Walk into almost any automotive store and you will find plenty of different tools for washing a car. Wash mitts, sponges, brushes, microfibre towels and all sorts of variations in between.
So which one should you actually use?
The answer is that there isn't one tool that is perfect for every part of your vehicle. A good car wash usually involves using different wash media for different jobs.
For the painted bodywork, however, we have a very clear favourite.
After trying a lot of different wash mitts over the years, the DIY Detail Incredible Wash Mitt is one of the best wash mitts we have come across.
Here is how we would choose between a wash mitt, wash brush and microfibre towel when cleaning your vehicle.
Why Your Choice of Wash Media Matters
Most swirl marks and fine scratches are caused during regular washing and drying.
The problem is usually not the car shampoo itself. It is dirt being dragged across the paint.
When washing a dirty vehicle, your wash media needs to do two things well.
It needs to remove dirt from the surface, but it also needs somewhere for that dirt to go.
A flat sponge or unsuitable cloth can trap contamination directly between the wash media and the paint. Every movement then has the potential to drag those particles across the clear coat.
This is one of the reasons modern high pile microfibre wash mitts have become so popular.
Best for Painted Panels: A High Quality Microfibre Wash Mitt
For your bonnet, roof, doors, guards and other large painted surfaces, our first choice is a good quality microfibre wash mitt.
And this is where the DIY Detail Incredible Wash Mitt really stands out.
The Incredible Wash Mitt uses an extremely thick 1070 GSM microfibre pile designed to hold plenty of car shampoo or rinseless wash solution. The long, soft fibres give dirt somewhere to move away from the immediate surface of the paint rather than simply pushing it around.
It is also made from an 87% polyester and 13% polyamide microfibre blend and is designed specifically for safe contact washing.
Why We Like the Incredible Wash Mitt
There are plenty of wash mitts available and, on paper, many of them look similar.
Once you actually use the Incredible Wash Mitt, the difference becomes much more obvious.
It holds a huge amount of wash solution, feels incredibly soft against the paint and glides across the surface rather than feeling like you are scrubbing the car.
That last point is important.
You shouldn't need to scrub good automotive paint during a maintenance wash. The combination of your pre wash, shampoo or rinseless wash and your wash mitt should allow contamination to release with very little pressure.
For us, the Incredible Wash Mitt is currently the benchmark for this type of washing.
It works particularly well with DIY Detail Incredible Suds for a traditional bucket wash or DIY Detail Rinseless Wash if you prefer rinseless washing.
When Should You Use a Wash Brush?
A wash brush still has an important place in your detailing kit.
We just wouldn't use a conventional stiff vehicle brush across delicate painted panels.
A good soft brush is extremely useful for areas where a wash mitt simply cannot reach properly.
Think about:
- Around badges and emblems
- Around mirrors
- Grilles
- Door jambs
- Lower sections
- Wheels
- Tight gaps around trim
- Hard to reach sections on larger vehicles
This is where something such as the DIY Detail Perfectly Safe Brush or DIY Detail Soft Flagged Tip Wash Brush makes much more sense.
Rather than using stiff bristles, it uses soft flagged tip bristles designed to gently lift grime from the surface. Its design also makes it useful when you need more reach than a wash mitt provides.
If you own an SUV, van, ute or larger vehicle, a suitable brush can also make roof sections and other hard to reach areas considerably easier to clean.
The important distinction is that we see a brush as a specialist tool, rather than the tool we would automatically use over the entire vehicle.
What About Washing a Car With a Microfibre Towel?
Microfibre towels can absolutely be used during a contact wash.
In fact, they are particularly useful with rinseless washing.
One popular rinseless technique is to soak several clean microfibre towels in your rinseless wash solution and use a fresh section of towel for each part of the vehicle.
Once a section has become dirty, you don't put it back onto the paint.
This can be an extremely safe method because dirt isn't repeatedly being introduced back into your wash bucket.
