i'm retired and puttering around in the garage is what i do now to keep active. plus, the mrs. won't let me smoke the cigars in the house anymore. so, here i am in the garage with the computer, coffee pot, box of cigars, the vette and my latest purchase of buffing towels. i had no idea there were so many different kinds of towels for the car. this has made my new hobby interesting.
i decided to compare three buffing towels to see what i liked, or don't, about them before purchasing a bundle. here's what i have:
concours buffing towel
meguiars ultra-plush super terry
sonus der wunder buffing towel
each of these towels is very different, yet they have some unique things in common.
i called this one fella who was adamant about not using microfiber towels because they scratch. he said the edging is what makes most microfiber towels a bad product to use on paint, especially black. he also said that 100% made in the USA cotton terry was the only toweling I should use. i took his words to heart and found towels with proper edging, including a cotton terry towel.
i went everywhere looking for towels locally, but all i could find was junk. i found a source for viking brand towels, but their soft blue towel said it was for drying, not buffing. plus, when i felt their cotton towels, they were thin and rough. all of the other cotton towels I found were from pakistan. i found bunches of generic microfiber towels (yellow mostly) that had rough edging.
i finally ended up placing my order for cotton and microfiber towels with
www.bettercarcare.com on friday morning and the package arrived in yesterday’s mail. the priority delivery charge for the towels was less than $6, and i know i spent more than that on gas running around town. at my age, you’d think i would have learned by now.
back to the towels. i already had the concours buffing towel and have used and washed it twice. i washed the new towels as instructed. the
meguiar’s ultra-plush felt much thicker and softer after washing. the sonus towel felt thicker, but the softness did not change. i noticed with the concours towel, it felt thicker after washing, but the softness downgraded.
i used all three towels to buff off waxes. all three worked well, but the meguiar’s super terry worked the best, followed by the der wunder buffing towel.
i washed the towels again and used them with spray detailers. the der wunder towel worked the best, followed by the meguiar’s super terry. the der wunder towel left no lint and wiped off the finish the cleanest and fastest. concours buffing towel was very slow at wiping off detail spary, but the final finish was nice (some linting).
a couple of worthy notes. i have had my concours buffing towel a week or two and when i got it i thought nothing could be better. i was so wrong. initial looks and feel can be deceiving (that’s what the wife has been trying to tell me for years). the rubber met the road while testing these products side by side:
* the meguiar’s super terry is the thickest (twice as thick as the concours buffing towel when viewed folded twice) and most plush
* the der wunder towel is the most versatile and lint free
* the concours buffing towel is sexy, slinky and looks good on the fender, but she’s kind of lazy
let’s also not forget price. the meguiar’s super terry are $4.50 each, compared to the der wunder buffing towels at $6.50 each. the concours buffing towel must be one of those ferrari jobs, because it’s more than double the price at $15! why, i have boots that cost less than that!
let me close with a comment about washing. both the meguiar’s super terry and the concours buffing towel came out of the washer with snags. i clipped them off with my pen knife and they are no worse for the wear. the
sonus der wunder buffing towel came out of the wash in perfect condition and looks to be the more durable towel.
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