Reviewed: Meguiar's Versa-Angle Wide Body Brush

S

stilez

New member
Product: Meguiar's Versa-Angle Wide Body Brush





Price: $15.99





Manufacturer Claims:



Features the same super soft bristles as our Vera-Angle Body Brush, but on a larger brush head to make quick work of washing any size vehicle, including SUV’s. Flip our exclusive reversible handle in the bi-directional brush head to create a 45 degree angle to make washing the lower parts of a vehicle easier while the contoured shape of the bristles provides excellent surface coverage. The Versa-Angle Wide Body Brush was designed to fit side-to-side in a standard 5 gallon wash bucket.





Packaging: The head of the brush is wrapped in a one-time use thick plastic cover with proper markings. The instructions are very useful. There is an open area in the cover that allows you to feel the plushness of the brush.





Color/Scent/Viscosity: Black handle (2-way adjustable angle); White, deep, soft bristles in brush head.





How I used (as per instructions): I first pressure washed the vehicles with my Black & Decker 1300psi electric pressure washer. I then filled up my 5-gallon Rubbermaid bucket with grit guard (pictured below). I used a slightly heavier dilution of Top of the Line's Bubble Bath as the vehicles cleaned were a bit dirty from a recent snow fall and salt/sand fest.



I dunked the brush in and moved it around to soak up a lot of soapy solution. I then began from the top down and moved the brush lightly over the surface going from the front of the vehicle to back and so on. I was sure to only do one panel per rinsing of solution. I then put the brush back in the bucket and scrubbed the bristles against the grit-guard for about 5 seconds each time. I then inspected the brush head for any visible grit; I never found any each time I rinsed.



I ended up using 1 bucket for a couple reasons. The main reason being was that I wanted to put this brush to the test. I had used the the brush both on a protected and unprotected vehicle. I then rinsed the surface by flooding with a low pressure flow of water. I pulled it under halogens to inspect any induced marring. There was almost NO marring whatsoever, even on my soft Honda clearcoat. This brush is directly comparable to a 2 bucket, 2 sheepskin mitt wash agenda.



When done using, I pressure washed the brush head and hung it up on a nail to dry in the garage.





Overall Thoughts: Although very skeptical about using this piece (I have had it for almost a year with not one use :)), the near freezing temperatures forced me to give it a go. Plus, I had planned to polish my vehicle afterwards, so I didn't have a ton to lose.



I was very surprised with the plushness of the brush. As detailers, we all cringe at the sight of a brush, but I will be perfectly honest with you... This one works! I forsee it in my future a lot for its ease of use, allowance of warm hands, and wide coverage area from the large head.





Other Notes: Be sure to use with a grit guard equipped bucket. The Rubbermaid one I have was purchased from Target for around $15. If the head doesn't come clean after each panel, shoot a hard burst of water through it and also use two buckets.





Purchasing:



http://meguiars.com/?car-washing-tools/Versa-Angle-Wide-Body-Brush



Target; Wal-Mart; PepBoys; other car care stores





Pics:



Before (very dirty)

IMG_0163.jpg




Soapy solution and bucket

IMG_0164.jpg




Placed on the surface (notice no flex of the bristles denoting a light touch)

IMG_0167.jpg




Picture of it going over the surface

IMG_0168.jpg




This is how clean it should be before touching the panel

IMG_0169.jpg








Any questions, feel free.
 
Hmmm....that was interesting...might get me to screw up the courage to try the smaller Meg's Body Brush that I bought some time ago. I remember those buckets at Target...I notice yours doesn't seem to have the handle on it--when I looked at them in the store the handle wouldn't stay on even when the bucket was empty, lol! And I can't get used to the look of you folks with the severely lowered cars...just looks to us old-timers like you've got a broken spring!



Thanks for the review and pics!
 
Setec: Yep, I ripped the stupid handle off.





For our generation, wheel gap = the devil!







SpoiledMan: Great! Any tips?
 
Sean, you already figured it out. There's nothing more to it than that. Mine seems to hold a good amount of water so be sure to "drain" it well when you're done using it or it just might freeze up on ya.
 
Disclaimer: I haven't used the exact brush in question, but I have used other brushes with flagged bristle tips and I've used BHBs for over 20 years. Perhaps the best thing about brushes is their free-rinsing nature. Since grit doesn't stick to the bristles, you can sometimes clean off some pretty nasty stuff without the marring you'd get from mitts.



