking at, but I`m really happy with the way it performs. The foam is more firm than the Lake Country Flat pads I`ve been using, but it finishes just as well, if not better. I also found the thickness of the pad to hit the "sweet spot". Many times when using my new G15 on cars with lots of contoured surfaces, LC ThinPro pads are hard to keep flat when using a 15mm throw polisher. The Rupes yellow strikes the perfect balance and after using it on two different cars, I found it much easier to use in every situation. I also like the beveled edge to the pad. This design feature makes it really easy to get into tight spaces like the tiny lip along windows where the glass goes into the door.
My one complaint? That silly red logo on the backing felt(?) created a pink spot on one of my white LC pads because they were touching while soaking in a bucket of cleaning solution.
As my LC white polishing pads start to wear out, I`ll slowly start replacing them with Rupes yellows.
Lake Country HDO Orange pad. Another great pad. It polishes out just as well as the Rupes, but differs in the thicknes and rigidity. The HDO pads are layered with one layer being the foam of the working surface and another, more dense layer which gives the pad some real structure. After using this pad on two different cars and back-to-back with the Rupes, I can see them excelling in different areas. The Rupes pad is less stiff which makes it better for areas with shape or contour and it`s beveled edge makes it better in tight spaces. The HDO`s I found to be great when doing large flat areas such as a hood, trunk lid, or roof. The thickness of the HDO pad makes it a challenge to use in really tight spaces since it isn`t beveled to the same degree as the Rupes.
Complaints? It`s a little too thick and the edges are pretty square. Oh...and it is more expensive than the Rupes.
I liked the pad, but it just isn`t as versatile as the Rupes. HOWEVER, If was in a situation where I had to do pickup trucks and large SUV`s with acres of flat sheet metal or even RV`s, I could see this pad being a good choice. The firmness will help you keep the pad flat on the surface and you could just mow through the swirls.
Jade Quartz coating. It`s a nice coating. Application is easy with a moderate flash time that reminded me of CQuartz UK 2.0 or CarPro`s now departed TiO2 Coating. I used the Savers applicators for the first time with this coating vs the traditional suede swatch and foam block and found I could spread this coating a long way with very little product on the applicator. In fact, when starting out I was putting it on way too heavy and found I could do quite a few sections without refreshing product on the applicator. Appearance-wise, I found the coating to provide more of a glossy, wet, sealant-like appearance. It doesn`t seem to be as reflective/glassy as the CarPro products I normally use or even CanCoat. In all fairness, I didn`t get much time to look at it due to applying Jade Ice over the top of it. That leads us to...
Jade Ice coating. I would like this coating if it wasn`t so difficult to apply due to a really short flash time. It seemed to start flashing as I was spreading it, which lead to small high spots I`m still finding and fixing. The appearance seems to be more glassy like other coatings I`m used to and when paired with the Jade Quartz, it gives my metallic black car a really nice look. I`m not one to layer coatings, but since I had both coatings and some of the Jade information I found suggested putting Ice over Quartz, I figured I`d give it a try.
I can`t comment on the performance of Jade Quartz since it`s under a layer of Jade Ice, but I`ve found the Jade Ice to have really good sheeting, but beading isn`t quite to the CQuartz UK level. After coating my car with these coatings, we hit peak pollen "storm" and this year every type of tree bloomed at the same time. My car was covered while going about it`s daily driver routine. At first I was a little worried because the pollen seemed to cling to the car like I`d waxed it, and there was no water behavior at all. Zero. Nada. Nothing. Rain laid flat on the surface like I`d done nothing at all. I`d seen pollen dull the water behavior of coatings before, but not like this. About two weeks after application I gave the car a good bath with Hyperwash and it seemed to bring the coating to life. Beading was at the level you`d expect from a coating and sheeting is very good.
In regards to sheeting, I play a little game with myself. When driving my car after a rain, I judge the sheeting by the speed I hit when the water beads start to roll up the hood and either drop into the drains by my wipers or fly off. Cancoat was about 35mph.` CQuartz UK is similar at about 40mph. Jade Ice starts water moving similar to CanCoat at about 35mph. You can see this when washing too when water sheets off really rapidly.
Durability is unknown, but after four months the combination of the two coatings is still going strong.
Here area couple pictures of the car after the application of the coating.
It sucks because 3 of my family members car are white. I don`t enjoy it at all but i might go over my father`s quickly with gyeon primer on the SDO orange. I don`t want to get purple on my rupes pads lol Its a Nissan and only a few years old that should gloss it up. It did last year.