Big Red Sponge vs Lake Country Wash Wedge for rinseless?

JWilliams.RadiantDetail

JWilliams.RadiantDetail

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I love ONR + MF's but don't like doing a lot of laundry. And it seems to me that all the running towels thru my washing machine is semi counter productive to my whole eco friendly car washing image. Even tho it's still using less water than tradition washing, I want to get the amount used even lower - I'm in So Cal for anyone in a state where water is plentiful, that's beautiful. Here it's pretty bad though lol.

Searching on here I see a lot of people using the Big Red Sponge or the Lowes Grout sponges for rinseless. I Googled and saw a few different threads on how people went about washing. Right now I use a MF once and toss it aside. Googling it looks like some people do a 2BM and others use just one with ONR and a grit guard. 2BM sounds good, but I was reading about how the left over water from cleaning the sponge in the 2nd bucket will result in you adding new water in the ONR bucket when you dip it back. Makes sense, not sure if it would be enough to mess with the dilution though. But it seems like unless you spent a good amount of time really ringing out the sponge after an entire car it would make a difference. I don't know how I feel about 1BM + grit guard rinseless. For anyone who does this, how debris free does your ONR mixture stay? I have pondered even doing the GD method but replacing the MFs with a bunch of Big Red Sponges. That's overkill, but I wouldn't have to mess with a grit guard or lug around a 2nd bucket.

I'll pick up a few of Lowe's sponges just because they're dirt cheap. But I'm curious if anyone has used both the BRS and the LCWW and can compare them.
 
I found that the current lowes grout sponge was not as good as the old threads say it was. It appears they changed the sponge over time. If you find a good sponge, please post the info.
 
Once you use a MF madness incredi-sponge for rinseless you'll lay down the MF towels and grout sponges. You get the best of both in one product.
 
The LC Sponge and Big Red are two different types of foam. I have a bunch of both. The LC Sponges (I believe were to be used with soap, not rinseless type solutions), regardless they fall apart very quickly. Big Red will probably last you the rest of your life if you wash weekly. It's just a really well made product out of entirely different foam.

10945549_10204629474591261_2278607579241674507_n.jpg


Personally, I think Big Red is worth it if you're using rinseless solutions like ONR.

10926840_571872376248894_9025479377899380435_o.jpg
 
silverfox said:
Once you use a MF madness incredi-sponge for rinseless you'll lay down the MF towels and grout sponges. You get the best of both in one product.
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Hummm, I actually have a Incredi-Sponge. Since I went rinseless I haven't even thought about it. Perhaps I should pull it out and see how it fairs. 1BM + ONR + Grit Guard might be a winning combination.
 
/\/\ Shameless picture plugs /\/\
:dblthumb2:

I'll have to give that BRS a try with a rinseless
 
I use the meguiars microfiber mitts. They have open ended fibers and if you scrape them across a grit guard, they're great and not expensive.

I have though started to use the Garry Dean method and I'm very happy with that.
 
Just ordered 2 BRS's from opti-coat.net @ $19.99/ea. Pricey but I believe they will perform very well.


>>> @Silverfox why do like the "incredi-sponge for rinseless" so much? Have you ever used the BRS for RW's?

Thanks...
 
Hi guys sorry for the hijack ...

Just wondering how you clean your Big Red Sponge in between washes.
Is it machine washable or should I just spray it with a little APC or pad cleaner?
 
dpk20x said:
So nobody cleans these things?

:)
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One of their reps says that his BRS "lives" in the onr solution.

I have the blue lake country sponge. I rinse mine and wring it out after use.
 
Scott@IncrediblyDetailed said:
The LC Sponge and Big Red are two different types of foam. I have a bunch of both. The LC Sponges (I believe were to be used with soap, not rinseless type solutions), regardless they fall apart very quickly. Big Red will probably last you the rest of your life if you wash weekly. It's just a really well made product out of entirely different foam.

10945549_10204629474591261_2278607579241674507_n.jpg


Personally, I think Big Red is worth it if you're using rinseless solutions like ONR.

10926840_571872376248894_9025479377899380435_o.jpg
Click to expand...

Is that the same foam the red CCS pads are constructed from?
 
quebert said:
Googling it looks like some people do a 2BM and others use just one with ONR and a grit guard. 2BM sounds good, but I was reading about how the left over water from cleaning the sponge in the 2nd bucket will result in you adding new water in the ONR bucket when you dip it back. Makes sense, not sure if it would be enough to mess with the dilution though.
Click to expand...

I do it three ways. If the car is just dusty, I use a small bucket with just ONR and no grit guard. If the car is dirtier, I use a bucket with a grit guard, but I don't like this because I need to use 4 times the amount of ONR to get above the grit guard. Most of the time, and I consider this is a necessity if we're talking about a vehicle that has a lot of pollen or salt, I use one small bucket with ONR and no grit guard, and then a rinse bucket with a grit guard, I mix ONR in the rinse bucket at 1/4 the normal dilution, so as not to dilute what I'm putting on the car too much when I go back to the wash bucket.

Pollen or salt contaminates the solution and makes it more difficult to dry without streaks, which is why I consider the 2BM a necessity in those situations.

dpk20x said:
Just wondering how you clean your Big Red Sponge in between washes.
Is it machine washable or should I just spray it with a little APC or pad cleaner?
Click to expand...

I don't have any experience with that particular sponge. I find machine washing doesn't do too much for cleaning uncovered sponges, and is usually damaging to them. I would wash the sponge out under running water, rubbing the surface as necessary with your fingers. The challenge with those cut sponges is getting crap out of all the slots; you probably want to immerse it in a bucket or fill up the sink and try to shake/agitate any debris out of there.
 
dpk20x said:
Just wondering how you clean your Big Red Sponge in between washes.
Is it machine washable or should I just spray it with a little APC or pad cleaner?
Click to expand...

I've heard guys who use the BRS soak it or just keep in a bucket with ONR solution.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. That's pretty much all I did. Just let it soak in my ONR bucket for a few hours than ran some tap water over it. Seemed to do a good enough job cleaning in between the grooves but there was some light staining below the surface that I noticed. Guess I won't worry too much about it.
 
The big red sponge is much stiffer than I had imagined after seeing it in videos. Also, the pores are very small, unlike my current favorite sponge - the Aqua Sponge. It is soft, but I don't care how soft anything is if there is nowhere for the dirt to go (I know it is scored on both faces, maybe I'm supposed to assume that's where it all goes). Because of these two attributes I do not use these even though we ordered 2 for our shop.
I have not found the Big Red Sponge to be superior in any way, which is disappointing because the people I've seen use it love it.

So my question is: Why is it superior? Am I doing something wrong?
 
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