Grout Sponges

[eddie926]

I've never seen anyone on this board mention these grout sponges.

For anyone who hasn't perused the autopia.org detailing board, here's just one link to the subject.

http://autopia.org/forum/car-detaili...ge-pusher.html

If you do a search on autopia, you'll find several threads that discuss these sponges. I picked some up at Home Depot a couple of weeks ago after reading about them, and have used them for 3 car washes. I really like them so far, so thought I'd share the info with anyone who hadn't seen it but might be interested.

[Pb]

I've tried various synthetic and natural sponges and I always end up going back to my sheepskin mitts. Sponges are fine on a fairly clean vehicle, but I prefer sheepskin when washing a dirty vehicle. Sheepskin seems to keep the dirt from rubbing on the paint as much.

[OCDetails]

You'll never see me using a sponge on my paint. It traps too much dirt and there is a higher risk of scratching your paint than if you were using a sheepskin mitt. I don't know the percentage, but a majority of the swirls on your car are caused by improper washing and drying techniques. Using sponges are part of the problem. There are a lot of things people do on Autopia that are not correct, so I wouldn't take everything posted there as detailing gospel. I was a moderator and an administrator on Autopia for a few years and one of the main reasons I'm not active over there anymore is because of how incorrect most of the posts are about the proper detailing process. There is way too much corner cuttting and product worship going on over there. It's not the same place that it once was...

[eddie926]

Thanks for the feedback. Wasn't really trying to promote them per se. Just throwing them out there for consideration because they had so much good press over there. I tried them for my own car and I haven't been able to detect any marring at this point, but am definitely keeping an eye on it. Having said that, I haven't washed my car with one when it was REALLY dirty.

I'm pretty new to "serious" detailing, so I take most all product commentary with a grain of salt, but am trying a few things just to see how well some of them work. Realized when I tried them that I might have to polish some swirls and then relegate them to lesser tasks, but so far haven't had a problem.

By all means, if anybody tries one, realize it's at your own risk. I can only comment on my LIMITED experience with them.