I used some Meg's paint cleaner today as a temporary measure to keep my car clean until all of the stuff I ordered arrives. Long story short, I rinsed the microfiber cloths that had the paint cleaner residue on them and then tossed them into the washing machine with a LITTLE bit of detergent. When I took them out they still smelled like the cleaner and didnt seem to be clean.

So,.............what did I do wrong? I'm right that you can put microfiber cloths in the washing machine,.......right? Should I have rinsed the cloths more,..........more detergent,..........hotter water,...........cant do this with paint cleaner???????

 

Bah, their fine......Wash in hot water, dry at med heat..... Only use detergent while washing, feel free to presoak. Dont use too much detergent, as it may not completely rinse. I would use slightly less then what is recommended for your particular machine....this insures total rinsing. You can also add a 1/4c vinegar to the rinse cycle should you become concerened about residue. Staining is inevitable, dont worry about it, just be concerned with physical debris, inspect eachside/towel before using.

 

The best general purpose cleaner is a liquid detergent. It’s better to use too little than too much. Liquid is recommended over powder because some powders do not completely dissolve and the granules will lodge in the toweling.

Wash in cold water only. Warm water can be tolerated, but hot water CANNOT. Polyester and polyamide (the two materials that make up microfiber) both shrink in hot water. If you wash in hot water the fibers will shrink and the towel will not perform as intended.

Do not use fabric softeners of any kind. The softener will become lodged in the microfiber reducing its ability to absorb water, clean and pick up dirt. In short, you’ll have a soft towel that’s useless.

Do not dry above medium heat. Treat microfiber towels the same as you would your delicate clothing. Drying with high heat is worse that washing in hot water...hope that helps!

 

Thanks guys,
Steve

 

This is true of natural fibers, but not synthetics.....Example, cotton shirt vs a 50/50 blend. The cotton will shrink 1 size, whereas the blend wont.....Synthetic fibers are very tolerant of hot water. I know detailers who actually boil their towels to remove stains and product residue........(not that I would reccommend it, thats a little toooooo hot in my book)
What actually kills a microfiber towel before its time is the heat in the dryer......

 

What I do is soak the towels in plain blue Dawn for about 2 hours. Rinse the soap off and throw them in the washer. Then I use about half the amount of laundry soap (half the cup) I normally would on clothes wash. Then I air dry it.

 

That is something that I had forgot to ask about. What kind of soap stuff could I maybe soak the towels in before putting them into the wash with some liquid detergent (tide would ok right?). Would a warm/cold wash cycle be ok for the towels,.......as long as its not hot I should be fine. I will probably air dry them,.....maybe a little drying on low.

I seriously would be LOST without this board,.......I always think of a million things to ask about that they dont talk about on websites. Maybe thanks to Exceldetail btw,...and Hawhyen51 too (and everyone else)..........who have answered a great deal of my millions of questions.

Regards,
Steve

 

Yup, I use the typical warm wash / cold rinse cycle on my Maytag front loader at "short" (30 minutes) with an extra rinse added. The Dawn has enough stuff on it to remove any traces of waxes that have been absorbed by the towels. If I use pads on my PC, I soak the foam pads on the same bucket of dawn but I just air dry the pads since they have a velcro side that may be stripped off during the wash cycle. I NEVER let my wife include the towels with her regular wash when she washes towels 'coz fabric softener and/or bleach will kill your MF.

One suggestion- go to Wal-Mart an pick up a small to medium sized rubbermaid clear container box with a snap-on lid. They're probably around $5.00 bucks each. I have 2 of these and keep the clean wash mitts and CWB on one and all the washed MF drying and buffing and glass cloths on the other and always in my trunk. By using this I always have a ready batch while the other batch is being soaked/ washed. Any ones I have used goes into a clear plastic bag so I can re-use for another time before I actually wash them.

These are my MF "arsenal":
3-blue Simoniz 24 x 30" double sided MF drying towel (Canadian Tire)
10- blue "Orange Glo" double-ply 14 x 14" MF plush towels for polishing/ buffing (Wal-Mart)
10- blue/ white Standard single ply MF towels 14 x 14" for applying sealant, cleaning glass and general purpose (Cdn Tire)
12-orange/ gray plush MF towels 16 x 16" (seems to be great quality- bought as a pack from Target)

As far as your lambswool or MF washing mitts..... DON'T soak these on Dawn. Hand wash/ rinse these until all the suds are gone and then air dry (I set up some short clotheslines close to a drain in my basement just for these 'coz they drip like crazy). Also try to use a 2-bucket system...one clean wash water (with the car was soap) and the other is just plain water (for rinsing the mitts). Dip the clean mitt on the soapy water....use on the car.... then rinse them clean wringing several times on the other bucket. This way, the dirt and grime that the mitt picks up from the car doesn't get re-introduced into the clean soapy solution.

Excellent people on this forum! I've learned TONS here....

 

Well, I guess we have our own ways of washing the towels. I guess this is another case in which we should now give the advice...whichever method works for you!