DFB's Garage

[Azure]

Those bristles of the MaxShine brush (w/white tips) looks like it's soft. Do you think that would work well on the front grille too?

[DFB]

Those bristles of the MaxShine brush (w/white tips) looks like it's soft. Do you think that would work well on the front grille too?

Absolutely. Even the "mixed hair" version is very soft.

[Coatingsarecrack]

Absolutely. Even the "mixed hair" version is very soft.

Do you use any curveball type brushes on wheels?


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[DFB]

Do you use any curveball type brushes on wheels?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I started using the Chinese knockoff version of the soft/synthetic version on wheels the other day, works great!

Post #1269 for the rundown.

[VISITOR]

the advantage of using that ^ brush is it's size (and bulk) so it will cover more area (quicker as well) and not flatten easily like a small/little brush would. use one head for cleaning the wheels and the other for dressing tires. so many different uses for that brush...


btw DFB, the pic in your avatar with the rock star is looking smooth the cars in the background look cool too...

[DFB]

the advantage of using that ^ brush is it's size (and bulk) so it will cover more area (quicker as well) and not flatten easily like a small/little brush would. use one head for cleaning the wheels and the other for dressing tires. so many different uses for that brush...


btw DFB, the pic in your avatar with the rock star is looking smooth the cars in the background look cool too...

I'm actually quite surprised how much I love those two new brushes, for wheel cleaning and tyre dressing. I've always seen people cleaning wheel faces with boars hair detailing brushes, but I've never really liked that method for the exact reasons you outlined. The larger brush is far more effective, and can also deal with the lugs, meaning you eliminate the wash mitt and lug brush from the wheel bucket. And at more than half the price of the Detail Factory equivalent's, its a no brainer. I've never really had a problem paying the premium price for the premium brand and product, but the Curveball and Screwball are a $80 proposition in Australia, which is just ridiculous for what they are.

As for Faychie............................



He has been a bit naughtily lately, I managed to catch him as he took off with bag of roasted cashew nuts the other day, broke his heart taking it off him. Looked so funny though as he trotted across the living room with the bag in his mouth. He's also been barking at the neighbor's cat who sits on the shed roof and taunts him from above. The postman also got barked at a few times as well.

[Big Dave]

My two bark at the Postie as well, but she knows if she stops the electric buggy she can come over and pat them.

Have you been seeing some online ads for some new Australian detailing supplies places? I can't remember what they're called, but I've seen 2 or 3 in the last month, looks like generic rebranding to me.

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[DFB]

My two bark at the Postie as well, but she knows if she stops the electric buggy she can come over and pat them.

Have you been seeing some online ads for some new Australian detailing supplies places? I can't remember what they're called, but I've seen 2 or 3 in the last month, looks like generic rebranding to me.

Sent from my motorola edge 20 fusion using Tapatalk

I'm always getting spammed with new detailing brands. I follow them to their respective websites, but they are all the same thing. Basically, someone has the dream of being the next big brand, but all they are doing is re-bottling existing chemicals from a bulk contract manufacturer. They take a collection of catalog chemicals, rename and rebrand them, then rely on Facebook or similar to spam sell the products.

Good luck to them, but unless you are the chemist or actively involved in the chemistry, then you will never offer anything groundbreaking.....................or for that matter, anything very good.

[DFB]

Finally had the replacement wheel cover plates delivered today, after a strange interaction.





After sending emails to a couple of vendors asking if they had some of these floating around, all bar one came back with a YES.

"Hi …yes we can help ..I have a new 1 and I know where another is!"

Bloody brilliant! I direct deposited the asking price within an hour, along with a tip in appreciation, and was told I would get an email when it was on the way. A week later and I asked if the items had been shipped, the response was "Not yet …maybe tomorrow!". What?!

Anyway, two weeks later they are now here and ready to fit.

Except...............................

[DFB]

I know the next few posts are not 100% about detailing, but stay tuned because the subject does appear.................................

Let’s get this out of the way before I go any further, yes I know, yet another lawn mower. This makes it mower number eleven, but curiosity got the best of me. Sue me, I’m deranged!

