# How, why & when to inspect your microfiber towels when detailing cars



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

*How, why & when to inspect your microfiber towels when detailing cars*

*YouTube Video Link*

Inspecting your Microfiber Towels

I have a saying, goes like this...

_The little things are the big things_

Most detailers I know like the paint polishing aspect of car detailing. Like me, they love to take a diamond in the rough and turn it into a glistening gemstone. It's the challenge that attracts us and sense of accomplishment to save someone else's toy by giving it the quality finish it deserves. There's not much excitement when it comes to cleaning carpets or door jambs.

When most people think of machine polishing paint, the first things that come to mind are,

*The tool *- This would be your choice of polisher, be it a Makita, RUPES, FLEX, Griot's, Meguiar's, Porter Cable, etc.

*The brand for compounds and polishes* - some guys are loyal to Meguiar's, some guys are loyal to Menzerna etc.

*The buffing pads *- Lake Country, Buff & Shine, Meguiar's, Griot's and RUPES all make great pads

And while the above are VERY important to the success of a proper paint correction, it is the lowly microfiber towel that is the big thing. Think about it... what touches the paint the most? The polisher never touches the paint, it spins a pad against the paint but never actually touches the paint. The compounds and polishes touch the paint of course as do the pads... but after each step and even before you fire up your polisher, it is the microfiber towel that is all-present, always touching the paint.

Microfiber towels are used to,


Wash cars for example when using rinseless and waterless washes
Wipe of clay lube after claying the paint
Wipe off clay lube after using any clay replacement like a Nanoksin towel
Wipe off compound residue
Wipe off polish residue
Wipe of car waxes and synthetic sealants
Wipe off paint strippers when chemically stripping the paint for a coating
Giving the paint a final buff after applying a coating
Spreading around and wiping off a spray detailer
Spreading around and wiping off a spray wax or spray sealant
Spreading around and wiping off a coating detailer or coating booster

And the above list is just paint-related job duties. The above list doesn't include CAREFULLY wiping off any product applied to matte paint or matte graphics and we all know that if you put a scratch into a matte surface that's a big no-no.

*Gentle to scratch-sensitive paints*
Microfiber towels are GREAT because by miniaturizing the nylon and polyester fibers, these fibers that in a large size could scratch the paint now become very gentle to the paint. This is extremely important because modern clearcoats paints, (and even single stage paints), are scratch-sensitive, this means they scratch easily. Because modern clearcoats tend to be harder than their older cousins single stage paints before the 1980s, the hardness factor makes them more difficult and time consuming to remove scratches out of so not putting scratches into them is vitally important.

*Absorb and Adsorb*
Microfiber towels both absorb and adsorb liquids and residues onto themselves.*aBsorb*= Means to wick to the inside the fiber.

*aDsorb* = Means to wick onto the outside of the fiber​*Eco-friendly - great value*
Can be washed and dried and used over and over again...

*The down side of microfiber towels*
The unique feature that makes microfiber towels gentle to paint is also their Achilles heel, that is the plush soft nap made from miniaturized strands of fibers are like traps for foreign debris and abrasive particles like dirt, dried plant leaves, sticks, rocks, brake dust, etc.

*Abrasive particulates*
When foreign debris lands on a microfiber towel it can bury into the nap and lodge itself firmly. If the foreign debris, often abrasive in form is rubbed against the paint - the risk is high that it's going to scratch the paint. If you've already compounded and polished a car's finish and then accidentally scratch the paint while wiping off a coat of wax - all your hard work will be undone. This is why it's important to not only have a method of storing both clean towels but also storing dirty towels until they go through the washing and drying process.

*2 methods to inspect your towels*
There are two ways to inspect your towels.

*Visually* - Look at the towel surface and if you see any type of abrasive particle or foreign substance, then pick it out.

*Physically* - Feel the face of both sides of the towel and if you feel something sharp, pointy or hard, then pick it out.

My friend Robert DiTerlizzi once showed me how he inspects towels before use and I though to myself, this is important, just as important as choosing the right compound or polish for the job. After he shared his practice of inspecting towels before using them I incorporated this practice into my own detailing system and also shared it with the online world with an article and also with the masses on our TV show as well as in all my detailing classes.

*The Mike Phillips Twist*
The only thing I changed about inspecting my towels before use is instead of inspecting towels on the fly, that is inspecting my towels as I use them, instead I *pre-inspect* them before starting the project or after they come out of the dryer.

