Does anyone here (besides me) not use grit guards?

I use a tile and grout sponge, rotating it in one direction until the sponge is rotated fully. Pre wash soak, pre wash suds treatment either throwing a bucket of suds on the car or foam cannon determined only by how filthy it is too start with. Two bucket wash with 2.5 gallon buckets, found that I was going through 5 to 8 rinse buckets and 3 to five wash buckets. I eventually moved to five gallons with grit guards in each. I might go through 3 sponges a wash. Still going through the same amount of water but works for me.

I'm probably gonna get flammed for this but in my defense this was years ago and I have really improved since then.

https://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=h_MXv18WO_g

Kindle with auto correct will not let me URL link sorry.

Nvermind lol
 
I mean you're right, they're super cheap. Cost is not the reason I have not purchased any. Really, nothing is; there is no reason. I guess part of me just thinks it's overkill. The dirt sinks to the bottom of the ONR solution as is. Regardless, if it were actually possible to quantify the difference both with and without, I don't know the results would surpass marginal.

Just so people are aware, I'm not trying to rub anyone the wrong way. I'm not proposing people are silly for using them either.
 
Edit: in response to the post about Larry.


I've seen every single vid of his at least once. I, too, sometimes see lots of dirt at the bottom of the bucket without grit guards. Fact is, when you dunk your mitt in there, the dirt isn't just sucked down there, it takes awhile. Regardless, as I've stated, my car stays pretty swirl free without the use of grit guards.
 
yes and no... i only had normal buckets when i started to get into it and they just keep kepping on..

I noticed the small round metal rack from the microwave (the one you stack plates on, and though it would be perfect to keep the wash mitt off the bottum of my bucket.. I dropped it in and with a small bend of its 3 little metal legs it fell straight in..

Thats as far as I ever got to a grit guard...

It was perfect too cos i have neever used the stack thing from the microwave.
 
When you rub the mitt on the grit guard, it then comes off actually
 
I use the Optimum No Rinse Wash and Shine with grit guards because I have them and they seem to work with my method. I use a sponge (they are blue) and soak it in the ONRW&S. Apply to one panel at a time and wipe off with waffle weave towel (seperate sides for each section - 8 per towel). I then rinse the sponge in the rinse bucket and ring it out and put in wash bucket. Repeat around whole car (usually 20 minutes). The wash bucket last about 3 months and the rinse about 1. Advantage is two fold. ONRW&S stays cleaner and therefore does not scratch paint when applied. Drying towels are max 3. When I clean the buckets there is a ton in dirt in the rinse bucket and surprisingly about half as much in the solution bucket.
 
Grit Guards are my safety net/insurance policy and I think they are a necessary as car insurance. If you have a car you really care about you get good insurance. Now the washboard thingy, whole different discussion.
 
I use them with the 2 bucket wash (one in each) but I don't think it actually helps to keep dirt at the bottom of the bucket, I mainly like them in there cause it gives me something to rub the wash pad on to help knock some of the dirt off. And I usually change out the water in the rinse bucket once or twice depending on how dirty the car is.

Now with an ONR wash it's just one bucket and one mitt cause that's what optimum recommends. You would be diluting your solution if you use the 2 buckets with ONR, and plus I don't like washing a bunch of mf towels. The mf rinseless wash mitt sold here works great with ONR and 1 bucket.
 
surprised anyone on here that does traditional 2bm doesnt use them! They definitely work at keeping dirt down and the bucket and are super cheap. I have one in my soap and rinse bucket.
 
Don't have them--- may consider them only so that I can rub the mits on them. If I do drop my mit on the bucket, I leave it on the side, half in-half out, but I usually don't, I just hold then throughout the wash. I don't have a need for grit guards personally.

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And if the rinse bucket has significant or noticeable dirt in the water.. just safer to start with fresh water instead of relying on the grit guard, which like previously stated, takes time for the dirt to settle down.

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Vlad said:
And if the rinse bucket has significant or noticeable dirt in the water.. just safer to start with fresh water instead of relying on the grit guard, which like previously stated, takes time for the dirt to settle down.

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You could use two grit guards instead of one, if you want to be safe.

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I don't use them during a wash. I also don't use 2 buckets in the traditional way during a wash..

What I do is have 1 bucket filled with my car wash suds and 8 mitts, then I have another bucket on the side which I use to toss my mitts in once they've been used on both sides. Instead of repeatedly dunking my arm into a bucket of water, I just move onto the next fresh mitt.

Once I've used up all my fresh mitts, I stop and rinse off the vehicle, then I take the hose and rinse the grit off all the mitts and toss them back into my wash bucket and proceed with the wash. When I'm done there's not a trace of grit in my wash bucket, nor any swirls on the paint.:)
 
Eldorado2k said:
I don't use them during a wash. I also don't use 2 buckets in the traditional way during a wash..

What I do is have 1 bucket filled with my car wash suds and 8 mitts, then I have another bucket on the side which I use to toss my mitts in once they've been used on both sides. Instead of repeatedly dunking my arm into a bucket of water, I just move onto the next fresh mitt.

