1. Look and feel is deceptive. You cannot judge how a microfiber product will perform by its look or feel alone. You must test. Some towels that look and feel very soft and plush may, in reality, leave micro marring on a delicate paint finish.

2. Color makes a significant difference. Dark colors will not feel as soft as light colors. You can take towels of the exact same fabric that are dyed different colors and the darker towel will not feel as plush or soft.

3. Edge binding makes the most significant difference in towel safety (as a detailing towel). Towels surge bound with heavy polyester thread or improperly cut by a hot wire are more likely to cause micro marring on your paintwork.

4. The weave determines the best function of the towel, not the material blend or weight. While it's true that polyamide is more absorbent than polyester, a towel made from a blend of 70% polyester and 30% polyamide is not necessarily a better drying towel than an 80/20 blend (respectively). The weave and fiber treatment (splitting) will determine the wicking ability of the towel as much or more than the material blend.

GUIDELINES FOR COMPARING PRODUCTS

The market for microfiber towel products, especially automotive towels, is fierce. With the demand for microfiber increasing in both retail and professional channels, dozens of small factories in Korea and China have sprung up, seemingly over night, to compete solely on cost. These factories are flooding the American market with low-cost, inferior products.

There is a significant difference between quality microfiber towels and junk coming in by the boat load. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Most inexpensive towels use microfiber thread that is not split. Quality microfiber towels absorb 7-8 times their weight in water because the fibers are split, creating more surface area. The cheap towels are not split because the equipment necessary to produce microreplication splitting is very expensive.

2. The Microfiber threads on cheap towels are larger. Quality microfiber strands are .01 to .02 denier. Lately, I’ve been seeing very inexpensive cloths coming from China with a denier of .5 or higher. That’s about the same as the polyester thread used in bath towels for increased durability.

3. Some of the inexpensive towels may also be 100% polyester or have low polyamide content. As a result, the towels will have little absorbency capability.

Before you buy a bundle of microfiber towels at a ‘bargain” price, look, feel and read the label.