Desertnate
Well-known member
- Aug 5, 2013
- 6,205
- 245
I recently bought these bug scrubbers to replace a previous one I bought here. McKee's 37 Road Kill Bug Scrubber, bug and tar sponge. These products don't get much attention and aren't very glamorous, yet I can't live without them.
I purchased a scrubber here before, no idea what brand, but years of service left it in a decaying state which left yellow "crumbs" everywhere. Time for a new one.
Right away I noticed the cells on these pads are smaller and the pad is softer, even before being dunked into the wash bucket to soak. I liked the idea of a soft pad to ensure it wouldn't damage the paint, but I was worried it wouldn't be as effective as the old one. I also found these pads to be slightly thicker, which makes them a little easier to hold.
The test subject for these pads was my black GTI. The previous weekend I drove home from a track day across 250 miles of central Illinois corn fields...at dusk/in the dark. The bugs were so bad I had to stop at a gas station simply to clean my windshield around the 150-mile point. I had every intention of photo documenting this review, but the temps were climbing fast with the sun Saturday morning, again proving the forecast wrong. Time was short since I have no shade.
The pad is simply amazing. When teamed up with my normal car wash shampoo and a healthy pre-soak of Poorboys Bug Squash, one only needs to lightly run the scrubber over the surface and the bugs lift right off. Even the most stubborn splatters only took a few additional light passes. My wash mitt isn't even close to being as effective. The scrubber made short order of the heavy coating of bugs all over the front bumper, hood, and mirrors. The paint is hard, scratch-sensitive, black VW clear coat, yet I saw no marring or swirls created by the scrubber. I'm pretty confident they will not mar most paints as long as you don't bear down and start scrubbing heavily. The only down side is the pad doesn't clean up easily in your rinse bucket. I found myself using the hose to blast away bug carcasses between sections.
For anyone living in a buggy environment like I do, these pads are an essential tool in my cleaning kit which sees heavy use from May until September. They may be $5 a piece (sold in pairs for $10), but they will last several years before starting to break down. The time saved and effectiveness of these simple scrubbing pads is well worth it in my book.
I purchased a scrubber here before, no idea what brand, but years of service left it in a decaying state which left yellow "crumbs" everywhere. Time for a new one.
Right away I noticed the cells on these pads are smaller and the pad is softer, even before being dunked into the wash bucket to soak. I liked the idea of a soft pad to ensure it wouldn't damage the paint, but I was worried it wouldn't be as effective as the old one. I also found these pads to be slightly thicker, which makes them a little easier to hold.
The test subject for these pads was my black GTI. The previous weekend I drove home from a track day across 250 miles of central Illinois corn fields...at dusk/in the dark. The bugs were so bad I had to stop at a gas station simply to clean my windshield around the 150-mile point. I had every intention of photo documenting this review, but the temps were climbing fast with the sun Saturday morning, again proving the forecast wrong. Time was short since I have no shade.
The pad is simply amazing. When teamed up with my normal car wash shampoo and a healthy pre-soak of Poorboys Bug Squash, one only needs to lightly run the scrubber over the surface and the bugs lift right off. Even the most stubborn splatters only took a few additional light passes. My wash mitt isn't even close to being as effective. The scrubber made short order of the heavy coating of bugs all over the front bumper, hood, and mirrors. The paint is hard, scratch-sensitive, black VW clear coat, yet I saw no marring or swirls created by the scrubber. I'm pretty confident they will not mar most paints as long as you don't bear down and start scrubbing heavily. The only down side is the pad doesn't clean up easily in your rinse bucket. I found myself using the hose to blast away bug carcasses between sections.
For anyone living in a buggy environment like I do, these pads are an essential tool in my cleaning kit which sees heavy use from May until September. They may be $5 a piece (sold in pairs for $10), but they will last several years before starting to break down. The time saved and effectiveness of these simple scrubbing pads is well worth it in my book.
