At the dealership I work at, I'm the lucky guy who gets to wash customer's cars after they get worked on in our service department. I'm supposed to use mitts, and I've used brushs before, but my boss says that they scratch the paint. I used a brush today, and after I dried the car, I inspected the paint, and I didn't see any scratches. So I guess my question is, do brushes really scratch the paint?

I've actually wondered this for a while. In my opinion, brushes or public car washes in general are a last resort. I don't like anything about them, especially the brush. I'm not sure where yours is kept, but at public carwashes, there's no telling what kind of foreign objects could be in the brush. If the previous patron accidentally let the brush touch the ground, it could pick up dirt, gravel, etc. I hesitate to use the public brushes for this reason. Even if you're careful and inspect the brush, there's still the chance...after all there are hundreds if not thousands of bristles to check. Plus the brush is usually on a pole and if it did get a foreign object/particle in it you'd probably not notice. For these reasons I prefer wash mitts. They are right there on your hand where you can easily inspect them. Plus the distance between your hand and the vehicle is very small, if there were anything that could cause a scratch, you'd probably feel it. my two cents

I like a clean, plush mitt (sheepskin preferred over chenille).

Depends somewhat on the car color. Dark cars really show the small scratches, lighter colors don't. I have black vehicles and I use a dedicaed wash mitt on them, keep a fairly new mitt separate from the others, rinse the car really well, wash the upper sides first with horizontal strokes and lots of soapy water, then do the rest of the car. I'd say in a dealership whatever does it the quickest will be the norm.

mitt for paint - brush for wheels/tires