I just bought some waterless wash and wax for my car. I don't want to buy a cheap microfiber towel though. What are some of your suggestions?

 

Anything off of autogeek.net, I'm currently using cobra guzzler, but used the hd ones, which I prefer

 

Do Autozone or any retailers sell good ones?

 

check out the chemicalguys.com they have the best autocare products and are very reasonable.

 

any microfiber cloth will do. They are pretty much all the same. the real difference in them is thickness and quality as far as if they will start to come apart or not.

walmart, autozone, ebay, whatever the source, just get a bunch and make sure to seperate them as far as drying, washing, or scrubbing

 

Key words: mircofiber waffle weave

 

griotsgarage sells green MF towels for their sprayon car wash. get those towels as they are doublesided. very nice. make sure to remove the tags completely and machine wash before use.

 

I have a few Mother's towels that came with the clay bar kit. I use those for QD since they're super soft and don't scratch at all. They sell the towels separate too of course and they're not super expensive and readily available.

Cheapo ones from Autozone or whatever I try not to use except to dry water, I got a scratch or two from those I think from the stitching when I tried to use with QD spray.

I am not a detailing connoisseur by any means so that's just my novice experiences.

 

I realize I'm responding a bit late here, but definitely don't go with a standard microfiber or a waffle weave. You want something that has a very high density (in microfiber terms, "GCM" for grams per cubic meter), I recommend 500+. Griots Garage offers a waterless wash microfiber that you can get a Advance Auto Parts. I would also check out the chinchilla microfiber that autogeek sells, or the waterless wash microfiber on autoality.

 

so you are saying dont go with a traditionally offered pack of microfibers, the same pack that many people do not have any complaints about?

I dont see a thread count or anything similar on any packs. Where would it be?

 

You won't find the GCM listing on packs of microfibers you buy at your local stores. You will however find them listed for the towels on autogeek or autoality (waterless wash towel on Autogeek , waterless wash towel on Autoality). Note how on the links listed above, it states the GCM for the towels. As a comparison typical microfibers have a GCM of around 300.

Not only do you want a dense (high GCM) towel to ensure you have a lot of fibers to trap the dirt, but you also want a long nap as well to hold the dirt away from the surface that comes in contact with the car. That's the problem with waffle weave towels, is that the short nap of the towel holds the dirt much closer to the surface of the car, increasing the chances it could scratch the clear coat.

Will regular microfibers work? Absolutely they will. They just won't do as good a job in terms of protecting the paint compared to a microfiber designed for waterless washing. You may end up with more scratches/swirls in the clear coat, which require time spent polishing the paint to remove. In theory, you spend a little more money up front buying better quality MF towels, and save yourself time (and money) in the long run by reducing how often the car needs polished.

As a side note, I HIGHLY recommend purchasing microfibers from Autoality. The quality of their towels are fantastic, the price is better than that of Autogeek (for the same towel listed above, it's $2 a towel cheaper or $4 cheaper for a 3 pack), and for orders under a certain weight, orders from Autoality ship for free. Not only that, but T (the store owner) is a great guy, and I like supporting small, local businesses when I can.

 

Microfiber Towels & Cloths

Go edgeless too.

 

Edgeless is good, but not necessary. If you do go edgeless, make sure to go with a quality cloth so that the edges don't start unraveling after a few washes.

 

I'll be honest, waterless is not in my favor. I guess I live by the rule of rinsing first, then washing lol

That said, I am certainly not attempting to steer people away from waterless washing. Some areas of the country still have certain water restrictions, and waterless washing aids in keeping a clean vehicle without much hassle

 

yah, but you end up needing to use more towels so not sure how much water is actually saved when you consider the extra water the washing machine uses...

 

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of waterless either. I much prefer either a traditional wash, or rinseless washing (which I've recently gotten in to). All it takes is about 4-5 gallons of water (2-3 in a "soap" bucket, and 2 in a rinse bucket). I use two waffle weave microfiber towels to dry the car, and when I'm done washing, the car is already dry (much less of a chance of water spotting compared to traditional washing).

I feel much more comfortable doing a rinseless was compared a waterless, just because there is so much more solution on the paint surface to help lubricate and pull dirt off of the surface.

 

the waterless i use has SUPER lubricity. and ive not gotten swirls from using it either.

i use the Griot'sGarage SprayOn CarWash. in fact i use it over the weekend to clean my dd ('12 GE).