Life after Sea Sponge
- Thread starter detaildoc
- Start date
Accumulator
Well-known member
detaildoc said:
If you get one, I'll be interested to hear how it works for you.
I got one, and while it's OK for the wheels of certain vehicles, I dunno how people use it on paint without getting marring. No, no, I'm not saying people *do* get marring (and either don't notice it or lie about it), I don't mean to imply that; this isn't a :nono rant, but *I* can't use it without some minor marring :nixweiss
I've tried it with ONR, I've tried it with Griot's Car Wash and the foamgun...as best I can tell the dirt gets in the outer surface of the sponge and/or trapped between the sponge and the paint, and then said dirt gets dragged along the surface of the paint, and the result is marring. Often the damage is too light to see in sunlight or even (easily) under halogens, but it's there and it bugs me.
Hey, at least I *did* try it...I'm trying to keep an open mind about the different wash media/techniques that people advocate, at least while I still have the Blazer to experiment on
I do find *some* use for all this stuff (QEW, ONR, grout sponges) so it's not a complete write-off for me.Accumulator said:
Hi Accumulator:
I posted this with regard to a Grecian sponge on another forum thread:
"I'm debating moving over to a sponge from a mitt. I've tried the home depot grout sponge, it did not work well for me....maybe I got the wrong one! I have two of the sponges you mention and I washed my wife's forerunner with ONR. I live in the Midwest. It turned out very very nice.
If fact here's a little test I preformed to test the Grecian sponge, home depot sponge, and the wool mitt.
I poured a granular product on my counter and wetted each one of the items above and these were the results.
Mitt: nothing moved into the mitt. The wool laid flat and the particles dragged across the counter....if this was dirt I would assume this would cause swirls on my paint.
Home Depot Grout Sponge (I think I have the wrong one): Holes were way to small and particles stayed on top of the sponge. Only a very small amount moved into the sponge.
I used this sponge on my black car and I KNOW I created some swirls
Grecian Sponge: This made me a convert today. Those little particles got sucked up right into the sponge and that to me means no marring or swirls. This sponge also rinses very very clean. I'm picking up 5 more." Read down for the update here.
I did your CD test with the same granular product (Dirtex) with the same three items listed above...here's the update. The test I did above was just to see how the Dirtex moved into the media......the information above still stand as far as I can tell when doing the CD test with regard to moving the dirt into the media.
CD Test Findings
Mitt: Slight (very) slight hairline scratches but you can very easily modify the pressure to reduce them even more.
The key here I found was allowing the wool to sway across the cd. When the wool sways unlike I thought above it does not cause "swirls".
I don't know if you can truly eliminate all hairline scratches with any media.... to me it's finding out what does the least amount of damage while removing dirt from your paint
Grout Sponge: I tried this sponge on my black car with ONR. Ohhhh the swirls. Ohhh the swirls on the CD. Very hard to regulate pressure, holes are small and the dirt like you stated drags across the surface of the paint. Not for me but they seem to work for a lot of people. Makes Detaildoc's "before" pictures llok like new paint. Sponge was soapy.
Grecian Sponge: Huge holes a lot more gentle than the grout sponge. Seems the Dirtex gets way from the CD surface faster creates less hairline scratches. In a nutshell I would use these with lots of soapy suds (used this sponge with ONR my wifes 4Runner came out very nice but was not very dirty and I used the sponge like a duster...very,very little pressure).
Microfiber towels no scratching or marring on CD
In conclusion....I have to flip back to the Mitt because living the Midwest (and the CD test.) I can't always use a lot of soapy suds to wash the car and have to use ONR at times. The Mitt is more versatile with a variety of wash solutions and easier for a novice like me to move over the finish.
Like you at least I tried them. Just my thoughts and findings.
Regards,
Charlie
idetail4you
New member
I've had good results with a seap spong. Never any marring that I have noticed but I prefer the softness and feel of a really thick sheepskin wash mitt.
Spilchy
New member
Nice write up Charbro. I too didn't have good luck with the grout sponge but have kept my poor result quiet. It seems to be a huge hit here so maybe I'm doing something wrong. If only others would have similar respect for the sea sponge in this regard.