While it takes a small chunk of time to pre-inspect our towels before staring the detailing project it saves time overall as your towels, because they are all pre-inspected, are ready to go as you need them enabling you to work faster through all the various steps of the process.

If you don't inspect your towels, I strongly recommend making this a new "best practice" for all your detailing projects. Wiping down a car with just a single contaminated towel is a time-killer plus it will require to compound and remove more paint in order to remove the scratch or scratches.

If you don't have a system in place for storing towels when not in use and after use, then get one. And after washing and drying your towels, take a small chunk of time to inspect them and then fold them before storing them in a clean, dirt and dust free location to keep them clean until needed.

*Inspecting microfiber towels as they come out of the dry and before a detailing project*










*Clean towels on a clean workbench ready for Inspection*










*Visually look at the towels and look for abrasive particles or debris*










*If particles are discovered, pick them out...*










*Don't skip the edges of a microfiber towel...*










*If you can't pick the particle or debris out with your fingers then try to cut it out using some scissors*










*Next feel the towels and use your sense of touch to feel for abrasive particles or debris and if discovered, pick it out...*










*Pre-inspected towels - ready to be used or stored in a clean location for future use.*










*Culls - These towels did not pass inspection and will be relegated to non-paint polishing uses*










*When washing your microfiber towels, always use a dedicated microfiber towel clean to preserve the performance of the microfiber.*

*Get a laundry sorter and storage bin with a lid to store dirty towels until you're ready to wash and dry the towels.*










*This one has chambers to help keep your towels separated so you can wash and dry similar towels together.*










*Remember...*

_The little things are the big things_

All you have to do is accidentally scratch paint one time with a contaminated microfiber towel for that statement to ring true and change how you treat your microfiber towels.


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## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

Continued....

I call this, The Microfiber Towel Cycle. It should be something every pro detailer or enthusiast detailer does.

*After use, wash your towels - don't overload the washing machine.*



















*
Then dry your towels.*










*THEN - follow your new BEST PRACTICE*

Clean your work area










Place your freshly washed and dried towels on your clean table top or workbench top.










Inspect your towels and fold them...



















* Store them in a clean place so they stay clean and thus stay SAFE for your ceramic coated vehicle.*


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## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

Same idea for your favorite Panel Wipe Towels.

Read the below words carefully. Learn them. Live them.

_It takes hours to buff out a car.... it takes seconds to put scratches in - Mike Phillips_

Anyone that's buffed out a car before knows this to be true. Part of the reason is that modern clearcoats, while generally speaking are much harder than traditional single stage car paints, they still scratch very easy. Then... because they are hard, it takes hours to methodically buff out the car, panel by panel to remove the scratches.

So the wise thing to do is to NOT put scratches into the paint in the first place. I have a number of articles on this topic but this one has a twist as this one is focused on the towels you use to,


Prep paint for a ceramic paint coating.
Wipe off the high spots after installing a ceramic paint coating.

All said and done, from the time you start in the morning washing a car to the time you stop after the final buff, depending upon the size of the vehicle and the condition of the paint, it can take you all day to wash, correct, polish, strip and coat a car. So the last thing you want to do is to look at the finish when you're done and see swirls and scratches. This is where having dedicated coating prep towels and dedicated coating wipe-off towels is like cheap insurance.

*Dedicated compound and polish towels*
The microfiber towels you use to remove compound and polish residue are important and will be the scope of another article, suffice to say, this article is focused specifically on the towels you use to chemically strip paint AFTER any paint correction or paint polishing work has been performed and the towels you will use to remove high spots and give each panel its final buff.

*Dedicated coating towels*
Chances are if you're reading this article, (on a car detailing discussion forum), then you already have a nice collection of quality microfiber towels. If not, and you're just getting into car detailing, then trust me... you soon will have a collection of quality microfiber towel. There are a zillion types, colors, weights, sizes, etc. of towels on the market but in this article we're going to take a look at a 16" x 16" microfiber towel from GYEON called Bald Wipe.

*GYEON Bald Wipes*

What's so great about GYEON's Bald Wipes? A couple of characteristics.

*1: Flat weave design. *
Instead of a fluffy weave like a lot of towels these towels have a flat, tight weave. This makes it a LOT more difficult for contaminants to bury in, or embed inside the fibers because simply put, there's no place to hide. Not only does this help prevent accidental contamination it makes inspecting your towels faster than inspecting fluffy style microfiber towels.

