Microfiber Towels - My Experience
11-30-2014, 12:07 AM
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Le Mans Master
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Location: Silicon Valley and Yosemite, CA
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Microfiber Towels - My Experience
I have seen many, many questions on MF towels, so let me state up front, I am an apparent MF towel expert. I have had several Korean/China Weavers/Manufacturers contact me due to a website I had up about MF towels. I have taken it down due to an inordinate amount of spam and hacking. I think the entire Senior 2013 class of Chinese Computer Science students tried to hack into my online store. The good news is I never held customer CC information but they tried to use it as a redirect.
I own a high end detailing shop in Silicon Valley and my customer base would make a lot of people pee in their pants. Won't name any names but you don't get there if your are a hack. Nuff said, here is what I had on my website that attracted attention:
In my travels I have discovered people are a bit confused about Microfiber towels. I will try and clear a few things up with this post. I have tested over 200 different types of Microfiber towels, it is definitely not a small, small world…..
Why Do You Want Quality Towels for Auto Detailing?
Have you ever seen a black car with all those fine scratches in the finish? Those fine scratches really take away from the shine.
Light reflecting off of a flat surface is much bright than what is reflected off of a bumpy surface. Those fine scratches/swirls are a bumpy surface, albeit they are pretty tiny, but nonetheless they are a detraction and will reduce the shine your paint will have.
Those fine swirls are generally caused by using poor quality wash equipment/techniques and towels for drying. Microfiber towels help reduce those fine scratches
What are Microfiber Towels?
Microfiber Towels are the latest rage because of their ability to absorb material and remain soft. It is in some cases three times better than ordinary cotton towels for the same area.
This is done by creating literally thousands of microscopic sized fibers and blending them together. This is much easier to do with a synthetic fiber over a cotton fiber. That blending of the fiber creates a larger surface. The larger surface improves the ability of the fabric to absorb dirt, water, polish, etc and keep it away from the paint surface.
There are no standards in the Microfiber world where a standard is strictly adhered to by all manufacturers, like there is in the cotton Towel world. A loose standard is the Polyester/Polyamide content.
Even within the same MF towel manufacturer, quality can vary widely.
What Kind of Microfiber Towels Should I Buy?
When purchasing for auto detail use always make sure there is a label specifying the Polyester/Polyamide mix. Almost all “synthetic Microfiber towels are made up of a Polyester/Polyamide content mix. It is the Polyamide content that determines the towels softness and when mixed with the Polyester helps prevent scratching/swirl marks.
For detailing purposes you should get towels with a maximum of 80% Polyester and a minimum of 20% Polyamide. A 75/35 or a 70/30 indicates a softer towel, but necessarily a better quality towel. Some of the lower cost manufacturers will use the label number prior to weaving versus after weaving. The weaving process has a tendency to raise the Polyester number and lower the Polyamide number. There is really no clear cut way to tell other than the CD test.
Do not use anything above 80% Polyester, they will scratch. I have had customers buy the 3M House cleaning cloths, or Makeup removal towels that are a 90/10 mix and then wonder why they have swirl marks. I won't go into warehouse towels, but needless to say their quality is nowhere near as good as a good quality towels sold by a reputable vendor.
How do I Know if I Have a Good Towel or Bad?
There is the infamous CD Test to test the quality of your towels. Take a CD, generally one you don’t really care about, and rub the towel in a straight line with fairly heavy pressure on the recording(ed) side. If you see scratches in the direction you were rubbing, that is happening to your paint.
I have actually taken a CD into the store and done the test before buying a towel I want to test.
If you see scratches, relegate that towel to windows, or wheels.
How Do I Take Care of my Microfiber Towels
DO NOT USE ANY SOFTENERS - They use oil to soften the fabric which clogs a microfiber from absorbing water, or will spread the oil on your paint attracting dust.
I have found Tide to be the best(No fragrance). Wash them all by themselves, mixed in with other fabrics they will pick up the lint, and you will have a linty mess on your paint.
If you do not have softened water, when the rinse cycle begins to fill, add ¼ cup of white vinegar based on the water level. A low water level ¼ cup. Medium water level ½ cup and so on. Microfiber towels are unique as they will retain mineral content from unsoftened water, and when the towels are dried that mineral content will build up in the fiber and will scratch the paint surface and reduce it’s ability to absorb water. Unlike cotton towels where the fabric is much looser, and not hold as much mineral content, microfiber is very tight and retains minerals, clogging the fabric.
