DF Peerless Sponge

[imported_DJBAILEY]

Has anyone tried this DF Peerless Sponge from DF® Concours?



http://www.dftowel.com/ordertowels.html



`It cleans like a mild clay as it washes and maintains the vehicle finish so well that the you may not need to clay but once a year. This is not some off the shelf foam, it`s made from the same revolutionary material as our Magic Cubeâ„¢. This sponge retains 2000% of it`s weight in water thus using about half the water normally used with a wash mitt, towel, or foam sponge. Everyone who has tested this new product for us reports a visibly shinier, smoother, cleaner paint than with any other washing appliance.`



`special foam that will form itself to any surface or crevice instantly. Just lightly press it against the surface and it will magically form itself around the area being cleaned, gently rub using any car shampoo as a lubricant and it will thoroughly clean the surface and deep into and around irregular areas like rain gutters, badges, door jambs, etc. Great for removing wax and polish from those hard to reach places. When you lift it away it will magically recall it`s original shape. It`s safe to use every time you wash your car, in fact, if you do this at least every other wash you may never need to clay again. And get this... it`s machine washable in hot water! Just throw it in the machine and it comes out like new. Air dry only though, it may melt in a hot dryer!



Works like a mild claybar! I hope it does`nt remove any layers of Zaino!



I have liked using the towels so I decided to order a sponge. It looks like the car had better be pretty clean to start with. Or you`d be dragging big particles over the paint. So

I`ll probably wash with my sheepskin mitt first then rewash with this sponge.



I`ll let everyone know how it works.

[medic159]

My apologies ahead of time to the mods for posting this but I need to clarify DJBAILEY`s post... The first paragraph below the web link refers to the Peerless Sponge while the second paragraph is referring to the more aggressive MagicCube. The post is confusing as it looks like it all refers to the same product.

[mongo]

DJBAILY looking forward to your review of the new DF wash sponge :cool:



mongo

[imported_DJBAILEY]

I still haven`t received my order. It has been 2 weeks since I place the order. I got an email from DFTowel this Wed saying that they had some serious electrical problems at their warehouse due to a storm and were unable to process any orders for about a week. They claimed that all back orders went out this past Monday, but after 5 days it still has not arrived.



As far as Leo`s (from DFTowel) reply about the Peerless sponge and the MagicCube, the Peerless sponge description on their website says that `it`s made from the same revolutionary material as our Magic Cubeâ„¢`. So I figured that it would work the same only that it was bigger. The Peerless sponge description was not very detailed so yes I did borrow text from the MagicCube description since it mor informative.



mongo...I will provide a review when I receive my order. I hope it is soon as I am running out of nice enough weather.

[pogo123]

As far as Leo`s (from DFTowel) reply about the Peerless sponge and the MagicCube, the Peerless sponge description on their website says that `it`s made from the same revolutionary material as our Magic Cubeâ„¢`. So I figured that it would work the same only that it was bigger. The Peerless sponge description was not very detailed so yes I did borrow text from the MagicCube description since it mor informative.



mongo...I will provide a review when I receive my order. I hope it is soon as I am running out of nice enough weather.



Actually it says " it`s made from a less aggressive form of the revolutionary material used in our Magic Cubeâ„¢. not "made from the same material".

[imported_DJBAILEY]

Yep, the web site says `less agressive form` now. It didn`t back on 10/14. My comments were a cut-and-paste from the website.



Well, I received my order on Monday 10/30. It was ordered back on 10/14.



First impression...this foam feels almost exactly like my Tempur-Pedic memory foam pillow. Altough not quite as dense, but it surely feels like a viscoelastic foam. It is soft and very conforming. It also reminded me of back in college when one summer I worked for a fire restoration contractor and we would rub down painted walls with a special sponge to remove the smoke stains. That special sponge had the same feel and rubbery grab when rubbed on a dry surface.



So I had to try it out. I hadn`t washed my car in about 3.5 weeks. I normally do not go more than 2 weeks, weather permitting, but I had been trying to wait until after I received the Peerless sponge. We had some rainy weather here in Raleigh, NC recently and the leaves are falling so the car was pretty dirty. So I decided to first wash my car with my usual sheepskin mitt and Z-7 using a seperate wash & rinse buckets. It was the usual clean I expect from washing with Z-7. I use the first light wash to remove bigger dirt & debris. I normally wash the car a 2nd time with the sheepskin mitt with a little more elbow grease this time to get the car really clean.



But this time I used the Peerless sponge to do the second wash. I compressed the sponge and put it in my wash bucket. It took about 20-30 seconds for the sponge to draw in water and regain its shape. I went to take it out of the bucket and holy cow was it heavy. They claim the sponge retains 2000% of it`s weight in water and I think I believe them. In fact as I grabbed and lifted the sponge out and realized how heavy it had become so I gripped it harder (the soap made it slippery too) and poked the end of 3 of my finger tips into the foam causing cut-like slits in the foam. I was more careful from there on but I did end up with about 7-8 fingertip punctures in the sponge by the time I was done. Be very careful when trying to squeeze out all the water & soap when you`re done.