*2: They are somewhat stout.*
Now that can sound like a negative when working on scratch-sensitive clearcoats paints that are in pristine condition but remember - these are microfiber so they are soft to the touch, just stout in their girth or mass. It is this stoutness that makes them more manageable when wiping. It's easier for you to hold and push or pull the towel over the surface. Soft limp towels tend to roll over into themselves and then you're fighting yourself and the towel trying to use it.

*3: Low to no linting.*
The last thing you want to do wiping paint at any stage of the paint polishing, prepping or final wipe stages is to see your towel is leaving lint behind.

Heck any clean soft towel can be used, I'm just trying to share a specific towel, with a specific design to help you do your work better, more effectively and faster. So take from this article what you will.

*What about ceramic paint coatings that harden and crystallize?*
Yeah that's a popular topic and it is true, some coatings, harden in your applicator cloth and if they are hardening in your applicator cloth it only makes sense that the coating is also hardening in your wipe-off towels.

I read about some guys that after using a microfiber towel to wipe-off high spots and give the paint a final buff will then either throw the towel away or delicate it to things like checking your car's engine oil level. That is an option and if it's in your budget I say go for it.

Or if you detail professionally, that is detail for money, then build in the cost of the towels you're going to throw away into what you charge your customer so you're not losing money each time you detail a car and throw your nice towels away.

Another option is to immediately after you use your towel is to wash it and the hope and pray and even cross your fingers that the majority of whatever was on the towel loosens and washes and then rinses out. My experience is this works. The key to success with this step starts with the application of the coating.

*First - Don't waste product.*

Technically you're only supposed to put on *small amounts* of ceramic coating to panel or a section of a panel at a time and this is key *-->* work the coating over the surface until you see it disappear.

Now THINK about it. If you work small amounts until it disappears into the paint and the solvents evaporate off, (called flash time), doesn't this mean there's NOTHING to wipe-off or remove? As in nothing to wipe off and get onto your wipe-off towel? Make sense to me.

That said, of course you're going to have high spots as you always have these at the end of a pass where your lift your applicator off. Happens to me and I'm sure it happens to the best detailers in the world. But the BIG PICTURE is - if a ceramic paint coating is correctly applied there should be very little of the ceramic coating solids to be wiped-off and thus impacted onto your precious microfiber coating towels.

Make sense?

*Second - Wash immediately*

Next - IMMEDIATELY after you are done wiping down the car to remove high spots and give the painted panels their final buff, (the wipe that maximizes the gloss and shine), then IF you can, wash your towels. That is, if you have a fixed location, take your towels over to your washing machine and make a dedicated wash load washing only your microfiber towels for prepping paint and wiping off high spots and the final buff. Then dry them by themselves and then inspect them, fold them and store them for the next project.

*If you're mobile*
If you're mobile or if you don't think you can immediately wash your microfiber towels, your schedule doesn't permit (or the wife is washing her lingerie), then the next best thing you can do is to dunk your used microfiber towels into a mixture of water and microfiber detergent and then as soon as you can, wash and dry these towels.

*APC vs Microfiber Detergent?*
Most of the recommendations I read in the blogosphere for soaking microfiber towels used for ceramic coatings is the recommendation to soak your towels in a solution of water and All-Purpose-Cleaner. Kind of seems harsh to me for a soft plush microfiber towel you want to keep soft and plush, plus absorbent. So here's what I do and it makes more sense to me. I think *PICTURE 11* will tell the story.

*Let's get busy...*
So lets take a look at an effective but simple way to wash, dry, inspect, fold and store some coating towels. If you keep your process simple you're more likely to do it and then it has real impact over time.

Mix a solution of water and a quality microfiber detergent. Common sense tell you to make sure the bucket is clean to start with.










I use the glug-glug method for a lot of things, this is no exception but do use prudence, pour in a few ounces.










As you work through the project, take a used towel and place it into the bucket of wash solution.



















Make sure to dunk the towels so they are soaking and being penetrated by the detergent and whatever magical chemicals are inside of it. The bid idea here is to both saturate the towels with water and detergent so they can do their thing of breaking down substances but to ALSO seal the towels away from oxygen which of course causes drying. Part of the way this works is it prevents the coating substances from drying since you're removing oxygen from the equation.










Normal protocol now days here at Autogeek is I use BLACKFIRE Microfiber Detergent. Choose a brand you trust.










Soaking...










