Help.. I am a newbie when it come to car detailing. (I've never had a wonderful car like the Z to pamper before)

I've seen EVERYONE mention Micro Fiber towels. I've done a few searchs and come up with LOTs of different towels and LOTs of different prices.

Can anyone tell me 1.) what's the life expectancy of one of these microfiber towels? 2.) After they get dirty, can I just throw them in the washer? 3.) How do I know if the towel is a high quality microfiber or a cheaper "imitation" that I have read about? 4.) Any reccommendations on where to buy? How about my loacal AutoZone / Wal- Mart / K- Mart... or are these all the low quality imitation types?

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

Big Blue; order here:

http://www.properautocare.com/biglitblutow.html

I have two & they work great. I don't know how long they'll last but I suspect a l-o-n-g time. "Yes" on throw in the washer.

 

Life expectancy: They claim years.. i've had them for a couple months and a couple of washings... still good.

Washing: its washable in the machine.. for me, i just put some Tide in a small bucket.. spray it with warm water and hand wash it. Then i just hang it out to dry.

Types: the Big Blue is just for drying purposes. There's basically 2 types.. waffle weave and regualr MF towels.. waffle weave MF towels are generally for drying the car since they can hold more water. They're also great for windows. Regular MF towels are for buffing out wax, wipe cloths for quick detail sprays, and windows too.

Quality: For me, the fluffier the better. Some of the cheap ones at wal-mart seem "different". I don't know, the ones i bought online have a better feel to it. Here's a good reading on MF towels vs. cheap, imitation ones

Where: I bought mines from properautocare.com as part of the Blackfire car care kit. I bought some extras at www.pakshak.com. They had a huge group buy ($2.25 a piece) on them over at bimmerforums.com so i bought like 6 towels. They have free shipping right now and their towels are top notch. Friendly people too!

whew! hope that helps

 

Hey Rat's... Question about the link above...

I'm looking for the microfiber towels used to buff off the BlackFire or Zaino. Thant link looks like towels specifically for DRYING the Z... IS there a difference between a DRYING towel and a Buffing towel?


On that note, I actually have a new "Absorber" that works WONDERFUL for drying. (That's not considered a microfiber is it?)

 

the absorber is considered a chamois

 

...me,

I have no clue on if there is a difference. I would think not but .....

I use mine for drying only.

 

These MF towels are a good value...

http://www.properautocare.com/drbrmicl.html

The entire line...

http://www.properautocare.com/micprod1.html

 

I also ordered the Big Blue Drying Towel from properautocare. It works very well. The actual towel is really not that big, but it really holds a lot of water. However, In my opion you will need more than one Big Blue Towel to properly dry your Z with no streak marks. The first pass with Big Blue should allow you to get most of the water off of the car, you will however need to wring out the towel a couple of times along the way. With the second towel, you can give the car a once over, picking up any water marks that are left over from the initial drying. Hope this helps.

 

So what kind of MF should you use when applying Grystal Guard?

 

You have too much water on your car! You should be using water sheeting action to get most of the water off your car before drying.

My Big Blue barely looks used after drying my Z. I have two just so I don't have to worry about if one is in the wash that week.

Put your hose on soaker mode and let the water run across your Z's body panels (run.. not spray). Start at the top, then go all around the car. 90% of the water will push off the car.. then use Big Blue for the rest.

If after sheeting, your amount of water isn't reduced on the car.. your car needs a waxing.

When properly waxed, I have a hard time getting water to stay on the car at all!

 

I found MF works extremely well when it's used to remove wax. it could hold so much wax compare with conventional cotton cloth. so there won't be that much of those little white debris all over your car.