Griot's Fine vs Fast Surface Prep Mitt

[GlockFu]

What are the real world differences between these two mitts?

My goal is to get as little marring as possible however I have a 10 year old car that has never been decontaminated and a brand new car that is only 1 month old. I would rather not but two mitts as they are pretty expensive.

Will the Fine mitt work for the 10 year old car?
Does the Fine mitt create less marring?
Would a clay bar instead of a mitt prevent the marring?

 

[Bruno Soares]

I would buy the fine mitt and a regular clay bar that is for medium/heavy duty. Use that bar on the 10 year old car which will now be good and next time it needs claying it should be perfect for the fine grade which is also what you'd probably need for the new car. Fine grade alone on a 10 year old car is probably not going to do much unless that car was kept up with - which you said is not the case.

 

[57Rambler]

Griot's product description answers most of your questions ...

"The Fine Surface Prep Mitt is designed for new or well-maintained finishes. Use the Fast Surface Prep Mitt for older, neglected finishes."

The best way to avoid marring (as much as is possible) is to use lots of lubricant. Also, the amount of force you apply will factor in. Finally, the relative "softness" of your paint will also contribute. Inevitably you will probably have some marring, and that is why you should plan to polish after claying.

Here's a quote from Mike re: claying and marring ...

"I think the idea of being able to rub detailing clay over scratch-sensitive paint while inducing zero marring is a worthy goal. I also think that at some point, somewhere on the paint some type of marring will take place. Just makes sense.

This is why if I'm going to clay a car or use any other form of mechanical decontamination then I'm already planning on doing at least one machine polishing step and this one machine polishing step will remove any marring inflicted during the claying step.

Solves any issues.

Plus... from experience, if you're working on a car that has some level of contamination build-up on the paint then chances are very good the paint needs to be cleaned and polished anyway."


As for having to buy both grades of mitts, you're going to need the medium grade (ie. Fast Surface grade) for the older vehicle but you might be able to avoid claying the new vehicle (ie. Fine grade) and just do a chemical decontamination on it. The baggie test should help you determine if more extensive (ie. mechanical) decon is needed.