*Washing*
After you've completed the project so you're done creating new dirty towels, take the bucket of towels and microfiber solution to your washing machine.










In this example I'm washing 8 towels, so this qualifies as a Small Dedicated Wash Load. I'll use the WARM setting on the washing machine. Everything cleans better with warm and hot water versus cold water. Don't believe me? Next time you replace the starter motor on a 25 year old Ford F150 try getting all the greasy, black grimy sludge out of the pores of the skin on your hands using only cold water. Warm water is good, it helps to the cleaning process. Hot water can damage delicate microfiber filaments so don't use the hot setting.










Select the heavy option for a good full cycle of agitation.










*PICTURE 11*

Now dump the towels and the microfiber detergent solution directly into the wash basin. See why I prefer to use a microfiber detergent instead of an APC to soak my towels in?



















After they are washed, next dry the towels...










Choose the appropriate drying time for the size of the load you just washed










Choose a warm to cool heat setting to dry the towels. Don't use the high or hot setting as this can overheat the microfiber filaments and basically bake them.










*Inspection, folding and storing*

Before you inspect and fold your microfiber towels, be sure to clean the surface that you're going to place the towels on. I fold the towels here at Autogeek on our stainless steel countertop on the workbench and before doing so I wipe the countertop clean wit a glass cleaner and a basic microfiber towel.

*Think clean - Work clean*

If you take clean towels and place them on a dirty table or counter you just undid all your hard work and contaminated your towels. So think clean and work clean.



















*Inspect your towels*
If you have not read my article on towel inspecting or watched the video, you can check it out here.










*First inspect visually*

I like to put some light on my inspection area and this is another great use for the SCANGRIP Sunmatch Swirl Finder Light.










The swivel base has a magnet in it to secure it to the steel overhead hutch, perfect for my inspection process. This is my method, everyone has to figure out their own method.










*Second inspect both sides of the towel with your sense of touch. *

Make sure to wash your hands first so you don't contaminate the towels while feeling them.










Pick out and remove all contaminants



















After a towel passes your inspection, fold and store the towels in a clean container to keep them uncontaminated and ready for the next project.










High quality towels are not cheap and you get what you pay for.

*Quality towels are TOOLS --> *learn to take care of your tools and your tools will take care of you.










Mark your towel container so no well-intentioned fool ruins your day.










Just to note, the GYEON Bald Wipes do come in a re-sealable bag but this isn't a long term solution for proper storage.










Take care of your towels and they will take care of you.


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## GeeWhizRS (Nov 1, 2019)

Great article Mike. 
Someone should sticky this and get that man a cigar. 👍


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## HEADPHONES (Jan 1, 2008)

Great thread touching on a rarely mentioned topic.
I don't have premium towels.
Just the yellow Costco ones.

However I have been inspecting my towels after washing for years.
I must admit to it being my least enjoyable part of detailing.
But when I look at the pile of debris I remove from a washing machine load of towels it is amazing.

Once I accidentally bundled a MF noodle wash mitt that I use for lower sills into the wash pile.

I almost cried when I inspected my towels after washing/drying.
Bits of leaves and debris embedded deep in the towels.
After struggling to pick a few clean I cut my losses and designated them all to dirty jobs.


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

GeeWhizRS said:


> Great article Mike.
> Someone should sticky this and get that man a cigar. 👍


^^^^^ this :thumb: such dedication


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## GeeWhizRS (Nov 1, 2019)

Any mileage in getting the Dyson on microfibre cloths? I can envisage me holding cloths flat on the carpet whilst my missus drags the vacuum over em whilst rolling her eyes.


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## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

GeeWhizRS said:


> Any mileage in getting the Dyson on microfibre cloths? I can envisage me holding cloths flat on the carpet whilst my missus drags the vacuum over em whilst rolling her eyes.


That's funny!

I try not to get to extreme, in fact, I'm more of the Lazy Man Detailer than the OCD Detailer.


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## atbalfour (Aug 11, 2019)

Another informative post Mike thanks and great to see you back posting.


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

HEADPHONES said:


> Great thread touching on a rarely mentioned topic.
> I don't have premium towels.
> Just the yellow Costco ones.
> 
> ...


I done exactly this, put my freshly used Klins in the washer and somehow a sponge tyre applicator got in with the wash, when I pulled out these lovely used once orange cloths they were all completely embedded with 1000's of bits of black sponge. I tried and failed to pick them clean. They're now used for grease rags. We live and learn!


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