Once I've used up all my fresh mitts, I stop and rinse off the vehicle, then I take the hose and rinse the grit off all the mitts and toss them back into my wash bucket and proceed with the wash. When I'm done there's not a trace of grit in my wash bucket, nor any swirls on the paint.:)
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Do you launder the mitts after each wash? Just curious. Have you thought about investing in a MF Towels instead? Cheaper and offer more surface area as you can fold them.
 
I use them and I know there's no guarantee all the dirt is sinking to the bottom, but I also use them to scrub my wash pad during wash rinse. I even bought the new wash board to go in the rinse bucket. As stated above, it's cheap insurance. Especially for someone new since most places sell them with the buckets now anyway.


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pdqgp said:
Do you launder the mitts after each wash? Just curious. Have you thought about investing in a MF Towels instead? Cheaper and offer more surface area as you can fold them.
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In a perfect world I would wash the mitts after every bucket wash.. But in reality I sometimes give them a final rinse and either let them soak in the soapy water with a lid or allow them to "hang" dry in the 2nd bucket with a grit guard and a loosely covered lid.. Both ways seem to work fine as long as the mitts don't become heavily soiled during the wash. If 1 or more of them do become noticably soiled during the wash [i.e. going over grease or tar] then I separate the mitt from the rest and make sure to wash asap. But they can usually go 2-3 washes and still be fine with just rinsing.

I prefer mitts over towels for bucket wash. Towels are just too flimsy compared to mitts. Towels are fine for rinseless, but then again you're being alot more deliberate and careful while doing a rinseless.. Bucket washes allow you to really have at it, and that's where a mitt works best.
 
StuDLei said:
I, too, sometimes see lots of dirt at the bottom of the bucket without grit guards. Fact is, when you dunk your mitt in there, the dirt isn't just sucked down there, it takes awhile. Regardless, as I've stated, my car stays pretty swirl free without the use of grit guards.
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Vlad said:
And if the rinse bucket has significant or noticeable dirt in the water.. just safer to start with fresh water instead of relying on the grit guard, which like previously stated, takes time for the dirt to settle down.
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I don't know why I'm posting in this thread again, I guess I'm worried some newb is going to read this nonsense and take it as gospel. Yes, wash/rinse water gets dirty even if you have a grit guard...if your car isn't dirty, why are you washing it??

It doesn't take "a while" for the dirt to fall to the bottom, there is a difference between "dirt" which makes the water dirty, and "grit" which is, for example a particle of sand, which is heavier than water and will fall to the bottom. What the grit guard does for you is reduce the chance that water turbulence will stir that back up into the area of the bucket where your wash media is, keeps the wash media from contacting the bottom of the bucket where that layer of "grit" is, and gives you a surface to agitate the media against to release the "grit".

If you guys don't want to use grit guards, fine, don't...but don't start with this magical thinking that gravity doesn't work, that a grit guard is supposed to keep the water from getting dirty, etc. On the flip side, using a grit guard doesn't magically mean your car won't get swirls, or magically protect against poor wash practice, etc.

Ok, is a Grit Guard overpriced at $10? Yeah, probably. But Grit Guards never break (unless you do something colossally stupid), they never wear out, and in comparison to the cost of wash media, a minimal investment...as I said before, cheap insurance.

And because you guys have me going now...if I came on the forum with something like this: "I bought $30 of towels to do the GD (gosh darn) wash method, but sometimes I wash two cars in a row, is it ok if I just rinse off the dirty towels and use them over instead of machine washing them?" you guys would be all over me telling me how cheap I was being and don't take stupid chances with your paint...it's CHEAP INSURANCE to just buy a second set of towels you would say...
 
As far as the people who do use Grit Guards and 2 buckets.. I'm surprised more of you don't advise or mention using soapy water instead of just plain water in the rinse bucket.. Now that's what I call cheap insurance. Isn't soapy water better than murky rinse water? Couldn't hurt, right?
 
Eldorado2k said:
As far as the people who do use Grit Guards and 2 buckets.. I'm surprised more of you don't advise or mention using soapy water instead of just plain water in the rinse bucket.. Now that's what I call cheap insurance. Isn't soapy water better than murky rinse water? Couldn't hurt, right?
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or surprised no one has mentioned using some rinseless wash solution mixed in with the soap.
 
Eldorado2k said:
As far as the people who do use Grit Guards and 2 buckets.. I'm surprised more of you don't advise or mention using soapy water instead of just plain water in the rinse bucket.. Now that's what I call cheap insurance. Isn't soapy water better than murky rinse water? Couldn't hurt, right?
Click to expand...

This thread is making my head hurt, so I'm not going to go back and reread, but with a conventional wash, the rinse bucket gets "soapy" pretty fast. I usually wash the windshield and back window first, to "prime" the rinse bucket. When I do rinseless, I usually use a 2BM, and yes, I use a 25% strength solution in the rinse bucket to reduce dilution of the wash solution.
 
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