I've always used a microfiber mitt to wash the car, but recently, i was reading around and it seems like a natural sheepskin mitt or sponge is a more ideal way to wash the car. it seems like the microfiber mitt holds onto sand/dust particles, which makes sense. but does this happen with the sheepskin? the sponge seems to make sense and releasing dirt particles after rinsing, but it doesn't feel very soft for the paint?

any opinions? what do you guys use?

 

It's more technique than anything else. I personally prefer the natural sheepskin wash mitts because they're softer and more gentle on the paint. But the key to a proper wash is constantly irrigating the mitt and the car. You see, most of the time, people don't think about what happens to the mitt after you wash a panel. Say you wash a door. Take a look at the mitt. All that dirt and black soot is microscopic rock ready to begin scratching the finish. Most people at this point simply dunk the mitt back into the bucket. No you also dirtied up the soap in the bucket causing a chain reaction of constantly using dirty soap water to wash panels.

The way I was taught is a little tedious at first, but you'll get use to it. I simply work from top to bottom, making sure once I'm at a bottom of a panel, I don't go back up and drag the dirty mitt on areas that I just cleaned. After each panel, I simply rinse the mitt prior to dunking it back into the soap. A soap's purpose id to encapsulate the dirt particles in the bubbles. You then flush the panel you washed to rinse the dirty soap away.

Follow a rinse, wash, rinse routine and you'll be fine. Rinse the car, wash with mitt, rinse the mitt and car. This way dirt never dries on the car, your wash mitt stays clean, and the soap bucket stays clean with fresh soapy water. Hope this makes sense. The most gentle soap I've found, and use on higher-end details, is Zymol Clear. The soap I use to do initial details is Zymol Autowash. Some other great choices are einszett Perls Shampoo and P21S Body Shampoo.