I will be posting soon my brand new 11 inch sea wool sponge I received in the mail. I will soak it in water and show, with images, that there will be no sand or shells.
People who have never used the sea sponge post comments that are based on ignorance rather than asking questions. The biggest one being that sponges are filled with sand. Well, people eat clams right? They too come from the ocean full of sand. People eat spinach right? It too comes from the dirt loaded with sand. In fact many of the things we use and consume were filthy or filled with something. BUT, these things are cleaned and processed and made suitable for daily use and consumption. Same applies to the sea sponge. I will show rinse water and you guys can be the judge of whether the sponge is loaded with sand.
I'm not out to convert anyone. Rather, I'd like to dispel some myths and help to alleviate concerns of the unknown; similar to Accumulator with the BHB or anybody else looking to share their *actual* experiences.
I'll post soon. I am leaving for 10 days on a trip to Israel. So I'll do it afterwards.
I will be posting soon my brand new 11 inch sea wool sponge I received in the mail. I will soak it in water and show, with images, that there will be no sand or shells.
People who have never used the sea sponge post comments that are based on ignorance rather than asking questions. The biggest one being that sponges are filled with sand. Well, people eat clams right? They too come from the ocean full of sand. People eat spinach right? It too comes from the dirt loaded with sand. In fact many of the things we use and consume were filthy or filled with something. BUT, these things are cleaned and processed and made suitable for daily use and consumption. Same applies to the sea sponge. I will show rinse water and you guys can be the judge of whether the sponge is loaded with sand.
I'm not out to convert anyone. Rather, I'd like to dispel some myths and help to alleviate concerns of the unknown; similar to Accumulator with the BHB or anybody else looking to share their *actual* experiences.
I'll post soon. I am leaving for 10 days on a trip to Israel. So I'll do it afterwards.
Accumulator
Well-known member
charbro- Yeah, that was a good write-up and I'm glad to see you took the time to objectively evaluate the various media.
Not being able to keep everything flooded with the foamgun makes your job *very* difficult IMO, and makes what works for me sorta irrelevent to *you*.
What you discovered about the Grecian Sponge (really) sucking the [stuff] up away from the surface, or otherwise doing *something* so it didn't mar much, was interesting...that test was quite informative for me. I gotta find some of those for the post-BHB work on my wheels (one application where I *don't* use the foamgun very much).
Your "wrong" Home Depot sponge sounds like the one I got at Lowe's :think:
Your findings about the huge role that applied pressure can play got my attention. That's why I do the "barely contact the paint" thing so religiously and was the idea behind my (now seldom employed) "mitt balloon" techniques.
Spilchy- Yeah, stay safe over there; keep your situational awareness keyed up a bit higher than you would in the CONTUS.
Not being able to keep everything flooded with the foamgun makes your job *very* difficult IMO, and makes what works for me sorta irrelevent to *you*.
What you discovered about the Grecian Sponge (really) sucking the [stuff] up away from the surface, or otherwise doing *something* so it didn't mar much, was interesting...that test was quite informative for me. I gotta find some of those for the post-BHB work on my wheels (one application where I *don't* use the foamgun very much).
Your "wrong" Home Depot sponge sounds like the one I got at Lowe's :think:
Your findings about the huge role that applied pressure can play got my attention. That's why I do the "barely contact the paint" thing so religiously and was the idea behind my (now seldom employed) "mitt balloon" techniques.
Spilchy- Yeah, stay safe over there; keep your situational awareness keyed up a bit higher than you would in the CONTUS.
Junebug
JAFO
I like the grout sponge for washing - regular washing with water, spray the dirt off first then hit it with DG 901 and the sponge. Now, for ONR - I use a MF towel, why? I don't know exactly but it just feels better to me, like I have a bit more control and it works better as I fold after each swipe until it's ready to rinse. My other stuff like Schmitt - too clumsy, muppet head looking thing from Target, and mitts are getting dusty on the shelf. And no, never tried a sea sponge, the grecian grout sponge for 2 bucks at HD works fine enough for me.