I've had a Griot's Garage BHB for years that I only use on the daily beater b/c I swear it left swirls behind on my bimmer. I've yet to use it on the S but decided to do a little searching and a few of you seem to like it. The S's paint seems so soft and shows swirls much easier than my bimmer does.

So, is it safe to use and not cause swirls? What are the "pros" using?

 

my personal opinion is

but its mainly cause i have never believed in using any brush on painted surfaces- and it is defiinitely an opinion !!
i do use brushes on wheels and undercarriage (not boars hair, but stiffer)

i am an old fashioned sheepskin wash mitt guy...

 

I use one to get the insides of the emblems clean - a Swisswax wheel brush to be exact - but otherwise, I don't use them. Currently I'm using Lowe's "Pro Line" grout sponges. Super soft and sized just right - and they only cost $2/ea.!

 

the lowe's grout sponge is fast becoming popular to use due to Optimum No Rinse. from everything i hear its perfect, and can not be beat for the price. as wanabe said - sheepskin mitts are time tested and very safe. upkeep/durability is a little rougher, but completely worth it to many (including me). another pretty popular product are schmitts. fine grade foam like a wax applicator, durable, easy to clean, and mid-priced. i now have two and love them. if interested in those - make sure to get the white/yellow one (the black schmitt is for wheels/tires)

happy cleaning!

 

I use the "Uber" sponge from DD to wash my vehicles. Love it more than my sheepskin mitt. I use the Swissvax detail brush to do seems, window edges, badges, etc.

 

I have the same Griot's boar's hair brush. It seems to me that it scratches the paint, but I don't have any real proof. I suspect that it doesn't transfer as much soapy water from the bucket to the paint, so the dirt doesn't float away. But then, I've never even stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. ;-)

 

My lowes grout sponge works great with ONR but when I use it with any other soap the sponge itself gets dry on the outside but just holds suds on the inside so it wont absorb any more solution, and it takes about 5 minutes to get all the suds out of it.

On topic I would never use any kind of brush on my car no matter how soft it may feel. Stick to what you know works.

 

Getting a foam gun really gets soap onto your paint to loosen dirt way before a mitt or sponge even gets close to the paint...my two cents Definitely keeps swirls controlled. btw I only use soft toothbrushs on edgework.

 

For me a high quality boars hair brush is the absolute #1 tool to prevent swirls during washing **when used correctly**!

The s2000 is my first black car and also happens to have very soft paint that can swirl easily. I have used buffers for many years and know how to polish a car to perfection, however I was having difficulty keeping it that way over an entire summer. I have spent countless hours researching on how to keep the paint as perfect as I could and came up with the following from the very knowledgeable autopia.org forms. The thing about the boars hair brush is that the bristles are very long and allow sand and grit to stay in between them instead of dragging these particles across the paint as you would with pretty much any wash media. It is true that the boars hair brush does not hold as much soap as a sheepskin mitt and that's where the next and most important step comes in. I use a foam gun and keep constant pressure flowing at the boars hair brush as I am rubbing the paint with it. This ensures any large particles are flushed away while maintaining maximum lubricity. (Yes i go through TONS of soap!)

The next most important step that many make mistakes is using WAAAAAY too much pressure. When using the boars hair brush I wash in a very light back and fourth motion all while lifting and almost padding the paint to allow for dirt to be flushed out. The bristles of the brush should not even really bend, so the brush makes very light contact with the paint. It is important to note that this method is only used for cleaning the larger particles that are most likely to create swirls. The car will still be dirty after doing all this. I then preceded to go over the entire car with dual buckets and sheepskin mitts to clean the grime now that the grit is gone.

It is more work, however I cant stand to look at swirl marks and you can only polish a car so many times before you go through the clear coat. I used this method for the last entire year and my car stayed virtually swirl free even on the soft honda paint.

This is the brush I use and its worth every penny:

Note how long the bristles are, about 5" or so. When you see it in person its just massive.







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