But note that dirt doesn't really migrate too much up into the bristles. I *never* found this to happen to any great extent. Hence the foamgun...



I like to blast foam through the bristles with a foamgun, while just barely touching the vehicle's panels with the brush. This works great for gently dislodging the kind of nasty stuff that gets stuck to vehicles in the winter. The bristles dislodge the dirt and the foam floods it away. Best way I've found to avoid marring when using a brush. You'll even find that there's hardly any dirt in your rinse bucket.



Watch for wear on the bristle tips. When they wear down it can mean scratch city.
 
SpoiledMan said:
Been using it since they sent them out and been pleased from day one.
Click to expand...



Same here. Amazingly soft bristles. Works great on contoured surfaces the Meguiars Ultimate Mop can't follow.
 
Accumulator said:
Watch for wear on the bristle tips. When they wear down it can mean scratch city.
Click to expand...



Beat me too it :lol I knew you'd chime in with that! But Scott is right, those bristles are as soft as I have ever felt.



After some time, the synthetic, split bristles at the end begin to stiffen and become more coarse to the touch. It will marr. For now and the occasional wash with it, you're ok. Continued use of it and it will begin to degrade. This happened to my OXO.



I have found this to be true with every synthetic wheel brush I have used as well. If people like to use delicate brushes on wheels, then Griot's sells a great boars hair brush.



Nice review and pics Sean :xyxthumbs
 
Accumulator/Seth: Do you find the Boar's Hair Brushes to last much longer? Is it worth it for the 4-6x extra price? Or should I just keep replacing this one?
 
GSRstilez said:
Accumulator/Seth: Do you find the Boar's Hair Brushes to last much longer? Is it worth it for the 4-6x extra price? Or should I just keep replacing this one?
Click to expand...



I only have the BHB wheel brush, not the body brush. It has stayed nice and soft.



Accumulator will be better able to answer this. I know he has used his for years on his Mazda MPV without issues.



As far as spending the extra money, it depends on how much you'll be using it on your car or others. If you're looking to use a brush just in the winter months, then you can stick with Meguiar's. But, if this is something you'll be doing year round on your vehicle as well as others, then I'd get the BHB.



Accumulator can recommend the best place for them.



Who knows, with this new Meguiar's brush, you may go a long, long time before you notice any degradation of the bristles. Just keep an eye out. After a few more washes, see if it feels just as soft as when you bought it.



Like quality MF's, even after many, many washes, they stay soft and fluffy. The same goes for BHB's for *me* that I use on wheels.
 
I've always been afraid to try a brush for fear of marring, but I guess if you choose wisely and use it properly that's not an issue. Would be great for washing the top of our V and my truck.
 
I have this brush that i use often on my work truck. It left some slight marring on my black hood, but then again, i used more pressure than i should have.



I find the brush to be uncomfortable because of its weight. I cant use it one handed very well. I would like to wash with a brush in one hand and the hose in the other, to eliminate dunking it and whatnot.



If i use 2 hands, then i end up leaning into it more than i should, so it is delegated to white work truck only duty.
 
JBM- The Griot's BHB is easy to use with one hand while manipulating the foamgun with the other. It's almost fun.



The bristles of the BHBs seem to hold up very well. The flagged tips eventually do wear, but it takes a long time (years) and even when they're worn it doesn't turn into the scratch machine that a plastic bristle becomes. I've replaced my regular BHBs twice in twenty years, the wheel ones and the little ones for nooks and crannies I replace much more often, maybe every three years or so. But note that those (wheel and little) brushes get used hard at *every* wash.



I switched from the BHB-only approach to sheepskin mitts on the MPV and my wife's A8 for the last year or so. At the same time I've tried to be *much* more careful washing the MPV- using the foamgun all the time and being *almost* as careful as I am with the S8. As a result, I have noticed a very slight decrease in wash-induced micromarring (as in now there's none that I can see), but I have noticed *more* RIDS. I suspect that used carefully, with the foamgun, the BHB might actually be better (marring wise) than the mitts., at least for something like the MPV where there'a a lot of vehicle and it gets pretty dirty. On my wife's A8 I can't tell as easily, but I think I'm doing better with the mitts. Different vehicle, different situation, so different approach.



Besides Griot's, I've heard of a company that sells good brushes....I can almost remember the name...Braun maybe :nixweiss Never tried them myself though. Before getting them from Griot's I got my first set from Beverly Hills Motoring Accessories back in '85.
 
