Types of towels and their use
 

What is the purpose of the different types of towels below and what are they best used for?

- Microfibre Towels

- Cotton (Shop) Towels

- Terry Towels

- Chamios

- Sheep skin mitts

you will get varied uses from different people but as a general rule:

Microfiber towels- synthetic cloths with tiny fibers suited for detail work...like finish buffing or dust collecting in the interior.

Terry cloth towels- These should be 100% cotton and are used to dry the car after washing. Use a few at a time so you dont drag dirt around your paint.

Wool wash mitt- This is a good material to use because it holds dirt away from the paint during washing. Its very soft and fairly cheap.

Chamois- for drying the car after washing. It is natural leather and very obsorbant. Be carful of dirt however....it will scratch your paint if dirty.

I've tried them all in various applications. I now use Microfiber towels for everything.

Regarding cleaning the interior:

Do you use the microfibre towel dry or damp for cleaning the interior?

Is it ok to use the wool mitts to clean dash?

I use them dry.

I also havent really had dirt in there...just dust. I dont use any armor all or anything like that on my interior. It is supposed to look flat.

The microfiber is great for interior dusting because it doesnt leave a trace behind:)

I would have to agree with the exception of dusting the interior and exterior. I use the California dusters(large and small) for that.

The small Pledge Grab It towels are good for the interior as well.

has anyone used the microfibre towels from Costco? are they good for interior cleaning and also for waxing/zaino'ing?

All microfiber towels are not made alike, you can buy the ones at costco or the new wirlepool (sp.) ones for 1.99 each. However, if you use them you'll see that they have about half the fibers that a higher quality towel does.

PoLaK,
How do you know they have half the fibres??? I guess you could only tell if you used both qualities ('better quality' ones vs. costco)

I used the costco microfibre towels for drying after my car wash (also for interior cleaning) and they worked great!

I can't find the numbers anymore but the best towel made by a company called "viper" has 180,000 fibers per square inch.

this is in the Q and A section of www.pakshak.com whom one of the stickys in "show and shine" is doing a group buy with.

Q: Are there any differences between store bought micro fiber towels and your MICROPAK micro fiber towels?,

A: Yes, most store bought micro fiber towels are usually smaller, 12"x12", not as plush, more likely to scratch.
The fiber structures are the same for all micro fiber, difference is it's compostion of polyester & polyamide and how it is woven or knitted to the cloth. Also the quality can be determined by the processing method which is used by the manufacturer. Our micro fiber towels have been tested and approved by a prominent testing institute. So you know you are getting a high quality micro fiber towel.

I use the costco towels (smaller yes and less fibers) and have no complaints. Bought a couple of packages so that I can always have a clean one (I go through over a dozen in cleaning the car). At the end of the day they will do just fine and not scratch your car. Any towel that you put to the surface of your paint could potentially scratch your car if it is not contained in a lint/dust/dirt free environment (I trust that none of us have a sterile environment in our houses or garages for microfiber towels). It all depends on how detailed that you want to be in cleaning your vehicle which is fine as we are all different.

I did not for instance claybar my new car after washing it as there were no bumpy or grimy particulates in the paint. Surely if I had used the claybar after washing it there would have been some dust on it from the environment but certainly not worth the effort to clay the whole car.