For the most part, I cycle through the majority of those eleven mowers, with a couple of regular workhorses getting the call up most often, those being the Honda powered Bushranger 800SP and Krohler powered Rover ProCut 560.



The Bushranger mulches and catches great on lighter growth, it’s built like a tank, the 3-speed gearbox is handy and the engine is more powerful than Honda let on. But the mower struggles on thick and tall grass or when trying to process bulk autumn leaves. It’s important to note that this is not because of a lack of grunt from the GXV 160 engine, but the partial discharge chute tends to block and prevent clippings from being deposited into the catcher. This then leaves a messier finish and necessitates frequent stoppages to unblock the chute, which adds time to the job. I would also prefer finer adjustment on the height settings, the steps between each position being too big.





In the height of summer, the Rover with its full width discharge chute makes catching overgrown Kikuyu so much easier. For this reason, I have kept the Rover well beyond the normal duty cycle for a “main” mower. If Rover still offered a ProCut, I would have traded it years ago now. As such, I have been making repairs where needed to keep it running, which is proving more and more difficult because the ProCut used bespoke parts different from the rest of the Rover lineup. As such, finding parts is difficult and Rover have basically abandoned the market for these machines. In recent times, it seems like I have been snapping up the last of what is still around, axle mounting plates and bushes, drive cogs, wheels, cables ect.





To be fair, the above situation has been a workable situation, swapping between the two as the season dictated. But I’m always on the lookout for something new or better. The decision to buy the Bushranger in the first place was an attempt to replace the Rover in total, it being the best of what was around at the time.

Shortly after I bought the Bushranger, Victa returned to the commercial mower scene with a new 21-inch self-propelled machine. For some reason, Victa come and go in this segment, and every time I was ready for a new wide cut mower, Victa were missing from the options list. So ever since the current model was made available, I have had my eye on one.

https://www.victa.com/au/en_au/produ...850-ic-sp.html



So why did I procrastinate so long? Because there is nothing out there on this mower. Dealers don’t like stocking them because of the high asking price, so seeing one in person is limited. There are virtually no videos or written reviews to help potential buyers, and the content created by social media influencers is just too limited to be of any value. After umming and ahing for more than three years now, I caved in and decided to be that person providing this information. I had to buy this unit online sight unseen, an expensive sacrifice for the greater good. Oh, and I get to have a new mower.

Overview -

There is now a range of 19 and 21-inch Victa commercial catching mowers available, joining the MulchMaster 560 and MasterCut 460 Utility.

https://www.victa.com/au/en_au/produ...wn-mowers.html

For efficiency, I chose to focus on the 21-inch machines, which are offered with the 190 cc Briggs & Stratton 850 engine, or the 200cc Chinese Victa VC200. Both have cast iron bores, but a quoted torque number is conspicuous in its absence on the VC200, not that I was considering anything but the Briggs 850 anyway.

Simplistically, this is a widened 19-inch Mustang alloy chassis, with several changes made to make it more suitable for commercial applications. The following applied to both 19 and 21-inch commercial mowers -

- Metal rather than plastic catcher flap
- Cutting heights from 10 – 70mm with 10 positions (25 – 76mm and 7 positions on Bushranger)
- Heavy Duty Gearbox (as used on the MulchMaster)
- High-capacity fabric catcher with heavy duty steel frame, double layer dust deflector and leather wear points on rear corners
- Heavy duty cast aluminum deck
- Replaceable steel wear plates on the deck
- Cast iron bore engines

Something else to note is the lighter weight of the 21-inch Victa’s, tipping the scales at 46 to 48 kg compared to 52 kg for the Bushranger. First impressions prove this is noticeable.

But there is no such thing as a perfect mower, so there are some compromises. The chief of which being the half rear chute. In the end, I sent an email to the supplier and kindly asked for images of the chute, which was promptly sent. From this limited information, the chute appeared to be slightly wider than the Bushranger, and certainly bigger than the Honda’s.



Another thing to note, the belt rather than shaft driven gearbox is also a single speed unit, but the 5 kph speed is actually faster than the Bushranger’s 4.6 kph in top gear. And the catcher only holds 50 rather than 70 liters.

So that’s the overview! More to come!