Up Close & Personal: Griot's Garage Complete Compound & Micro Fiber FAST Cutting Pads

[Nick McKees37]

Griot's Garage recently introduced a new line of foam and microfiber pads (stay tuned for in depth look at the foam pads). They also introduced several new products, with one of them being a one-step compound aptly named "Complete Compound."

Griot's Garage confidently states that Complete Compound makes quick work of eliminating defects, leaving a wax-ready finish while adding depth and vitality to your paint. Since one-step compounds are the latest trend, I decided to put Griot's first and only "one-step" compound to the test. What better pad to complement it than their new Micro Fiber FAST Cutting Pad?

Griot's Garage Micro Fiber FAST Cutting Pad
Griot’s Garage Micro Fiber FAST Cutting Pads are designed to remove imperfections in your vehicle’s paint that are too severe for foam pads. Designed with a stout 10 mm nap, Griot’s Garage Micro Fiber FAST Cutting Pads amplify the cutting ability of your compound, removing defects faster than you ever thought possible with a dual action polisher. The thin design of the Griot’s Garage Micro Fiber FAST Cutting Pad maximizes the power of your dual action polisher.




Griot's Garage Micro Fiber FAST Finishing Pad
Although not featured in this article, Griot's Garage makes a microfiber finishing pad as well. Designed to be used with a medium or light cut polish, Griot’s Garage Micro Fiber FAST Finishing Pads deliver a flawless, swirl-free finish on all paint systems. The thick foam interface conforms to the surface of your car, increasing pad contact to ensure a uniform finish. Use with your Griot’s Garage Random Orbital Polisher.




Putting Griot's Garage Complete Compound to the test
A few weeks ago Yancy had his Equinox serviced at the local Chevrolet dealership and they were nice enough to detail it for him. As you can see they did an exceptional job.




Before getting started, I gave the hood (sorry Yancy, you can do the rest) a quick waterless wash using Griot's Garage Waterless Spray-On Car Wash. This product works as intended and left a clean, streak-free finish ready for polishing.




I applied an X of Complete Compound directly onto a 5 inch Micro Fiber FAST Cutting Pad.




Working on an area about 16 x 16 inches square, I spread the compound at speed 3 them bumped the speed up to 6. This is the highest speed setting on Griot's 6 Inch Random Orbital Polisher.




Griot's Garage Complete Compound wiped off with ease. It's also worth noting this is one of the few compounds available that actually features a pleasant fragrance.





Conclusion
As you can see below Griot's Garage Complete Compound paired with their new Micro Fiber FAST Cutting Pad removed the defects with ease. A second polishing step with a foam polishing pad will remove any light micro marring that was created by the microfiber pad.

The quality of the finish below is above average for an aggressive compound paired with a microfiber pad. Microfiber pads are not designed for show-car quality work, but they do remove defects very quickly.


50/50:




Corrected area:





At $12.99 for a 16 oz. bottle, Griot's Garage Complete Compound is arguably one of the better values out there, offering excellent bang-for-your-buck in all respective categories. Their new microfiber pads also appear to be exceptionally well made.


On Autogeek.net

Griots Garage Complete Compound 16 oz.

Griots Garage 5 inch Micro Fiber FAST Cutting Pad

Griots Garage Waterless Spray-On Car Wash 35 oz.

Griots Garage 6 Inch Random Orbital Polisher

[parttimer]

Kinda look like the sur buff pads, looks great!

[Nick McKees37]

Kinda look like the sur buff pads, looks great!

I have a feeling these pads are going to be very easy to clean.

[Bryan@Autogeek]

Nick you should let me borrow what's left over so I can polish out my Motorcycle this weekend.

[kfainf]

Nick,
Thanks for the review of these Griot's Garage products. I recently purchased the complete compound, but have not tried it yet. I was looking for information on their microfiber pads and found your review. Now I think I will order these pads.

[Mantilgh]

Will their White Foam Metal Polishing Pads be one of the new offerings?

[Nick McKees37]

Nick,
Thanks for the review of these Griot's Garage products. I recently purchased the complete compound, but have not tried it yet. I was looking for information on their microfiber pads and found your review. Now I think I will order these pads.

Glad I could help!

Will their White Foam Metal Polishing Pads be one of the new offerings?

I'm not familiar with those pads, but I'll definitely look into carrying them on our site.

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Thanks, Nick. I think ya should have tested it with a Griot's orange correcting pad to see the "1-step" results.

[Mantilgh]

I'm not familiar with those pads, but I'll definitely look into carrying them on our site.

Right on. Just found them the other day, seemed interesting. They say the rinse clean of all the black oxidation. Used a 3M pad for some chrome polishing the other day a was a pain to clean up. Thanks

[Nick McKees37]

*Bump*

I had a customer contact me today asking about these exact two products. Now he'll be able to easily find this thread on the forum.

I'd also like to add that since posting this review I've used the Micro Fiber FAST Cutting Pads quite a few more times and they continue to impress. To say their construction is robust would be an understatement.