The sponge definately holds a lot of water/soap. The drop in water level in the bucket confirmed this. The sponge did not release the water easily unless I gave it a good squeeze so I had to keep rewetting/lubricating the paint as I scrubbed. The sponge glided very smoothly over the paint and conformed easily to the contours of the panel. It reminded me of cleaning something with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser except that the sponge does not fall apart and retains its shape. With a little effort I was able to remove water marks. It was easy to clean is nook and crannies because it conformed so easily.



I tried to tell if I could get the same sensation when using a claybar, being able to tell that the claybar glides easier and easier with each pass but the sponge was too big to get that tactile a feeling.



How did it clean? I think it definately cleaned better than a second wash with the sheepskin mitt. It removed stains left from falling leaves easily. When I rinsed the car I was able to get a very nice sheeting effect on the hood and top of the car. The water pulled itself off the car in a big sheet. I guess the cleaner and smoother surface allowed the sheet to remain intact. Maybe due to less obstacles on the surface for the water to adhere to. The hood and top sheeted so well that there was hardly anything to wipe dry with my WW MF.



I couldn`t really tell how clean though until I dried the car. Then I noticed how smooth and slippery the paint was. The paint felt like I had already wiped down the car with Z-6. I didn`t notice any marring that I could blame on the sponge. When I did the Z-6 wipe down I noticed that my MF towell did not pick up as much dirt as usual which I`m assuming means that the surface was cleaner.



Now this is just my first impressions but I do believe the company`s claim about its cleaning abilities. I would only use the sponge on a relatively clean car. I would be scared to get particles trapped under the sponge and dragging them arond the surface so I will continue to do a prewash with the sheepskin mitt (foam gun would be good too). I sprayed the sponge with the hose after each panel to remove surface dirt and then squeezed it out in the rinse bucket. So the sponge stayed pretty clean.



CONS

- easy to puncture the foam with fingertips

- takes a while for the sponge to absorb water/soap

- hard to entirely squeeze excess water/soap out of the sponge. The soap really stays in

the sponge which made a pain to clean the sponge after I was done.

- fully saturated sponge is quite heavy and slippery



I`m going to keep using it. I do not think that the sponge will last too long based on the number of times I poked my finger into it making cut marks in the foam. Maybe somewhere around 10-15 washes if I`m careful. But that`s okay. It`s only a few dollars more than a sheepskin mitt and I go through 2 of those a year.

[mongo]

thanx for the review I usually use a Viking cotton chenille mitt that has the cotton logo on it certified by the American cotton industry works well with the Zaino might have to give this sponge a try.

[imported_DJBAILEY]

There has been an update. Leo (from DFTowel) read my review and emailed me because he was concerned about the problems I had with my fingertips poking into the foam causing .5 to 1.0 inch slits. He was not able to recreate the problem with any of the sponges he had on hand. I emailed him some photos of the sponge showing the slits. He agreed to mail me another sponge free of charge and wanted my older sponge returned to him for further inspection.



This was a very pleasant surprise considering that I never even made a complaint to the company. They contacted me after reading this thread.

[imported_DJBAILEY]

There has been an update. After Leo (from DFTowel) read my review and we exchanged ome emails, he redesigned the sponge so it is not so heavy or cumbersome to handle. He sent me a (free) new sponge to try out. The new sponge seems like the same foam and looks to be the same height and width, but is now about 2/3 as long as my original sponge.



I tried it out on Tuesday. It is definately easier to handle. A fully loaded sponge is not as heavy and is much easier to hold onto. It is also easier to squeeze out extra water/soap now. I can grab it with two hands and give a hard squeeze and the sponge will almost completely empty. Before the sponge was too long to do that.



I have not had any problems with my finger tips poking into the foam with the new sponge.

I have become much more careful with the sponge since that first day I used it. I swear I wasn`t man handling it before. I have learned that the sponge is alot more compliant when I am using hot/warm wash and rinse bucket water. Icy cold water will make the sponge stiffer.



As far as cleaning....I love this sponge. I repeat my comments from before. After cleaning with the sponge the paint is super smooth and slick like I just got done wiping the car down with Z-6. I recently bought myself a Gilmour Foaming gun as a X-mas present so now I lather up the car with the gun (w/ Z-7). Then wash the car with my sheepskin mitt while continuously rinsing the mitt in the rinse bucket. I then rinse off and re-wash with the Peerless Sponge and a wash bucket (w/ Z-7). Since I started using the Peerless sponge (2 months) I have not felt the need to use an ultrafine claybar on the hood or top of the car because they`ve cleaning up so well with the sponge.



I have not tried any of the Schmitt washing mitts yet so I can not make any comparisons, but I do think that this sponge is something special. I have taken my original sponge and cut it down to match the new deisgn. So now I use that extra small rectanglular piece that I cut off to clean my wheels.

[Mikeyc]

After all my positive comments about the ShMItt, Leo asked if I`d like to try out this sponge. So, I did and I had the same complaints you did. I suggested to him the issue might be from the length of the sponge. So, Leo took a look at the sponges he`d used for testing. It turns out they all had a curved edge which made them essentially a smaller sponge than the square ones he`d put into production.



He sent me a couple of the new shorter sponges, but I haven`t had a chance to try them out. I`m glad to hear that shortening the sponge made it easier to use in your experience.

[zingyginger]

Has anyone compared this to the Hi-Tech Body Sponge as far as any induced marring? Is it as effective/comparable to Sonus green clay?