Drying – Microfiber towels are dried on very low heat to the point they are almost dry but a touch moist. Drying them to totally dry, will build up static in the towel and that static will get transferred to the paint. That static will attract dust, and I suspect you know the rest.
Hope this helps……..
I own a high end detailing shop in Silicon Valley and my customer base would make a lot of people pee in their pants. Won't name any names but you don't get there if your are a hack. Nuff said, here is what I had on my website that attracted attention:
In my travels I have discovered people are a bit confused about Microfiber towels. I will try and clear a few things up with this post. I have tested over 200 different types of Microfiber towels, it is definitely not a small, small world…..
Why Do You Want Quality Towels for Auto Detailing?
Have you ever seen a black car with all those fine scratches in the finish? Those fine scratches really take away from the shine.
Light reflecting off of a flat surface is much bright than what is reflected off of a bumpy surface. Those fine scratches/swirls are a bumpy surface, albeit they are pretty tiny, but nonetheless they are a detraction and will reduce the shine your paint will have.
Those fine swirls are generally caused by using poor quality wash equipment/techniques and towels for drying. Microfiber towels help reduce those fine scratches
What are Microfiber Towels?
Microfiber Towels are the latest rage because of their ability to absorb material and remain soft. It is in some cases three times better than ordinary cotton towels for the same area.
This is done by creating literally thousands of microscopic sized fibers and blending them together. This is much easier to do with a synthetic fiber over a cotton fiber. That blending of the fiber creates a larger surface. The larger surface improves the ability of the fabric to absorb dirt, water, polish, etc and keep it away from the paint surface.
There are no standards in the Microfiber world where a standard is strictly adhered to by all manufacturers, like there is in the cotton Towel world. A loose standard is the Polyester/Polyamide content.
Even within the same MF towel manufacturer, quality can vary widely.
What Kind of Microfiber Towels Should I Buy?
When purchasing for auto detail use always make sure there is a label specifying the Polyester/Polyamide mix. Almost all “synthetic Microfiber towels are made up of a Polyester/Polyamide content mix. It is the Polyamide content that determines the towels softness and when mixed with the Polyester helps prevent scratching/swirl marks.
For detailing purposes you should get towels with a maximum of 80% Polyester and a minimum of 20% Polyamide. A 75/35 or a 70/30 indicates a softer towel, but necessarily a better quality towel. Some of the lower cost manufacturers will use the label number prior to weaving versus after weaving. The weaving process has a tendency to raise the Polyester number and lower the Polyamide number. There is really no clear cut way to tell other than the CD test.
Do not use anything above 80% Polyester, they will scratch. I have had customers buy the 3M House cleaning cloths, or Makeup removal towels that are a 90/10 mix and then wonder why they have swirl marks. I won't go into warehouse towels, but needless to say their quality is nowhere near as good as a good quality towels sold by a reputable vendor.
How do I Know if I Have a Good Towel or Bad?
There is the infamous CD Test to test the quality of your towels. Take a CD, generally one you don’t really care about, and rub the towel in a straight line with fairly heavy pressure on the recording(ed) side. If you see scratches in the direction you were rubbing, that is happening to your paint.
I have actually taken a CD into the store and done the test before buying a towel I want to test.
If you see scratches, relegate that towel to windows, or wheels.
How Do I Take Care of my Microfiber Towels
DO NOT USE ANY SOFTENERS - They use oil to soften the fabric which clogs a microfiber from absorbing water, or will spread the oil on your paint attracting dust.
I have found Tide to be the best(No fragrance). Wash them all by themselves, mixed in with other fabrics they will pick up the lint, and you will have a linty mess on your paint.
If you do not have softened water, when the rinse cycle begins to fill, add ¼ cup of white vinegar based on the water level. A low water level ¼ cup. Medium water level ½ cup and so on. Microfiber towels are unique as they will retain mineral content from unsoftened water, and when the towels are dried that mineral content will build up in the fiber and will scratch the paint surface and reduce it’s ability to absorb water. Unlike cotton towels where the fabric is much looser, and not hold as much mineral content, microfiber is very tight and retains minerals, clogging the fabric.
Drying – Microfiber towels are dried on very low heat to the point they are almost dry but a touch moist. Drying them to totally dry, will build up static in the towel and that static will get transferred to the paint. That static will attract dust, and I suspect you know the rest.
Hope this helps……..
