UltiMitt Foam Car Wash Mitts

Lake Country Mfg. has just made my favorite wash mitt, the Ultimitt, even better. Originally made with a red, finishing foam, the new Concours Gold Ultimitt is now made with the same German-formula, gold, finishing foam used in our Concours, Gold Finishing Pads for machine finishing. This is a reticulated (exploded) foam with a structure of 100 pores/inch. It is substantially softer than the previous red finishing foam which had 60 pores/inch. Our Concours Gold Ultimitt literally glides over the surface removing dirt and grime without creating any washing swirls.

The front face of the mitt is cut into hundreds of half-inch sized cubes. When you insert your hand, the grooves around the foam cubes expand creating channels to trap sand, grit and debris. I'm writing this review from Scottsdale, Arizona where blowing desert sand coats everything. It's a real challenge washing vehicles here because the sand sticks to the vehicle's finish where it becomes trapped between the paint and the wash sponge, pad or mitt. This trapped sand acts like sandpaper, creating hundreds of washing swirls. I've had car dealers here tell me to accept washing swirls as a fact of life because there's no way to avoid them living in the desert.


The Ultimitt holds mounds of soapy water and traps grit in the cross-cut channels.	Comfortable on your hand, the Ultimitt is flexible enough to reach into tight spaces.

I refuse to accept washing swirls but it isn't easy keeping a vehicle swirl-free here in the desert. First, I keep a good coat of wax on my car. That way any swirls are in the wax, not in the paint. Next, I use a better car wash shampoo (BLACKFIRE Gloss Shampoo) and a Five Gallon Wash Bucket with a Grit Guard. I rinse the entire vehicle before washing which removes some loose debris but most of the sand stays stubbornly attached to the paint. Using the Concours Gold UltiMitt, I pick up a mound of soapy water and wash in a left-to-right, back and fourth motion. Using this side-to-side motion instead of a circular motion creates the widest channels in the mitt to trap loosened sand. After washing a panel, I put my hand back in the wash bucket, make a fist by grabbing the inside of the mitt and swish it in the wash water. This does an amazing job of expelling trapped grit and sand.

In my opinion, the Concours Gold UltiMitt creates less swirls than Sheepskin Mitts, Chenille Pads and Mitts and Microfiber Pads and Mitts. It rivals a natural sea sponge and has the advantage of lasting years longer. If you have a black, red or dark color vehicle or just hate swirls, I would give the Concours Gold UltiMitt a test drive.

One last note. Here in Arizona we have dust storms. They're nasty. After a dust storm, sand is caked on the vehicle's finish. When washing a car after a dust storm, I use my standard 5-gallon wash bucket with a Grit Guard for washing and a second bucket with just water for rinsing the mitt. After washing a panel, I take the mitt off my hand, fold the back into a "V" which opens the channels on the front of the mitt and rinse it in the clear water bucket before I put it back in the wash bucket. It's an extra step but, so far, my car is swirl-free.

A yellow scrubbing mitt is also available.

I always use two wash mitts for washing my vehicles. I use one mitt for the tires and wheels and a second mitt for paintwork. Lake Country Mfg. has carried that idea one step further by making a wheel and tire Scrubbing Ultimitt with a coarser foam. This foam is still safe for polished and painted wheels but it has the extra punch needed to remove brake dust and oily road grime. We've also had feedback from customers that this Scrubbing Mitt is great for washing commercial and construction vehicles that get job-site dirty.

Color Note: When photographed, these mitts are almost the same color but the foams are entirely different. The Concours Gold Ultimitt has a slightly pale, gold tint while the scrubbing mitt is a bright yellow.


The yellow scrubbing mitt gives you extra cleaning power...	yet is still safe for polished, painted and clear coated wheel finishes.