I am currently using the yellow microfiber towels that you can purchase at Sams. What is the proper care for these and are they of good quality. They are the only one's I have ever used so I don't know if they are the best.

 

I have some of the same towels. They seem fine and work well. There may be others out there that are of better quality, but like you I don't know how to judge that.
I wash them in the washing machine using ALL liquid detergent .I throw a cup of vinegar in both the wash and rinse cycle to eliminate water hardness issues. The Free and Clear version since it has no softeners or perfumes whose presence can leave streaks.
I tumble dry on low heat, with no fabric softeners or anti static sheets.

 

I like the towels from www.pakshak.com - they have much higher quality control than anything you will get from Sams.

http://www.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=44

 

Thanks man!1 I'll get some ordered today.

 

If you haven't ordered already, I can get you a discount.

PM me.

 

To check a Microfiber towel, rub it hard in one direction on the recording side of a CD. If it scratches the CD, it will scratch your paint.
In my research of MF towels before I started selling them, I found the warehouse type towels quality pretty borderline. Out of 4 packs of 12, I have purchased so far, I found only 2-3 per batch that passed the CD test.

There are a ton of junk MF towels floating around out there.
Cotton towels, made in the USA were pretty standard, MF towels quality is all over the place.
I just rejected a shipment of 300 towels because a tiny corner of the final sewed edge had been melted versus being tucked in to prevent unraveling. That left a minute hard spot on one corner of the towel and enough to create some serious swirls in the paint. That was unacceptable and, as a guess not something people would look for.

Bottom line just because it says it is an MF towel does not make it a good one for auto paint use.... They are not all created equal. Test and inspect them before you use them.

Synthetic towels should be washed in liquid detergent, and I use a 1/2 cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle, about every 4th time, with a wash tub filled about 1/2 full.
Air dry or use very LOW heat. High heat can melt the Microfiber. It is the number one reason, MF towels loose their absorption capability, or create swirls in the paint.
Hope that helps.

 

www.exceldetail.com has good towels at great prices

 

~One mans opinion / observations~

Microfiber (micro fibre):
Micro fibre by definition, (very small; involving minute quantities or variations) is not a fabric, it is a yarn, spun into thread, which is used to weave or knit fabric, which is then used to weave a fabric. These ultra-fine yarns (2X as fine as silk and 100X finer than a human hair) are made form various sources
They can be made from nylon, polyester, nylon by-products or a natural material such as cellulose (a plant carbohydrate) both linen and cotton are natural plant fibres.

The smaller the diameter of the yarn, the softer the fabric will feel, however this does not mean that its non-abrasive and will not cause scratches (this softness can also be chemically induced) Most Microfiber that originates from Asia and the far east is fabricated from nylon, polyester or nylon by-products. Because the label says Mirofiber is no assurance that the material is safe to use or that it is non-abrasive. Micro fibres are never used alone but spun together with other yarn to form a less dense weave (100% micro fibre would be very dense, non-absorbent and almost satin like)

The most important criteria for any fabric used on a vehicle surface is its quality and scratch resistance. Natural cellulose can be spun with long staple cotton and then woven into a 100% natural terrycloth type fabric. This is very soft, absorbent, and non-abrasive and will not cause scratching. Once this type of fabric is washed two or three times, to remove any short fibres it will not leave a lint trail.

Quality towels edge bindings are sewn with cotton thread, not polyester. To ensure your towels and buffing clothes provide long-term use, wash them frequently in a liquid soap (Micro Restore) in hot (120oF<) water, add a teaspoon per towel distilled white vinegar, the vinegar doesn't coat the fibres but instead works to eliminate detergent residue and finally a thorough cold rinse. Always wash micro fibre separately and only with other micro fibre fabrics


CD Scratch Test- with a micro fibre cloth, using medium to heavy pressure rub the surface of a CD. If there are no scratches then it probably wont scratch the vehicles paint surface.

Burn Test- to test a material for polyester content, light a thread, if it emits a black wisp of smoke and then shrivels up into a black hard ball, its polyester and can scratch your paint.


~Hope this helps~

Knowledge unshared is experience wasted
justadumbarchitect / so I question everything/ Jon

 

The only micro fibers that I use are www.dftowel.com I do not care for the man made micros, I only use cotton micros from DF...

 

THOUSANDS of people use Pak Shak and Excel Detail towels without any problems.

We all understand that you sell DF Towels, and they are nice, but there are other great towels out there that have different purposes.

 

another vote for DFTowels.

 

I did not say that man made micros would destroy your finish, what I said is that "I" do not "care" for man made micros, I can have my opinion. I do not not like how they feel in my hand and they are too sticky for me, its personal preference.... I actually prefer the terry towels that I make myself for pulling off the Zaino polish over any pre fab towels......

 

How about those micro fiber towels 16 X 16 and you get 16 of them for 12.00? Are these sufficient for drying the car off?

 

LS WON,
Check out my post above and determine for yourself. Chances are very high they will scratch.
BUT, there are so many styles of MF towels out there you have to test those towels yourself.
There is no way for us to make a qualified decision without actually seeing the towel.
Make sense?

 

I have no idea, there are millions of man made micros coming here from over seas, some are crap for paint use and some are good. Rule of thumb is, if it came from a discount store I would not use it on my paint. I buy some micros at walmart that are 1.00 each to use on my chrome truck wheels however....

 

[QUOTE=LS WON]How about those micro fiber towels 16 X 16 and you get 16 of them for 12.00? QUOTE]

I found these leave "micro" lint all over the glass you see when driving into the sun. I now use them for applying Zaino (cut in half and wrap around the applicator pad).
I use another type of microfiber for windows now.

Later,
JU

 

I bought a second larger pack 16 of 16 X 16 from Costco and they work great. The first pack was 12 16 x 16 also from Costco for about $8.00 the 16 pack was around 11 or 12.00.

 

Thanks for the info

 

I just tried the CD test.
I rubbed one CD in three areas with MF towels from Sam's Club, 3M and Excel Detail then asked my wife in a blind test to assess the scratches.
YES ALL 3 sctratched the CD.
Her opinion not seeing me do the rubbing
Best Sam's club ( least scratching)
Middle 3M
Worst Excel Detail (longer deeper and more scratches according to her)

Because there is no way for me to ensure that I used equal force in this test, I must declare these results subjective and non- scientific.

BUT at about $12/16 ( 16x16 inch) towels at Sam's ( 75 cents a towel)versus $3.70 a towel for the same size plus approx $1.00 per towel shipping at Excel Detail....
I know where I'm spending my money in the future.

 

Try that same test on your car...

Have you contacted Patrick about your findings?