boars hair car washing brush vs microfiber mitt

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bunglebush

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I recently had a discussion with a very good detailer from ny . And asked him what he thought about boars hair car washing brushes the large ones instead of microfiber wash mitts..
He said that brushes only agitate the dirt and wash mitts pick up the dirt. So he said he would not use a boars hair brush over a wash mitt.. He said you want your tool to pick up the dirt when washing the paint.. I'm not so sure if I agree..
My argument is.. Even if you use a two bucket system.. You will still have dirt embedded in the wash mitt while you are washing it.. To me a brush will not pick up the dirt so you don't have to worry about grinding the dirt into the paint as you are cleaning it.. I still use a two bucket system with the brush but I do not see as much of a chance of dirt remaining on the brush while you are washing it.. The rinse is how I remove the dirt after using the boars hair brush to "agitate it" Maybe I'm wrong.. I'm not a professional detailer...Any comments would be great...
 
I wouldn't use either.I use a square cut eggcrate the size of my hand.The brush is definitely a no no in my own opinion.
 
I would think that brush is harsher than a mitt or a towel. Even its spotless id think it would scratch eventually
 
The mitt picks up the dirt, but you rinse the mitt clean after every small section you go over. Those beushes aren't soft enough to not scratch perfect paint. IMO No brush is.
 
If you truly want a dirt free washing media, do the Gary Dean's method by using ten-twenty MF towels in a soap bucket. Do sections at a time and never reuse the mf towel again until washed. Keep an empty bucket to store the dirty mf towels.
 
Eldorado2k said:
The mitt picks up the dirt, but you rinse the mitt clean after every small section you go over. Those beushes aren't soft enough to not scratch perfect paint. IMO No brush is.
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If memory serves, Mike P. uses a boar hair brush and feels that it's safe to use.
 
Rsurfer said:
If memory serves, Mike P. uses a boar hair brush and feels that it's safe to use.
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Ya. That's why I said in my opinion. Lol.
I wash an RV with a soft flag tipped brush provided by the owner. It doesn't seem to scratch.

View attachment 52299

But I'd still feel a bit uneasy about trusting it 100% on perfect paint.
 
The best method in my opinion for swirl free wash,would be to use a hose in one hand and wash with the other keeping your mitt flushed with water with each swipe.keeping bottoms last and rinse mitt throughly each panel.or keep 5 to 7 mitts in a bucket for each panel.Thats a lot of water and a autogeek.
 
Eldorado2k said:
Ya. That's why I said in my opinion. Lol.
I wash an RV with a soft flag tipped brush provided by the owner. It doesn't seem to scratch.

View attachment 52299

But I'd still feel a bit uneasy about trusting it 100% on perfect paint.
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Yeah, Mike's truck is like 5 stories high and that's why he uses a boars hair brush.
 
GSKR said:
The best method in my opinion for swirl free wash,would be to use a hose in one hand and wash with the other keeping your mitt flushed with water with each swipe.keeping bottoms last and rinse mitt throughly each panel.or keep 5 to 7 mitts in a bucket for each panel.Thats a lot of water and a autogeek.
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I agree.

View attachment 52300
 
Aren't the brushes at the local coin ops boars hair brushes? I think so. Only difference is those public brushes are subjected to who knows what, which is why it's strongly advised not to use them. Either ways, go figure.

View attachment 52301
 
Rsurfer said:
If memory serves, Mike P. uses a boar hair brush and feels that it's safe to use.
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To be fair, when Mike Phillips uses a boars hair brush, isn't he using what he calls his "aggressive" approach to washing since he knows he's going to be compounding and polishing swirls away anyhow? At least that's what I've seen of him. Can't say about his truck because I'm not aware of how he washes it for maintenance washes. I do know he lets the boars hair soak a while before using when he uses his aggressive approach.

Honestly, I feel that as long as loose dirt and debris is thoroughly blasted off before washing (the left over film), then using either a brush or a high quality mf mitt shouldn't matter so long as the job is approached with some common sense and even a detailing wisdom from this forum. That little bit of wisdom (and to me the big picture) will put you light years ahead of the average person who isn't into detailing forums. Another thing...your also ahead of the game if you know that the more you touch your paint the higher the likelihood of inducing swirls into the paint.
 
I use my Boars hair brush when my vehicles when they are just dirty with dust and light road grim. When they are really dirty I use my hand mitt....
 
Hoytman said:
To be fair, when Mike Phillips uses a boars hair brush, isn't he using what he calls his "aggressive" approach to washing since he knows he's going to be compounding and polishing swirls away anyhow? At least that's what I've seen of him. Can't say about his truck because I'm not aware of how he washes it for maintenance washes. I do know he lets the boars hair soak a while before using when he uses his aggressive approach.

Honestly, I feel that as long as loose dirt and debris is thoroughly blasted off before washing (the left over film), then using either a brush or a high quality mf mitt shouldn't matter so long as the job is approached with some common sense and even a detailing wisdom from this forum. That little bit of wisdom (and to me the big picture) will put you light years ahead of the average person who isn't into detailing forums. Another thing...your also ahead of the game if you know that the more you touch your paint the higher the likelihood of inducing swirls into the paint.
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thanks for your reply...
maybe ill do a little scientific experiment with something and see which one truly scratches the paint the most.. I have seen someone do a demo using the coin operated car was with the brushes and it scratched the crap out of the paint!! But I was thinking those brushes were not true boars hair even though they look and feel like boars hair..
the boars hair brush I use is not a a pole but you use it by hand and when I use it it seems really soft to me.. But maybe im old fashion because my dad 86* told me that was what he used when he was younger.. But he also used a diaper to polish his chevy!! LOL

but I do really appreciate all your comments and probably will defer to you guys expertise!!!

Thanks
 
There's a big difference between a Boar's hair brush you'd buy and maintain yourself and the one at the coin-op (if they're even real boar's hair at your particular local coin-op) that has who knows what...like tar and grease mixed with all kinds of grit within the bristles. Then again, maybe you wouldn't keep it clean and stored nice and clean. Our local coin-op has a lot of truckers coming through to wash their trucks. If you're not aware of this and you pick the outside bay you'll likely find grease for months in the strangest places. No kidding! This happened to me. Just making a point how some people could be when caring for their own brushes. I'm not arguing which scratches the most. I'm making a distinction between knowing what an aggressive wash method is versus a non-aggressive method. If you don't know, then a search can be done here for that information and articles written by Mike Phillips in great detail...with a common sense, big picture, analogy for you to think over.
 
Mantilgh said:
Here's a good thread about a boars hair wash brush from a little while back.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...montana-10-boars-hair-brush-does-scratch.html
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Good review. Just know this...

...if the plastic from any of those handles or brush heads makes contact with the paint, it is likely to induce some scratching. Just be careful.

As much as that review makes a point of not scratching CD's I'd still like to see the same review on non-metallic black paint, AND over more than a few months under somewhat controlled conditions. Even then not all non-metallic black paint is created equal. It would be hard to account for every variable, like drying methods or not. I'm not saying it would or wouldn't scratch the paint...as the CD's prove...rather, real paint AND black...is real world and undeniable proof for that particular paint system. We all know how the same paint can vary even on the same make and model of car within a given year of production.

I like to use mitts. However, I don't a quality brush, but I do have a need and use for a couple. I have faith in them without seeing that review because I've learned more about technique and different wash approaches. What I need and want one for isn't for a true show car anyway, so it doesn't matter.
 
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