Is ANY brush worthy of being used?

K

Krodad

New member
I have become addicted!



I am absolutely nuts about keeping my rig cleaned and shined up at all times, but now I'm getting worried about what I'm going to do as the cold weather sets in. I wash at least once a week, but I tend to get a little wet, and I know it's just going to be too cold to do this in about a month. I now use a mitt.



Is there ANY long handled brush that you guys would consider an alternative that won't damage my paint? I could wash well into the cold months if I could "stand off" a little from the water slinging around...plus I have a big crew cab truck with a difficult to reach roof, so a handle on anything would help a lot.



I know there a lot of "car wash" brushes out there, but I also know they will marr my paint if I use them. I don't care what the thing costs...if there is one that is gentle, I'll buy it!



I guess there is always the window sgueegy at the gas station. :eek:
 
I have a Meguiar's Versa Body Brush and I love it. I used it on my boyfriend's black car, and it didn't marr the paint at all. It's incrediably soft and was only like $7 or so.
 
The Meguiar's Versa Body Brush certainly seems very soft and has lots of nap in it. They seem to split the brush fibers up towards the end of the brush to the point where it extremely soft. Because of this, make sure that there aren't any unsplit fibers at the end of the brush, which could potentially cause marring.
 
the Meg's brush is good....but to get the best get a Boars hair Brush....



something like this will work



http://superiorcarcare.net/bohawabrpl.html



Also Groit's sells them....



I have both the Meg's and boars hair...and for winter washing the boars hair is tops..



The Meg's sometimes hold some grit in the flagged ends...mainly winter road sand...need to rinse it more...



the boars hair seems to rinse very clean...never got marring from it also...to speak of...



but in any case..both brushes are better then the wand wash brushes....



I use the brushes mainly for wirnter washes at the wand wash myself....



Al
 
I use the Meguiars Versa Wide Angle brush. Everytime I use it I'm amazed out how much wash solution the thing can hold. Much faster than using a mit too.
 
I have a Meg's VAW brush too and use it on van and SUV roofs. Very good and it really does hold a lot of soap solution. Haven't seen it scratch but I make sure to rinse it well after washing. Autogeek also sells the boars hair brushes and I'm tempted to get one someday. Not cheap but I guess they're worth it.
 
Great suggestions.



I do have a garage, but there are times in the winter when I get the massive slushy icebergs on the truck, and I need to be able to flush those off out on the driveway. Then as long as I drug the hose out and have to blow it dry, might as well wash the whole truck out there. I'm equally compulsive about the cleanliness of the garage, so it certainly would be possible to do the no rinse washes in there as well.



Now if someone can tell me how to keep the cats from jumping up on the hood and roof, and giving me the associated scratches, that would be worth a mint!



And, no, I can't get away with the permanent solution on the cat question. I'd be paying a divorce attorney if I did that.



The boars hair brushes look like a good answer. I'm concerned that a brush will hold some grit, so if this is a little less prone than the synthetic bristles, sounds like the way to go.

And thanks for the links, makes things real easy!
 
I wash my cars in the middle of the winter here in NJ. I have my hose hooked up to the hot and cold water and I use my hand with the wash mitt in the warm/hot water. I wear my winter jacket and hat and glove on the other hand. I've washed my truck at way below freezing with no problems. I never spray myself with the hose, you just have to be careful. Sometimes it gets tricky with a stiff wind blowing.
 
The Meguiars mop looks like just what I have been looking for! While I can't say it scratched, it did not clean as well as a mit unless you really scrubbed.
 
I kind of like the idea of the Meguairs mop. I can't tell from descriptions on websites if it is a wool bonnet or synthetic...does anyone know for sure?
 
Krodad said:
I kind of like the idea of the Meguairs mop. I can't tell from descriptions on websites if it is a wool bonnet or synthetic...does anyone know for sure?
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I seen one at pep boys...and the head seemed like synthetic material...plus the Knap was short..not my idea of a winter wash tool...any heavy grit had no where to really bury it self...





the Versa wide angle body brush would be your best bet i you want to Meg's...if you want a brush type ...



I like the boars hair myself....



