boars hair brushes...who uses one?

I

imported_steveo3002

New member
talk to me about boars hair washing brushes:nervous:



are they good? what brand and style do you have or suggest



are they suited to heavily soiled cars?mine gets pretty filthy



what sort of service life can i expect from a brush? does the wood crack in time? are they best left wet 24/7 or let them dry out?



thanks:bigups
 
steveo3002 said:
talk to me about boars hair washing brushes:nervous:



are they good? what brand and style do you have or suggest



are they suited to heavily soiled cars?mine gets pretty filthy



what sort of service life can i expect from a brush? does the wood crack in time? are they best left wet 24/7 or let them dry out?



thanks:bigups
Click to expand...

I've had one for over a year now and it works very well.

They're not all created equal so hair quality and wood will vary. My brush is about 12 inches long, wood is stained and varnished, bristles are long and glued into the handle very well and from what I can determine, I haven't lost any bristles yet. Mine came from TOL and the quality is superb.



I let mine dry between uses (hang with bristles downward) and I use Accumulator's suggestions, he's very knowledgeable in their use and care. Do a search for his name and look for the technique he suggests, I use his technique also.



Use the CD test - wet your brush and gently rub onto a blank CD. No scratches means it's good enough and soft enough for your painted surfaces.

-John C.
 
I've only used the wheel brush. I currently use one for all my customer wheels. I've been using it for several months and figure it's done over 300 sets of wheels and close to as many tires. I've noticed an occassional hair on a wheel but I'm talking about something like 2 a week. Brush is in great shape and works as well as it did when it was new. I will someday get a wash brush.
 
steveo3002- I've pretty much talked them to death on a number of threads. Yeah, a *good* one will work fine, at least if used properly (which IMO means with a foamgun). Used *improperly* they'll cause about as much marring as a mitt IMO, so technique is important.



I do the initial pass(es) with the BHB then do a final pass (or two) with mitts. All with the foamgun.



For *very* dirty cars (think "winter dirty") the BHB/foamgun approach, to get the worst of the [stuff] off, is the only way I can wash without marring. But there's no way to over-emphasize that you gotta do it right.



The general idea is to:



-barely contact the panels with the brush, no hard pressure

-shoot the suds from the foamgun through the bristles of the brush so [stuff] gets gently dislodged from the surface and flushed away

-"jiggle" the brush instead of making long sweeps with it; a 1/4" long scratch won't show like a 4" long scratch will



I also use small BHBs from Griot's (pn 15520) to do nooks and crannies and yeah, BHBs made for wheels work great.



The ones for nooks and crannies last me maybe a year. The ones for wheels don't last as long, at least before they start to really get worn and shed bristles. The "regular" ones last forever but you need to inspect the tips of the bristles to see if the flagged/split tips are wearing. I replace them if the tips get worn and I CD-test from time to time because the "wearing out" happens so gradually that I can't always tell until the paint gets marred. Oddly enough some BHBs don't seem to wear much at all; FWIW, the best one I have (which I only use on my "good" cars) is around 20 years old and came from the now-defunct Beverly Hills Motoring Accessories, but the ones I use on my "regular" cars get replaced about every 2-3 years.



There are slightly different types, I have ones from Griot's (kinda short bristles) and AutoGeek (longer bristles) and each has its pros/cons so I use both types. I keep thinking I oughta get one of the TOL ones just to compare...
 
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