Your wash sponge/mitt/pad

Ronkh said:
You mean a nylon brush that's been discontinued?
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I believe it was discontinued because of the high cost of production resulting in a high retail price point not well received by the public ($30+ US). Set aside Autopians, most consumers that wash their cars at home (as opposed to the PW or touchless) will often use an old sponge, dish rag, wash cloth or hand towel and even dish soap in the wash water! An expensive wash mitt/brush is a hard sell.
 
MiVor said:
I believe it was discontinued because of the high cost of production resulting in a high retail price point not well received by the public ($30+ US). Set aside Autopians, most consumers that wash their cars at home (as opposed to the PW or touchless) will often use an old sponge, dish rag, wash cloth or hand towel and even dish soap in the wash water! An expensive wash mitt/brush is a hard sell.
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I would figure it was disco'd because it gave the same finish as going to a tunnel wash.

You are correct that a good soap with good lubricity is a key component, but not the only component. Wash and dry media rate real high on the scale to give a good mar free wash
 
MiVor said:
I like this one too and a decent price at $27....but what exactly is "synthetic wool" ?
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That's an excellent question that I cannot answer. What I can tell you is I haven't had issues with scratching paint so as long as it's gentle, then it's all good.
 
Nice to see the Boar's Hair Brushes at least getting *some* mention on a thread like this....I find those simply essential for the first step of a marring-free wash.
 
Ronkh said:
I would figure it was disco'd because it gave the same finish as going to a tunnel wash.

You are correct that a good soap with good lubricity is a key component, but not the only component. Wash and dry media rate real high on the scale to give a good mar free wash
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Not to keep beating a dead horse, but comparing any soft hand brush to the automated spinning fury of a tunnel wash is just plain wrong.
And to the dis of nylon, lets understand that microfiber is a mix of polyester, nylon and polypropylene (which is likely what 'synthetic wool' is in some combination). In any case, I don't want to further debate the merits (or lack thereof) of a brush I may have in some long forgotten corner of the garage but rarely used. :)
 
MiVor said:
Not to keep beating a dead horse, but comparing any soft hand brush to the automated spinning fury of a tunnel wash is just plain wrong.
And to the dis of nylon, lets understand that microfiber is a mix of polyester, nylon and polypropylene (which is likely what 'synthetic wool' is in some combination). In any case, I don't want to further debate the merits (or lack thereof) of a brush I may have in some long forgotten corner of the garage but rarely used. :)
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But with a completely different manufacturing/finishing process
 
IIRC, it was the Meguiar's synthetic wash mitt that somebody here reported as a scratch-machine. But that was a while ago and products change.

Same ol' same ol'...gotta CD-test (properly), and not just once when its brand new.
 
Planning ahead for spring, I just bought what can best be described as a microfiber mitt (or mop) on a stick (similar to the photo below). I got the stick version because the truck makes for a tough reach on the roof and across the hood.
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Whenever I've used a mitt, I realized it required downward pressure to keep it against the paint to remove the dirt, grit, grime, etc. and a mitt IMO doesn't expel the dirt particles like a natural sponge or a boar bristle brush. Sticking your hand inside a mitt requires more pressure to keep it close to the paint.

It's much easier to remove dirt with a soap soaked brush with very light pressure. The bristles do the work of agitating and removing
the dirt and it rinses well.

Try it and compare your rinse bucket after testing each tool. My brush and sponge leaves behind twice as much dirt in the rinse bucket.
The sponge is easier to completely rinse. Fill, squeeze, fill squeeze and hold closed until removed from rinse.

It only takes a bit of thinking and observing to avoid the mitt hype.
 
For doing trucks, vans, SUV's and other high-profile (AKA, tall) vehicles, I would suggest getting a step platform instead of a mop-type pad/brush.
I makes for easy reaching of those middle inaccessible areas with your regular wash-media-of-choice.

That seems to bring up a good question on Boar Hair Brushes (BHB's) on a stick. Can you get the proper leverage and force necessary to "scrub" off the dirt and debris on paint to adequately clean those hard-to-reach areas?? Since the applied leverage/force is at an angle, it would seem that the bristles deflect/bend too much to be able to do their intended job of scrubbing. This is not the case from a platform , where you're more over the top of the brush with your hand and you can control the pressure/force in scrubbing/rubbing the areas you are cleaning. Or am I over-analyzing this process???

