Sheepskin, Grout Sponge, or Microfiber mitt? For everybody

What is your favorite wash media?

  • Sheepskin Mitt

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Grout Sponge

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Microfiber Mitt

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
If you are going make this a true poll representative of the washing medias available today, you need to add:

Cotton Chenelle Pads

Cotton Chenelle Mitts

Microfber Pads

Man-made Sponge (Other than Grout)

Natural Sea Sponge

Schmitt Pads

Boar Hair Brushes

Power Washer (Don't use sponge/pad/mitt/brush)



I know that this washing media issue has been discussed ad-finium (Latin for "Like, forever!") but I think it needs to be re-opened again and I thought about doing this very poll on this issue, but was not sure how to set it up. It just needs the addition of the forementioned items to be a more accurate poll.
 
I agree.. There's no end to best [thing] thread... Because best is ever changing...



Yes you can do a search... But what's the best for [any respected autopian] 3 months ago may not be the case today..



Just like cotton used to be the best polishing cloth.. these days MF has won us over..

Traditional wash is the best wash method...now rinseless washing is the best for many autopians



Wow..grout sponge wins 2 to 1 so far :)
 
I am a big fan of the grout sponges also David. I used to be a heavy sheepskin mitt user. After trying the grout sponge I haven't looked back.
 
Eh, I'm not going back to sponges, grout or others.



BHBs, sheepskin mitts, MF mitts, and even very plush MF towels (shamrocks) upon occasion when using ONR. Which mitt depends on what the job is, but I always do the first passes with the BHBs (and unless I'm ONRing I do *all* passes with the foamgun, of course).



If you have to go with just one, I'd go with the sheepskin mitts, as the MFs contamination-retention can sometimes cause issues. But I like having options.
 
Accumulator said:
Eh, I'm not going back to sponges, grout or others.



I'm with you on this one. I jumped on the grout sponge bandwagon even though it was a tough pill to swallow for me. I just couldn't get passed the notion that the gs would be grinding particles against my paint. But the thing is sooooo many people vouch for grout sponges and love em'. So I was sold and tried it too. Honestly I still felt like it wasn't the best choice for me even though the sponge gets much softer after being dipped and soaked.



Sure enough, after rubbing in one memorable time on trunk lid, I saw very noticeable scratch marks and was very disheartened. I know, i could've done something wrong or what-not but that was the dealbreaker for me. I'm sticking to Sheepskins. In my experience i can go a year or more without inducing swirls with my sheepskins on my soft black paint. It just works well for me so I'm sticking with it.



However, in terms of rinsing out dirt on the grit guard, the grout sponge wins hands down compared to all other wash media I've used.



I really want to try the ridiculously fluffy "Yeti" sheepskin wash mitt.

IMG_1828.jpg




Pic from member on autogeekonline.
 
mystickid said:
... in terms of rinsing out dirt on the grit guard, the grout sponge wins hands down compared to all other wash media I've used.



I can't help but repeat for the umpteenth time :o how, when I "get my wash technique right", there's virtually no dirt to get rinsed out; my rinse water stays quite clean even after a winter-nasty wash. Guess there are a whole lotta different ways to approach the how-to-wash issue.
 
The GS definitely is not for me either.



I'm mostly a sheepskin user.



You guys who are using a GS, do you use it with ONR? I just don't see that as being a good combination.
 
I used a grout sponge for a while and liked it at first. I still don't mind it and will use it for lower areas on the car. I don't believe it caused any marring, but just find that it isn't very effective at removing dirt from the car. I found I needed to scrub too hard in some places and I didn't want to do that.



I have gone back to sheepskin mitt for the upper/cleaner portions of the car. I also sometimes use a chenille mitt for the front and lower sections.
 
The thing that I don't like about using the GS (especially with ONR) is the fact that it does TOO good of a job at absorbing and *retaining* water (or more precisely, the car wash/ONR water mix). As a result, when you put the GS on the surface of the car, I would feel like I was almost using a dry sponge on the paint since the sponge did not release the ONR. Squeezing it out didn't seem to work very well either. There is no such issue when using something like a sheepskin mitt.
 
Rob Tomlin said:
The thing that I don't like about using the GS (especially with ONR) is the fact that it does TOO good of a job at absorbing and *retaining* water (or more precisely, the car wash/ONR water mix). As a result, when you put the GS on the surface of the car, I would feel like I was almost using a dry sponge on the paint since the sponge did not release the ONR. Squeezing it out didn't seem to work very well either. There is no such issue when using something like a sheepskin mitt.



I have felt this same exact thing with all of the grout sponges I have used, both home depot ones and lowe's proline as well.



I have a few sheepskin sponges, but don't like them with onr as I can't ever get them to rinse out the dirt very well.



Lately I have been using the same exact microfiber covered sponge as Scottwax uses in his ONR youtube videos, which is a white bone-shaped one from Target. It has worked well, but seems to not last more than about 10 ONR washes before it starts to shed on me a little bit.



I should give sheepskin another shot with ONR though, I only tried it once.
 
lostdaytomorrow said:
I have felt this same exact thing with all of the grout sponges I have used, both home depot ones and lowe's proline as well.



I have a few sheepskin sponges, but don't like them with onr as I can't ever get them to rinse out the dirt very well.



Lately I have been using the same exact microfiber covered sponge as Scottwax uses in his ONR youtube videos, which is a white bone-shaped one from Target. It has worked well, but seems to not last more than about 10 ONR washes before it starts to shed on me a little bit.



I should give sheepskin another shot with ONR though, I only tried it once.



Well, I actually use the MF covered sponge with ONR on my two daily drivers, and the sheepskin on the Lotus.
 
I like sheepskin with ONR. Can't quite get my head around using MF as a wash media. I know Scottwax and many others here do it, but it just seems like there's not enough place for the dirt to go. But with ONR, I suppose it magically takes care of the dirt particles. (I'm not being sarcastic. I consider what ONR does magic!) Just my own mental block, I guess. ONR itself was a mental block for me for a long time!
 
Back
Top