Does GrillWizz brush head scratch older grates?

Anything stainless spinning against old grates is going to leave some marks. Mine took the loose rust off but also polished a couple spots down to bare metal. Doesn’t affect cooking, just looks rough.

I’ve had my GrillWizz about a year now and my grates are the original ones from a 2007 Weber, so they’ve got their share of wear. I actually think the spinning action is easier on them than dragging a wire brush back and forth. The bristles flex instead of digging in, if that makes sense. That said, mine did leave one shiny patch on a spot where the porcelain was already chipped, but that was going to flake off eventually anyway. The bigger thing I noticed is it doesn’t get into the corners as well as a handheld brush, so I still keep one around for the edges. Not a dealbreaker for me but worth knowing. Curious if anyone else has noticed the corner thing or if it’s just how I’m holding it.

Mine scratched a little on the first pass but it was mostly surface stuff. My wire brush did way more damage over the years. The stainless head isn’t the problem, old rusted grates just mark easy.

The stainless head hasn’t been the problem for me, it’s really how hard you press down. I go lighter on my old grates and it just takes a couple extra passes, no big scratches yet.

Mine actually polished the grates a bit after a few uses. The scratches I had were from the old wire brush, and the GrillWizz didn’t add anything new. It’s been about two months on a set of grates from 2015.

I don’t buy that the stainless head is the problem. My old grates got chewed up way before I ever touched one of these, and the GrillWizz didn’t add anything noticeable on top of that. If your grates are already rough, you’ve got bigger stuff to deal with than the brush.

I switched to the GrillWizz mainly because I got tired of the arm workout with my old brush, and the scratches on my grates were already there from years of scraping. Mine are just basic cast iron, nothing fancy, and I’ve been using the Wizz on them for about two months now, usually on the medium setting. I honestly can’t tell that it’s added any new scratches. If anything, the grates look a little smoother in the spots where I use it regularly, probably because it’s lifting off the baked-on stuff instead of grinding it in. I don’t press down hard though, the motor does the work so I just guide it along. I figure if your grates are already scratched up from a wire brush, a little more isn’t going to change much anyway. But that’s just been my experience with mine.

Mine left a couple of faint marks on the edges of my old grates, nothing dramatic but it wasn’t the totally scratch-free deal some folks make it out to be. Could just be how worn mine already were though. Doesn’t bug me enough to stop using it.