Cleaning honeycomb plastic grilles?

I Rinseless Wash cars every week with bugs and debri in the grill with no water source. I use a SM Arnold detail brush and spray the grill with Meguiars D114 to clean it. Then dress the grill with Sprayway Instant Shine Sprayway Auto Care Instant Shine

 
I use my boars hair detailing brushes, some general dilution APC and my steamer on high. Spray then scrub with the brush then steam. Then use a easy sealant like hydro2 if you don't got time to coat it.


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I picked up this brush online but it's no good. Bristles are too long and weak and distort rather easily.
 
It is true that cleaning the honeycomb plastic grilles can be quite an easy process when, you are informed about the right steps. Well, consider choosing a good degreasing cleanser for cleaning the grille. However, you can also use the soap or may also clean it by using a spray cleanser as well. Be it any of the ones mentioned, just make sure that no dirt remains in any of the nooks or crannies.
 
I use a MF chenille wash mit which gets the bigger areas of the honey comb grills on my GTI.

When I'm going after a super-detailed wash or applying an LSP to those areas, I've found the foam craft brushes work really well. You can find them at hardware and craft stores for less than a dollar each and they come in a wide variety of sizes. I was able to find one, about .5" wide, which is almost a perfect fit for the size of the holes I'm dealing with. They aren't very durable, but for the price I don't mind tossing them after a couple uses.

Typically, if I'm just doing a wash, I'll use a QD spray to clean up the grill. When going for something more permanent I'll apply my LSP of choice using the brushes mentioned above and then buff them out with my finger and a MF towel.

All that said...I'm seriously considering HydrO2 the next time around due to ease of use.
 
evo77 said:
Both my Cruze and Grand Caravan have plastic honeycomb grilles. It's very tedious to clean in each hole. Both vehicles sit outside 24-7 so rain water will collect inside each hole and eventually leave water spots.

Since I only do rinseless washing it requires much effort to get my wash media into all the nooks and crannies.

I've used flagged wash brushes and an assortment of small soft tube/pipe nylon brushes to get in each hole but they just don't get them as clean as I'd like. Using a MF towel wrapped around my finger works best but takes forever!

How do you tackle these kind of grilles and what are the tools you use to make the job fast and easy?

I think a plastic coating should be next on my list to help them repel water spots and stay cleaner longer. I just haven't seen an aerosol product that gives a matte finish instead of a shiny one.
Thanks.
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use a wide paint brush to clean,then opti spray and walk away if they still sell it here on ag.
 
evo77 said:
Gotcha. Might be a great tool with a car shampoo but wonder how good with a rinseless wash.

I used this assortmant of brushes from Harbor Freight. The black cone shaped brush fits but the slinging of rinsless solution makes a mess. And the nylon bristles don't really do well at cleaning. The other black one with the brush tip didn't fair too well either since the bristles are too soft and collapse easily offering no good scrubbing.
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The bristles on those are hard and spaced.A wide paint brush is cheap and the way to go.
 
I use shotgun bore mops (maybe one of the gun aficionados knows a better term for these)

I will normally prespray the grille along with license plates and other nasty bits just prior to snow foam. While the foam dwells I will use a detail brush to agitate the nooks and crannies a wash mitt can't get; along with that, I'll use the bore mop on the grille if it's honeycomb.

One way or another I will aerosolize whatever is going to protect the grille, either a trigger sprayer, air brush or aerosol can. Follow up with a bore mop to even it out.

The poor man's solution would be a MF towel wrapped around a chopstick, wheel woolie or dowel.
 
Audios S6 said:
I use shotgun bore mops (maybe one of the gun aficionados knows a better term for these)

I will normally prespray the grille along with license plates and other nasty bits just prior to snow foam. While the foam dwells I will use a detail brush to agitate the nooks and crannies a wash mitt can't get; along with that, I'll use the bore mop on the grille if it's honeycomb.

One way or another I will aerosolize whatever is going to protect the grille, either a trigger sprayer, air brush or aerosol can. Follow up with a bore mop to even it out.

The poor man's solution would be a MF towel wrapped around a chopstick, wheel woolie or dowel.
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Bore mops or bore swabs are the correct term, and that is totally genius! I am going to raid my gun cleaning supplies the very next time I need to detail my car because you have just given me a thousand and one ideas on how I can use those on all the pesky nooks and crannies on my vehicle! I also have different sizes of swabs and I think a .410ga would be the perfect size, too! Thanks, Audios! :dblthumb2:
 
evo77 said:
I picked up this brush online but it's no good. Bristles are too long and weak and distort rather easily.
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A quick fix for brushes like that. Use electric tape above where the bristles start and work your way down the brush. Adjusting how low you go will adjust the stiffness of the brush.
Easy cheap way to get some sweet brushes.
 
2 identical brushed I adjusted like that. These I've only used on interiors that's why it's painters tape and not electric tape. Any of the ones I use for exteriors have different tape for water resistance :-)
 
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