For a traditional shampoo wash, however, we generally prefer the thick pile and wash solution capacity of a dedicated wash mitt.
Don't Use the Same Mitt Everywhere
One of the easiest improvements you can make to your car washing routine is separating your wash media.
Your upper painted panels are generally much cleaner than the bottom of the vehicle.
The lower doors, sills, bumpers and areas behind the wheels collect considerably more road grime.
There is little point carefully washing your bonnet with a perfectly clean mitt and then using that same mitt after it has just cleaned the dirtiest section behind your rear wheel.
At minimum, consider having separate wash media for:
Upper bodywork
Your cleanest and best wash mitt should be used here.
Lower bodywork
Use a second mitt or dedicated wash media for the dirtier lower sections.
Wheels
Keep wheel cleaning tools completely separate from anything that touches your paint.
Brake dust and road contamination are not things you want transferred onto your bonnet during your next wash.
Tyres
A scrubbing brush for heavily soiled tyres and DIY Detail Tire Shine Brush for applying dressings.
Where Do Microfibre Towels Fit In?
Once the washing is finished, microfibre becomes even more important.
But again, not every microfibre towel should be used for every job.
Large Drying Towel
For drying the main body of the vehicle, use a large, highly absorbent drying towel.
The Shineworks Premium Large Microfiber Drying Towel uses a 1000 GSM twist loop construction and measures 130 cm x 75 cm, giving it enough capacity to dry a large amount of vehicle quickly.
Rather than aggressively rubbing the paint, allow the towel to absorb the water as you move across the vehicle.
Small High GSM Towel
A smaller high GSM towel is useful for areas where the big drying towel becomes awkward.
The Shineworks 1200 GSM 30 cm x 30 cm towel is ideal for smaller panels, around mirrors, door jambs and detailed areas where you want more control.
General Purpose 350 GSM Microfibre
You don't need an ultra thick premium towel for every detailing job.
A good 350 GSM microfibre is perfect for jobs including:
- Interior cleaning
- Glass
- Quick detailing
- Removing product residue
- Cleaning trim
- General detailing work
Shineworks' 350 GSM microfibre towels are designed as the everyday workhorses in a detailing kit.
The trick is simply to keep your towels organised.
Don't use the towel that cleaned dirty door jambs yesterday to buff your freshly polished bonnet today.
Our Preferred Car Washing Setup
If we were putting together a simple wash kit for someone who wants to look after their paint properly, we would choose:
For the main painted surfaces:
DIY Detail Incredible Wash Mitt
For awkward areas, grilles and hard to reach sections:
DIY Detail Perfectly Safe Brush
For wheels and tyres:
Dedicated wheel and tyre brushes that never touch your paint
For drying:
A large high GSM twist loop drying towel
For detailed drying and product removal:
A smaller quality microfibre towel
For general cleaning:
Several 350 GSM microfibre cloths
For wash soap:
A pH balanced shampoo such as DIY Detail Incredible Suds T2
For glass:
A streak free cleaner such as DIY Detail Crystal Clear
You don't need twenty different detailing tools.
You just need to use the right tool for the right job.
So, Mitt, Brush or Microfibre Towel?
If we could only choose one tool for safely contact washing the painted surfaces of a vehicle, it would be a quality microfibre wash mitt.
And of the wash mitts we have used, the DIY Detail Incredible Wash Mitt is the one we currently rate highest.
The extremely thick 1070 GSM pile, huge wash solution capacity and soft construction make it exactly what we want between dirt and automotive paint.
But that doesn't make brushes or microfibre towels obsolete.
A brush is excellent for reaching areas a mitt cannot.
Microfibre towels are invaluable for rinseless washing, drying and virtually every other stage of detailing.
The best approach isn't choosing between them.
It's knowing when to use each one.
At Shineworks, we stock the DIY Detail Incredible Wash Mitt, specialist detailing brushes and our own range of premium microfibre towels so you can build a washing setup around the way you actually look after your vehicle.