I am going to end up buying a griots da in the coming month. I want to use it to correct some light swirls and apply polish, waxes etc. Not looking to go hog wild just a good starter. A few questions, I'll be using this on my S hardtop. Is a 6" pad too big, and what pads should I be looking at? I have a plethora of auto parts stores. In my area that have an extensive line of Meguiar's products between them. I'll most likely stick with Meguiar's as I am using them now and easy to get. What pads and products should I be looking at

 

I recently bought the Griots polisher and I really like it. Very easy to use and a pretty good value.

It comes with a 6" backing plate, so I bought 6" pads which have worked fine. I did not buy the griots pads though and went with lake country foam pads in varying grades. I've found that even though they are a relatively large pad, they work fine even on the tight spaces on the MINI. Just use some masking tape along the trim and you'll be fine.

 

What 6.5" lake country pads did you end up getting? Did you pick up the ccs foam ones? How many pads are you going through in a waxing session? Will I need more than 1 pad for waxing, swirl removal etc??

 

I use the Griot's pads and like them better that anything I've ever used. I use the orange pad for machine polishing, the black pad for fine polishing on my black coupe ( with Machine Polish 4) and the red pad for waxing and sealing. A 6" pad works fine on a MINI as long as you tap of the moldings and other black plastic bits.

 

I use all Griot's stuff so can't speak for Meguiars but before you do any polishing or waxing, start with a thorough wash down with Dawn detergent then clay bar. If you have stripes, mask them off before you polish but go ahead and wax them. You will really like the Griot's random orbital, it should come with the video disc too. Watch it! The video will greatly enhance you confidence level.

 

I actually use the LC foam flat pads and have had great success with them. They have a curved edge which is great for some tight areas and are reltively cheap so I have a few orange pads for defect removal with a compound, some white pads for light polish and all in one products and a few blue pads to apply sealant. Usually, I only need one of each pad for the MINI, but after speaking with T. Eric Allan over at autoality, I'm going to use two pads for compounding and polishing to extend the life of the pads. You can get away with 1 pad for waxing though.

I like Griots, but am not thrilled with their pad system. They really only have one pad for polishing and one pad for waxing (although I think they recently added another finishing pad to the lineup). I like that I can mix an match between lake country's pads to get more cut if needed, instead of needing to buy so many polishes.

 

Its definitely going to get some clay bar loving, winter sucks. As far as my stripes go the usually look worse when i wax them, they tend to become discolored. It looks like oily water if that makes any sense, kind of blueish brown and purple hazes in the stripes.

Awesome! Thanks for the info, probably going to get a variety pack of the LC CCS pads when I pickup the DA.

 

I also use the Griots DA with the orange pad. I mostly use Griots machine polish #3 with great results, even the black top comes out flawless. I got the red pad for waxing but I have found I like hand waxing better.

If you are ever in the Seattle Tacoma area, go pay a visit to Griots. Really cool store.

 

The new Griots black pad is the finishing pad that they added. Works great!