No, I do not use BHB's, but after Accumulator's experience with and recommendation for the use of BHB's in producing swirl-free surfaces during vehicle washing, it's hard to ignore them, despite their higher cost.
(That, and adding Finish-Kare's FK1000P wax to my collection of Last Step Products (LSP's) for use and protection on daily drivers. But what are trusted fellow Autopians for, but to advise obsessive-compulsive detailers on what to spend (invest??) their money on.)
 
Lonnie- It's gratifying to see that some of my hard-sell recommendations have made an impression on you, regardless of whether you make the leap or not.

IMO the chances of somebody overthinking the wash process are pretty slim ;) Keep analyzing!

The gently-applied BHB can get stuff off as long as 1) that stuff isn't too firmly adhering to the vehicle, and 2) the surface is decently LSPed with a product that readily releases contamination (heh heh, INSERT usual FK1000P spiel here...). IME the BHBs are too gentle to get everything off and the more tenacious "road film" type of contamination needs some degree of, ?dare I use this term?, scrubbing. Hence my multi-step wash process when I wash each section of the vehicle numerous times.

My issues with the BHB-on-a-stick (shades of Gilbert Gottfried's ShoeDini commercial!) are the same as my concerns with the tool MiVor showed- no way to apply a constant flow of foamgun output to provide constant flushing and lubrication. Result is that the wash medium gets dirty and remains so while being moved across the paint (probably in much longer, more sweeping, motions that I recommend too- if you *do* get a scratch, would you prefer one that's 2 inches long, or one that's 12 inches long?). No question that the "conventional way" of using a BHB is an *efficient* way to wash, nice and quick, but also likely to mar.

MiVor- I access those areas via work platforms. I use four units similar to the Bauer 20900 (actually have one of the Bauers and the others are Werner), though I have a fifth one on hand from when I had a larger SUV.

Mr. Gloss- Agree completely about the pressure-on-dirty paint issues with a mitt! Even after getting the big stuff off with a BHB/etc. I always fill my mitts with shampoo mix, hold them shut at the cuff, and gently whisk them across the surface.
 
With a mitt, I always had a good intention to gently glide the mitt, but human nature takes over after the first pass and there I am, scrubbing the dirt over the paint.

With a BHB, pressure bends or flexes the long bristles and since they are about 4" long they agitate the dirt instead of pushing it.

I have black cars so I need every advantage there is to avoid swirls, etc.
 
Okay, if I can save up enough money from my paper route, I'll get a boars hair brush.
On my last ride I mostly did a pressure washer pre-rinse and an ONR wash with MF towels. Of course it was periodically clayed and always had a good LSP. In the winter, she mostly just got a weekly (or so) PW. After 8 years, the finish was as good or better than when I bought it. With sufficient lubricity and a nearly grit free finish, I think the MF mitt/mop will be fine.
(btw, the paper route remark was a joke - I'm retired on a fixed income...oh wait, it's nearly the same - LOL)
 
MiVor said:
Okay, if I can save up enough money from my paper route, I'll get a boars hair brush.
On my last ride I mostly did a pressure washer pre-rinse and an ONR wash with MF towels. Of course it was periodically clayed and always had a good LSP. In the winter, she mostly just got a weekly (or so) PW. After 8 years, the finish was as good or better than when I bought it. With sufficient lubricity and a nearly grit free finish, I think the MF mitt/mop will be fine.
(btw, the paper route remark was a joke - I'm retired on a fixed income...oh wait, it's nearly the same - LOL)
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Yeah, I'm also retired.

I recently got a (really) cheap pressure washer as a Christmas present and I'm incorporating it into my regimen (gotta do a thread about it sometime). Very good for the "biggest" stuff before I switch to the BHB/foamgun combo.

SOMETIMES I can go straight from that second step (with the BHB/foamgun) right to a rinseless wash, but I usually still do the mitt/foamgun just because I'm oh-so-paranoid about marring things up.

But I would *NEVER* try to wash without the foamgun providing constant lubrication and flushing, again, just me being me and as long as the paint isn't getting marred up beyond somebody's level of tolerance it's all good IMO.

I just don't see how a mop/etc. can be used without marring the paint; move it across a dirty panel and it gets dirt on it, keep moving it and you're moving dirt across the paint. When (preferably "if") I see dirt in my rinse buckets I figure that I was rubbing my paint with a dirty wash medium (prior to rinsing it out) and to me that's very risky.
 
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