Natural Sea Sponge Scratched the Sh*t out of my Car!

[jaguax]

I'm really not that pissed though because I have a brand new UDM sitting here waiting to be used, and I was planning on detailing it soon anyway. But at the same time, the worlds gentlest sponge is not supposed to be scratching my finish like this.

They're not exactly swirl marks, but straight scratches in the direction that I was rubbing the sponge. Obviously sand right?

They are claimed to be thoroughly cleaned before shipping, but I think that's a lie because I saw a ton of tiny sand particles clinging to the plastic wrap that it was sealed in.

I spent 20 minutes rinsing it out in the bathtub before using it, and it felt very soft when rubbing it against my skin... It was VERY smooth on the car too, but obviously not smooth enough because here I am with these straight scratches running the length of the car now.

$20 gone for nothing... I'm sticking with the shmidt from now on.

Warning: Brutal pictures ahead (detail might be a bit off due to crappy MSPaint jpeg compression). Should I jump straight to the orange pad or try the white out first? (First time detailing)

[SpoiledMan]

That's why I use ehh, nevermind....

[Surfer]

Crazy. I have an older Sea Sponge that still works great and never left scratches, rinsed it for little bit before I 1st used it just like you did. Not sure what happened with yours, sorry to hear/see.

[trhland]

ouch sorry to hear that . i would stay away from those

[Al-53]

That marring is not from one use of a sea sponge...sorry...the sponge would have had to be coated in sand to do that much Marring...I have used sea sponges and never had marring from one use like that....in fact there was not noticable marring...

All swirls start out as straight line markings..just the more you get the sun hits them and creates the round swirly effect...thats the way the light refracts form the paint...

AL

[SpoiledMan]

Al, I just happen to have a close up picture of "swirls" that is cropped out of a larger picture.

[jaguax]

Originally Posted by Al-53

That marring is not from one use of a sea sponge...sorry...the sponge would have had to be coated in sand to do that much Marring...I have used sea sponges and never had marring from one use like that....in fact there was not noticable marring...

All swirls start out as straight line markings..just the more you get the sun hits them and creates the round swirly effect...thats the way the light refracts form the paint...

AL

Well... I don't know how else you can explain it. Everything was clean, the bucket, the water, and I thoroughly sprayed the car before even touching it with the sponge. I never had problems like this with the schmidt... The only variable that changed this time around was going from the schmidt to the sea sponge. And like I said, there was a lot of sand in the plastic wrap around the sponge, albeit very tiny particles.

But can someone answer my other question. Do those scratches look like something I should attack with the orange pad, or should I try out the white first?

[trhland]

u might need to go wool

[Al-53]

AS I said that blow up shows a ton of scratches....the sponge would have to be like sand paper...I am not sticking up for the sponge by all means....but thats alot of marring ....from one use.....

AL

[The Edge]

Sorry to see that, but just curious why did you stop using The ShMiTT if it was working well? ShMiTT is guaranteed not to come with any sand in it at all!