Grimm
10-20-2007, 10:29 AM
I picked up a gs at HD last night and just gave it a try. I think it's going to be my new wash medium. I washed my black Bonneville with it this afternoon. I have to qualify this car though, because it's got the worst paint in the world. It's hard enough that I have to used Menzerna, but somehow it marrs very easy. Even my super soft towels from Bob will leave very very fine lines (though I also wonder if it could just be lines in the wax?).
Anyway, back to my review. I used my normal process, which is simply to hose the car down with a regular garden hose, and then wash it with DG 901 soap. I actually did half the hood and half the trunk with the sponge, and the other half with my Walmart special Eurow sheepkskin. The rest of the car I did entirely with the sponge. I have to give the nod to the sheepskin for how easily it glides across the paint, but the sponge I think beats it in every other respect. The sponge wasn't grabby, it felt the same as my Schmitt. But what I loved is how the sponge holds so much solution. When I use the sheepskin, half the water is on the ground before it gets to the paint. I can squeeze the sponge on the hood, wash a quarter of it, then squeeze it again, flip it over and wash another quarter. One thing we all question with the sponge is where the dirt goes. Well, honestly I've never been extremely impressed with the sheepskin because I can always find specs of stuff in the hairs no matter what. But I think the sponge is porous enough that the dirt goes inside the sponge. And it was very easy to clean between panels. It got really dirty/black a couple times, and was surprised to find it rinsed completely clean. And every time I looked at it after dunking/cleaning it in the rinse bucket, I couldn't find any particles left on it. After drying, I inspected it and could find no difference between the two sides.
Just to give it some more testing since my car is not the best test subject for marring, I did the hood of my wifes Mercury Mountaineer. I had just polished the hood a few weeks ago testing my Menzerna so it was a great test bed with no marring. I washed the entire hood with the sponge (and it was pretty dirty thanks to the several days of rain we've had recently) and after drying found no evidence of scratching from the sponge.
I'm not 100% sold yet, but it looks pretty good. In fact, I had mentioned in the other thread that I have one of these sponges with the course white backing for scrubbing that I used on tile, and I think I'll go back for one of those to use on the wheels and wheel wells.
Anyway, back to my review. I used my normal process, which is simply to hose the car down with a regular garden hose, and then wash it with DG 901 soap. I actually did half the hood and half the trunk with the sponge, and the other half with my Walmart special Eurow sheepkskin. The rest of the car I did entirely with the sponge. I have to give the nod to the sheepskin for how easily it glides across the paint, but the sponge I think beats it in every other respect. The sponge wasn't grabby, it felt the same as my Schmitt. But what I loved is how the sponge holds so much solution. When I use the sheepskin, half the water is on the ground before it gets to the paint. I can squeeze the sponge on the hood, wash a quarter of it, then squeeze it again, flip it over and wash another quarter. One thing we all question with the sponge is where the dirt goes. Well, honestly I've never been extremely impressed with the sheepskin because I can always find specs of stuff in the hairs no matter what. But I think the sponge is porous enough that the dirt goes inside the sponge. And it was very easy to clean between panels. It got really dirty/black a couple times, and was surprised to find it rinsed completely clean. And every time I looked at it after dunking/cleaning it in the rinse bucket, I couldn't find any particles left on it. After drying, I inspected it and could find no difference between the two sides.
Just to give it some more testing since my car is not the best test subject for marring, I did the hood of my wifes Mercury Mountaineer. I had just polished the hood a few weeks ago testing my Menzerna so it was a great test bed with no marring. I washed the entire hood with the sponge (and it was pretty dirty thanks to the several days of rain we've had recently) and after drying found no evidence of scratching from the sponge.
I'm not 100% sold yet, but it looks pretty good. In fact, I had mentioned in the other thread that I have one of these sponges with the course white backing for scrubbing that I used on tile, and I think I'll go back for one of those to use on the wheels and wheel wells.