Technical: MICROFIBRE Towels

So Microfibres: Since i mentioned this in the post above, I am sure very few have thought to give dear old exaggerating Verimark a try when it comes to these things for instance. If you are using nothing at all at the moment, ANY microfibre is going to be an improvement to your process. However, microfibre towels are not all created equal and there are a few small things to take into account:

First is what you will be using them for: 

– Washing – I have two Gyeon smoothies (one for my son and I) and a Crazy detailer mitt for the wheels.

– Drying needs deep pile and absorbency, some of these have different characteristics in use – some will become waterlogged quickly, but will easily wring out. Others will be basically useless after doing a panel or two. More money gets you better towel ‘tech’. I use a combination of Gyeon Silk Dryers (two sizes) which are basically witchcraft in cloth form and a very old Gyeon waffle weave cloth for wheels (these are all fairly similar – even the one from Crazy detailer). These can last years with careful use and care (I use Gyeon Towel Wash and prior to this used Snappy Clean Boost in a wash bucket to pre-soak).

– You might decide to finish with a drying aid or quick detailer before a meet or show for some extra depth – This is usually something like a polish wipe/meguiars supreme shine to it or a new ‘green’ shield microfibre – you might find you need 2 or 3 for a car.

– Wiping off polish or wax needs something that makes the work easier – again personal preference might apply

– Final degreasing/prep before coatings or indeed wiping away coatings you want something quite ‘flat’ but this is where use characteristics become very important.

– Glass products – when coated or ‘polished’ glass is actually easy to work with, but there are purpose made cloths for this. Even the cheapest is usually good enough (Shield/CD)

Secondly is how the towel is physically made and its condition (apart from size) – the edge stitching: is it likely to scratch? the pile itself, are there labels on it (my pet hate with the otherwise fine Shield towels). Most importantly? Is it clean? Many stores sell these towels ‘loose’ without packaging

Lastly think about whether a towel is the right thing to use at all for a particular task I see a lot of people trying to use towels quite aggressively in videos when a brush or clay and the right chemical are probably the right way to tackle the issue

Anyway pics are worth a thousand words: At the bottom is the verimark towel which I mentioned as excellent value at under R100 for 10 – note the edge and depth of pile relative to the two Rupes cloths above and the Carpro Boa at the top which is around 500gsm

This is another example I mentioned above: Polish Wipe and Bald Wipe (Gyeon) – You can find equivalents from any brand really – this shows you how construction differs and then your use case becomes the determining factor in what you use.

Gyeon Smoothie and Silk Dryer – good enough that I have two of each to use across the 4 cars when all need a wash on one day

Yes you even get things like this:

Again, don’t get too caught up in brands and discount what your eyes and skin is telling you: There are places where eg: those Tevo dryers can be used (perhaps not for drying) etc.

The cost of some of these ‘cloths’ seems high – especially when you’re starting out – Many places encourage you to treat these as disposable. This is only partially true. They are indeed consumables but you aren’t also recouping the money that a detailing shop is from each job.

When I am using a product directly on paint, apart from the dryers and mitts, it is a brand new out-of-the plastic towel.

If I have used it to apply or to remove ANY kind of ceramic coating (interior, trim, glass, leather) it doesn’t even get washed – it goes straight into the bin. Same goes for the little suede squares etc. If you see these after a day, they have millions of tiny microshards of super sharp coating embedded into them forever. Not worth the few rands a towel costs.

Those that are cleaned then follow a lifecycle being used first for interior bits for a few cycles and progressively ‘dirtier’ jobs/as oil rags/general garage towels or even household towels before being thrown away entirely.