Well, braved the cold (it actually made it above fifty) and washed the Mini and my wife's SUV. Couldn't stand the way they looked after a month of neglect and their first snow storm here in Kansas. Boy that bucket water got cold after a while.

Got me thinking about something Kenchan had mentioned in a thread a while back - multi-pattern hose nozzle with a soap dispenser. Seems like that would be a good tool to have around here. Kenchan - still happy with yours? Anybody else have one? Will it work with mystique?

Also, as long as I'm ordering, I need to replace my wool wash mitt. Anybody used their microfiber wash pads. Like the idea of being able to wash them.

Probably will add a waffle weave or two to the order since I hear there's are pretty good.

 

I use a bunch of the Griots products. I love the Microfiber mats to wash the car. I also buy their car wash, wheel wash, and spray on car wash by the gallon. Good stuff. One of my favorites is speedshine.

 

absolutely recommend the 9POS Griot's spray nozzle. thinking it was a
cheezy china built thing that'll probably break apart after a few uses,
i bought a 2nd unit as back up.

the first one held up very well (after many months of use) and does not
seem to be breaking down or wearing out any time soon.

i recommend you use that, the washmitt on a mopstick, large bucket,
and gloves for winter washing.

the washmitt that goes on the mopstick has velcro so wash that
separately by hand. otherwise i found the hooks all over my other MF
towels. terrible experience picking out numbers of hooks from my
towels.

 

I have the microfiber wash pads and I really like them a lot. I bought them after my black wool mitt disintegrated and they've held up amazingly well - they're almost a year old and like brand new, still. Very happy with them.

 

Well, ordered the nozzle, wash pads, and some of the smaller 'dirty spot' drying cloths. Thanks your help.

 

I like this wash mitt. http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...rrivals&page=1

I hate these. The description says they hold a lot of water/soap. They don't hold any. Water and soap runs right through them. I use them on my wheels now just because they are worthless for real washing.
http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...rrivals&page=1

 

sounds good. the MF washpads imho are just too damn huge, but
i guess you can cut it in half.

i use the Griot's MF washmitt, but dont stick my hand in there and
use it as a pad. it's about 80% of the size of the washpad.

 

Didn't realize they were different in size. Well, hopefully they won't be too big for me. I guess I ordered the ones you hate Minidrivr. If they don't last any longer than my wool wash mitt (black DP one) then I won't have to wait long to try something else if I don't like them.

 

I use their wash mitts. Those pads are too big unless you have Sasquatch hands.

I love their waffle weave towels... bigger than DP's and a color that doesn't show all the stains.

Also love their wheel cleaner.

And REALLY love their Speed Shine.

Now, do you want to place a second order ??

 

Anybody have a favorite wheel brush they would recommend? With the BMW, Audi and a Mini in production, I need a good brush to use for wheels/brake dust.

 

I use Griot's boar's hair brush to wash several of my lighter color cars, but use their microfiber wash mitts to wash my black Mini, before that I used their wool wash mitts. For wheels I use either Griot's short handled synthetic wheel brush or their boar's hair wheel brush, depending on which wheels I'm washing.

 

Thanks Mineon,
Thats the wheel mitts and brush I had put on my list. Glad to see I was picking out what you use and like. Why different brush/Mitt depending on color? I have one dark blue suv. Other car silver. Mini in producion is sparkling silver with black top. I was thinking the mitts for all.

 

Being black, my Mini takes very little to scratch or mar the finish, even when I'm being as careful as possible with it. Using two microfiber mitts, one for the dirtier bottom of the car and one for the majority of the car, and rinsing often, seems to be the best way to prevent any scratching or marring of the paint/clearcoat.

My Bullitt is green, the Miata is red, and our other two cars are a silver/gray color, and none of them (especially the gray cars) show scratches or any imperfections nearly as well. I simply don't have enough time in the day/week/month to keep my cars as clean as I would like (I'm very much a perfectionist with OCD tendancies), so I try to take the most care with the Mini and go with what is quicker on the others.

I love black cars, but they are such a pain to keep clean. I only wash our gray Subaru a couple of times a year, and after three months without a wash, it looks better than the black Mini after a week or two, especially if it has seen rain. Of course IMO after being freshly detailed, the Mini looks much better.

 

I guess I was wondering why the boars hair brush verses the mitt on the lighter colors?

 

"...absolutely recommend the 9POS Griot's spray nozzle..."

Can someone tell me where to find one of these? I went to Griot's web site and could not find it.

 

Because it is quicker, but might be slightly more likely to introduce tiny scratches in the clearcoat on a very dirty car. Those tiny little scratches show up pretty well on a black car, not so much on lighter colors like gray and silver.

 

I was thinking that the boars head brush required being more careful, increased chance of tiny scratches. Thats why I asked. Definately wouldn't be good for me...I probably wouldn't be careful enough.
Thanks for getting back to me.

 

Griots used to carry a wash mit with a rubber inner liner. Great for cold weather washing, but it has been sometime since I have seen it on their site.

 

I remember seeing that in their catalog. My solution for cold weather washing is elbow-length waterproof neoprene gloves. They only set me back around $20-25 and my hands/arms never get wet and cold when I use them to wash the cars in colder weather. I typically use them in temps around 30-45 degrees, below 30 degrees and I don't wash the cars (I've had cars ice over completely in the past before I could dry them off).

 

Yah, about 30 is it for me too. Although I have been known to boil a few pots of water for my Griots bucket and attempt cold day wash. I can usually get my garage up to about 75 so if I do it quit enough I can roll her back in to dry.

With near 0 heading this way though, I doubt I will even take the MINI out of the garage for the next few weeks.

 

Well, the ordered arrived. Looks good. Those wash pads are LARGE. The nozzle looks well made. No directions so I'm assuming the *** on top controls the mix of water to soap - correct? If so, what do y'all use when you're soaping up the Mini (I'll be using Mystique).

 

Tried it for the first time when it got into the 60's the other day. Worked well. One question - what nozzle setting do you use when you apply the soap?

 

Hi, I use the Born Free baby bottle brush on my white wheels. The 'brush' is actually a flatish sponge utensil. Got mine at Babies R Us . Makes wheel washing a breeze for my type of wheel.