Griot's BOSS Perfecting Cream Review: The Finishing Polish Detailers Keep

The BOSS system is Griot's professional line, and Perfecting Cream is its finishing polish: the last abrasive step before protection. If a compound is a plane and a polish is sandpaper, this is the 3000-grit sheet you finish with. It removes the micro-marring every compound leaves — the fine haze that only shows under a swirl light or in direct sun — and replaces it with the flat, deep reflection people mean when they say a car has been jeweled.

What makes it different from a glaze

Meguiar's Ultimate Polish gets to a similar look using oils that fill and gloss. Perfecting Cream has none. The finish it leaves is the actual paint, which is why it is the polish to use before a ceramic coating, and why the gloss doesn't fade after three washes. It's body-shop safe, silicone-free and wipes off without a hint of dust.

In use

The buffing cycle is long — deliberately. On a finishing pad at speed four you can make eight or ten slow passes on a section while the abrasives do their work, which is what lets soft, dark paint finish down without the machine-induced haze that faster-flashing polishes leave. Pair it with a dedicated finishing pad (Griot's own BOSS Perfecting pad or any soft black foam) and a long-throw machine like the RUPES LHR15 and the results are professional in the literal sense.

There is no cut here. Try to remove a swirl with it and you will be there all afternoon. It follows Complete Compound or any other compound; it does not replace one.

Who should buy it

Anyone with a black or dark car who has compounded and still sees haze, anyone prepping for a coating who wants a filler-free surface, and anyone chasing the last five percent of gloss. Our polish and compound guide explains where a finishing polish sits in the process.