AL
 
smprince1 said:
I've also had good luck with the Meguiar's long handled (telescoping) mop. They also sell replacement mop heads when it gets grungy.
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The Versa Angle Body Brushes will snap onto the same pole too. Meguiar's brushes and handles are interchangeable.





Krodad said:
...The boars hair brushes look like a good answer. I'm concerned that a brush will hold some grit, so if this is a little less prone than the synthetic bristles, sounds like the way to go....
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I think the reason the Meg's brushes may hold on to dirt a bit more than boar's hair is because they have much more tightly spaced bristles. I think they clean films off a finish better than boar's hair for the same reason.



Both Meg's brushes and boar's hair rinse out much easier and more completely than a mitt anyway.



I have a TOL boar's hair brush I really like. They also sell a cotton chenille wash mop





Krodad said:
I kind of like the idea of the Meguairs mop. I can't tell from descriptions on websites if it is a wool bonnet or synthetic...does anyone know for sure?
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Definitely synthetic. I've been thinking about getting one and adapting a lamb's wool or microfiber bonnet to it.







PC.
 
Now if someone can tell me how to keep the cats from jumping up on the hood and roof, and giving me the associated scratches, that would be worth a mint!
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Keep the cats inside.
 
Pennypacker said:
Griot's has a boar's hair brush with handle that's $80. The handle is 40 inches long. I've never used it, so I'm not sure how good it is...
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I've gone through four of those (!) still have the last one. It's a good idea flawed by poor execution. The bristles of the last three weren't soft enough for me, they'll cause some *very* light marring on some paints and they aren't packed densely enough IMO. The first three (which I sent back) all started to leak in a *big* way at the pivoting joint. And the whole thing wasn't *nearly* as user-friendly as I'd expected, it was actually extremely cumbersome and awkward to use (well, at least to use properly).



I had very high hopes for the flow-though brushes, but I was sorely disappointed. IMO the best way to use a brush is to get the regular BHBs and shoot suds through the bristles with a foamgun.



Synthetic-bristle brushes scare me because if (more like "when") the flagged tips of the bristles wear down they'll turn into scratch-machines. I had this happen with a *very* soft wheel brush and had to get a set of wheels refinished. When BHBs wear down they aren't nearly as coarse as worn synthetic bristles.



Note that *all* brushes wear down and eventually have to be replaced. Natural or synthetic, you want the flagged/split bristle tips and that's what wears.



the other PC said:
I think the reason the Meg's brushes may hold on to dirt a bit more than boar's hair is because they have much more tightly spaced bristles. I think they clean films off a finish better than boar's hair for the same reason.
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I don't *want* my brushes to hold onto dirt, I want it to get flushed off the surface (I realize that there are different approaches, that's just what *I* am after, so I hope I don't sound all :nono or :argue ). I worry that if the dirt is trapped in the brush/mitt/mop and you move said wash media across the paint, it might act like sandpaper and with any pressure on the wash media you'll get marring.



You're right about the limited cleaning ability of BHBs...when you're not applying pressure there's a limit to how well they'll dislodge dirt (in effect, they can be *too* gentle). This can lead to people "scrubbing" with them and inducing nasty marring- you gotta be gentle, barely bending the tips of the bristles. As long as you're using a lot of shampoo (and spraying it with a foamgun helps immensely) and have a healthy, slick LSP on there it'll work fine (even caked on winter stuff comes off easily) but if those factors *aren't* optimized the BHB might be too gentle an approach.



I'll have to try that TOL BHB sometime, I'd like to compare it with the ones from Griot's (currently only so-so IMO, great variations in quality) and AutoGeek (very nice, what I'm using now).
 
Krodad said:
And, no, I can't get away with the permanent solution on the cat question. I'd be paying a divorce attorney if I did that.
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When a .22 isn't an option, you can sometimes get away with sprinkling cayenne pepper or another irritant on the ground in a circle around your truck.
 
themightytimmah said:
When a .22 isn't an option, you can sometimes get away with sprinkling cayenne pepper or another irritant on the ground in a circle around your truck.
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Moth Balls!
 
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