Here is what I am wondering, stupid question maybe but. . . nonetheless:

what is the advantage of using a BHB or any quality brush in general? Is the use of the tool based more on climate, vehicle type, filth on the vehicles surface? In other words, why would I use a brush in place of a heavy sheepskin wash mitt? :o



edit:
Accumulator said:
JI suspect that used carefully, with the foamgun, the BHB might actually be better (marring wise) than the mitts.
Click to expand...



I did miss this from Señor Acumulador which hints that it may be better for some vehicles at certain levels of dirtiness. I do not use a foam gun, could I still benefit whether it be time saved or paint surface preserved? Thanks. . . sorry if these are silly questions.
 
pssstue- Used carelessly, especially without a foamgun, the BHB will possibly cause more marring because the gritty dirt gets caught in the bristles and is then dragged across the paint. You can do various things to mitigate this (rinse the brush more often, etc.) but I'd still get the foamgun. I know, I know, I'm a fanatic about that, but IMO it really is *that* big of a deal.



what is the advantage of using a BHB or any quality brush in general? Is the use of the tool based more on climate, vehicle type, filth on the vehicles surface? In other words, why would I use a brush in place of a heavy sheepskin wash mitt?
Click to expand...



It's not like a brush is something that everyone oughta use. But it's really good for some situations.



Since the brush is free-rinsing, the dirt is less likely to get trapped and dragged across the paint *if* you do things right. This gets back to using the foamgun to really take advantage of this. You can gently dislodge the dirt and flush it away, better than I've been able to do with a mitt. Less pressure on the dirt/paint.



On *very* soft paints, I'd hesitate to use the BHB. It can cause micromarring on my Jag's laquer. You can minimize this by not pressing hard (at all), not even enough to really bend the brisles. But some marring will still happen. Not really a problem on the Audis or the Mazda, *IF* I use it right.



It's really best for gritty, abrasive dirt like some of us deal with in the winter. Could be good for things like sand too. And sometimes the long, flexible bristles are just better suited to the job than the shorter nap of a mitt.



The big problems with brushes come from people pressing hard, not rinsing often enough/doing too large an area at a time, and otherwise not adjusting their technique to what's gonna work best with the brush. The temptation is to take advantage of all the wash solution the brush will hold and work too quickly, doing large areas. It's fast and easy, but you'll get marring. Still, in some cases where I'm gonna do a full polishing job anyhow, using the brush in this quick and dirty way sure is handy.
 
Accumulator said:
pssstue- Used carelessly, especially without a foamgun, the BHB will possibly cause more marring because the gritty dirt gets caught in the bristles and is then dragged across the paint. You can do various things to mitigate this (rinse the brush more often, etc.) but I'd still get the foamgun. I know, I know, I'm a fanatic about that, but IMO it really is *that* big of a deal.







It's not like a brush is something that everyone oughta use. But it's really good for some situations.



Since the brush is free-rinsing, the dirt is less likely to get trapped and dragged across the paint *if* you do things right. This gets back to using the foamgun to really take advantage of this. You can gently dislodge the dirt and flush it away, better than I've been able to do with a mitt. Less pressure on the dirt/paint.



On *very* soft paints, I'd hesitate to use the BHB. It can cause micromarring on my Jag's laquer. You can minimize this by not pressing hard (at all), not even enough to really bend the brisles. But some marring will still happen. Not really a problem on the Audis or the Mazda, *IF* I use it right.



It's really best for gritty, abrasive dirt like some of us deal with in the winter. Could be good for things like sand too. And sometimes the long, flexible bristles are just better suited to the job than the shorter nap of a mitt.



The big problems with brushes come from people pressing hard, not rinsing often enough/doing too large an area at a time, and otherwise not adjusting their technique to what's gonna work best with the brush. The temptation is to take advantage of all the wash solution the brush will hold and work too quickly, doing large areas. It's fast and easy, but you'll get marring. Still, in some cases where I'm gonna do a full polishing job anyhow, using the brush in this quick and dirty way sure is handy.
Click to expand...



The brush also does a bang-up job at releasing bugs from the paint without scratching. If you look closely at the brush while you gently agitate you will see that the action is superior to a mitt for disloging tough stuck on crud.
 
Reflections said:
Has anyone successfully used a quality wash brush with QEW?
Click to expand...





I plan to try on my customer's vehicles. I will report back either in this post or in a new one (if the info is shocking ...good or bad).
 
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