If you are like me as a hobbyist detailer, you probably have a collection of various brushes that you use for cleaning and detailing...
Heh heh, yeah...and not just a dozen or so
The vast majority of mine are smaller BHBs, mostly from Griot`s (the ones they sell for "interior dusting", which I don`t do with `em) with six or so "BBQ-style" ones from other vendors, which, so far, have all been *INFERIOR* to the Griot`s ones. Maybe "soft enough" but still more coarse/less gentle-feeling...
Many of my brushes are "re-purposed" older tooth brushes or art-painting horse hair brushes or antique horse hair shoe cleaning brushes that I find at garage/rummage sales...
Most of my brushes like that are far too aggressive for use on anything except the pedals/floorliners/tires/etc. (No, not the small artist`s brushes, but I seldom end up using those except to apply product in tight spots; they`re good for applying Ultima TTG+ and SprayWaxes).
As a non-Pro who only does our vehicles, I never need anything aggressive after I`ve done the initial "big cleanup of a new-to-us vehicle". My general rule is "if I wouldn`t use it on the hood of a new black exotic, it doesn`t touch my vehicles". I find it odd that others seem to need more aggressive wash media/products/processes than I do, since our vehicles get used awfully hard and sometimes get genuinely filthy between washes (you should see the floor of the wash bay! I`ll often have to stop, pull the vehicle away, and clean the floor before continuing with the wash)...they just *come clean*, no scrubbing, no problem. It`s like the supposed "German brake dust"-Issue that simply hasn`t been an issue for me...even after track days, solid-black, caked with dust, they just wash up fine with nothing special although I`ll often have to dump my Wheel (Rinse) Bucket after each one. Maybe it`s because I generally LSP `em.
But for an *aggressive* little plastic brush, I get Denture Brushes (for free) from my dentist. NO, they never touch anything on a vehicle except the pedals, and only some of those.
IME, Horsehair Interior Brushes made for leather seats are generally very gentle. Good for working up a lather when you gotta do that, but otherwise not of much use to me.
The plastic brushes made for interiors are too aggressive for my taste, but good for scrubbing carpets/mats.
The AutoInt/ValuGard Velour Brush that Ron Ketcham convinced me to buy is *very* nice as really gentle brushes go, good for things like headliners and maybe-fragile fabrics. Pricey though!
For non-critical/non-fragile surfaces of the undercarriage and in wheelwells, my BHBs are sometimes too gentle (if used properly..which is a whole `nother topic) so I use snythetic-bristle "grille" brushes from...I forget, maybe Walmart. I replace them when the flagged tips appear worn. No, I`d *NEVER* touch wheels/grilles/anything that could show marring with such a thing!
Similarly, I utterly despise the EZ/etc. brushes, using them only for areas like the insides of coil springs in the winter and/or maybe squeezing between the driveshaft and the floor pan on something like the Tahoe. Those coarse bristles just aren`t something I want to use and I never need anything that aggressive for wheels no matter how bad they get between washes. They never got the wheels more than ~80% clean at best anyhow, and they sure didn`t clean the back sides of the spokes properly.
If you use something else, like Wheel Woolies, let me know and why you use them over other brushes.
I prefer them over the EZ/etc. ones, but I try to get the majority of the [crap] off with BHBs before switching to the WheelWoolies for the same reason I use BHBs for the initial passes of the wash proper ("dislodge" > "transfer" when it comes to cleaning off nasty stuff). Even with the Wheel Woolies, I still have to get in there with a small mitt (the little sheepskin ones, usually black, made for wheels.."three finger Mitts") for the final passes.
Maybe off-topic- when it comes to BHBs for Wheels, the one from Wheel Woolies is my current fave, vastly superior to the ones from Universal Brush (my usual go-to).
General note on Bristle composition- Natural bristles like Boar`s/Horse/etc. hair rinse clean a *LOT* better for me than synthetic bristles, no comparison at all.
Cuting down BHBs to make the bristles shorter (and to cut off the flagged tips if they have `em) will make the BHBs much stiffer and more aggressive. I use those more for household dusting (with a RW) than for Detailing.
I`ve still never found anything like the little toothbrush-style brush that TOL sold back in the day. Plastic bristles, but with "Foamed" flagging that was incredibly soft and gentle (until it wore, which could happen fast). I simply loved those, still have a few but can`t find anything similar.
