s2k Owner

My mom has these volkswagon car kit products, it came with this towel that is 100% microfiber( 80% polyester/ 20% polyamid) is this a safe towel to use? I keep hearing that you should use 100% cotton, but this did come from volkswagon so I just wanted to know if it was still safe to use, thanks.

shizon'00

From all the tests I've seen, quality is a big issue. It's a 50/50 chance. Kinda like playing russian roulette with worse odds.

kster

I use microfiber towels to dry my car and to quick detail it. So, in general, microfiber towels work great but as shizon'00 said, it depends on the how well it is made.

BTW, this is the one I use:
http://properautocare.com/miracletowel.html

StwoK

Using cotton over time for washing or removing wax will put those small hairline scratches all over your car!

To remove water use a soft chamois or TurtleWax's Miracle towel at 1/2 the price.

For removing wax removing, your local automotive store(NAPA) may carry a product called TORK 909 polishing cloth. They're a special woven paper product that is soft enough to use on your vinyl window and are disposiable. Also someone metioned MicroFiber towels. Microfiber towels are also soft enough to use on your vinyl window without scratching it. Microfiber towels are machine washable, so they can be used many times. I use TORK 909 to remove wax (when it gums up pitch it)and the MicroFiber towel buff it out ! MicroFiber towels are great for removing that cloudy build-up on glass windows too. Send your soft cotton towels to the tarsh !

shizon'00

Why do you say this? The only time I can ever imagine a 100% high quality cotton towel scratching is if you're either rubbing incredibly hard with dirt on the towel or if you've used the same one for over a year (they do wear out).

Most quality chamois's by themselves won't scratch, but provide no buffer zone if there is a contaminent on the paint. Also, never use a polishing cloth on your paint. There's a reason it's called a polishing cloth. The word polish itself means to scratch (which sometimes can be beneficial to a vinyl or glass window).

The cotton material itself cannot scratch. It sounds like you got some cheaper towels from the auto store that said 100% cotton on them and used them. In reality, they are 100% cotton nap but 100% polyester backing. That's what scratches the car.

StwoK

[QUOTE]

shizon'00

Whoa....easy there fella

Hey, I'm just telling you how it is. I also have a BLACK ford explorer. I know how it is to take care of a black vehicle. Believe what you want, but really, there's no practical way to avoid scratches showing on a black car that's daily driven. If you drive it, you're getting those hairline scratches. You just fix them or cover them and get it back to new again. Cotton has been proven over and over and over again that it won't scratch clearcoats (unless you really try to by standing on the towel on the car and dancing or something retarded like that). It has also been proven that some microfiber towels scratch (even within the same brand/type). It's hard to control the quality on the microfibre towels evidently.

I don't have a problem with technology. Where did that even come from?

StwoK

Wrong !

Those scratches don't come from driving. The sun light has to hit them just right to be seen, I guess it depends how pickie you are. I used Meguiar's Swirl Remover #9 on the Accord to return to the finish to factory new. I pitched the cotton towels and now use the TurtleWax Miracle towel, MicroFiber towel, and Tork 909 for the last 9 months now and have always used them on the S2000. The harline scratches or swirls come from what a person uses to clean and wax the vehicle. As far as technology goes, cotton is old and Microfiber/TORK 909 towels are new. The Microfiber towels that I'm using are a TurtleWax product and like I said before they won't scratch my soft vinyl rear window. I don't have examples of other brands of MicroFiber towels, the same could also be said about cotton towels. When I mail ordered my cotton towels they were the softest 100 % cotton towels I could find at the time. The TurtleWax MicroFiber is simply softer. I guess it all depends on just how pickie a person is going to be.

shizon'00

That's fine. We'll just agree to disagree.

I guess I'm just more of a scientific guy than "it feels softer" guy. I'll trust what I've done and what the experts in the car care industry agree on. Since I'm a Zaino user (new technology opposed to carnauba products) I'll do what works and what Sal Zaino says to do since he's been doing it for 40 years. He did a test on microfiber towels when they came out and said it was a 50/50 chance on getting a good high quality towel, but he did say the microfiber's that didn't scratch did a good job. He just says go with the sure thing....cotton.

All I have to say is don't get caught up in all the marketing hype of a lot of car products.

BTW, I never meant to imply that chamois's scratch by themselves, just that if something gets between the finish and the chamois, it will scratch because there is nowhere for the contaminant to go unlike a good cotton towel where it will be swept into the nap.

If you don't believe me, read about the horror stories of some of the water blade users. Dust scratches and there's always dust. You're probably getting scratched, just covering it up with whatever wax you use (I'm assuming you wax regularly and with a high-quality carnauba based wax). You're filling in scratches like Z5 does for me.

StwoK

[QUOTE] Originally posted by shizon'00