I have never used a microfiber towel on any bike I've owned,and am quite curious as to what makes them so good. Also, can you wash and reuse, or do you just use and throw out? I now have black tins, formerly silver, so this is going to become an issue for me real soon. A friend told me that 100% cotton towels are jsut as good and won't scratch. Is this true? What about those diaper rags that are so soft and those yellow things you get at the autostore. They feel almost like felt. What is the deal?

 

I've been using microfiber towels on mine for the past six years. It's still got a shine that you can bust your zits in. You wash and reuse them. I wash them separately with no fabric softener and then hang them to dry.

The trick to keeping your paint from getting swirled is not to rub on it all the time. I wash my bike with S100 and rarely every rub on it. If I do, it is with a lambs wool mitt. Then, I dry it with a leaf blower. The only time I ever rub on the bike is when waxing. If you use those spray quick detailers to knock the dust off, you are gonna get tiny scratches and swirls. I never clean my bike without water.

 

As far a cloth type products go..MF is far superior..then again there are numerous grades of MF. We use some that cost over 20.00..so no you do not throw away. A simple test for anything you use..cotton or MF is wipe it across a CD..if it scratches it then maybe you should not use it on clearcoat. By the way most 100% cotton towels have polyester binding.
QD's are used to refresh you selant or wax..If you scratch using one you are doing something wrong.
If you are using a waterless wash then quality counts. We do not cause any scrathing (micromarring) fromn using either product.
The "trick" to not have swirls will lay 90% of the time in your washing and drying techniques.

 

Here is a link with some MF info
http://www.autopia-carcare.com/inf-microfiber.html

 

Thanks for the info 3dog. You da man.

 

3Dog - this is some good stuff... I got pretty frustrated with a batch of 80/20 Microfibre towels I bought from Autozone. I kept swearing they were scratching the paint surface, now I know why. I went out and looked at the extra wax applicator pads I bought too... they look just like the inferior products shown in the article... daaaaaammmmm. My paint finish thanks you immensely.

 

also look at these (you can find good bargins)
remember different types of MF have different functions.
dftowels.com
exceldetail.com
ultrafiber.com

 

Two of the Best Suggestions you'll ever find.

 

I will still have to disagree.

 

Care to elaborate?