Cleaning MF towels, wash mits, and detailing tools.

[BMW645]

How do you wash your MF towels and wash mitts? What works? Brake dust on my MF towels are hard to get out, and it gets to be expensive having the replace them every wash?

I've used liquid laundry detergent, but it's not strong enough. I am also worried about how much the cleaning stuff is good for my pain job, or if it would 'neutralize' the wax I put on my car.

Anyways, what's the best way to clean MF, and wash mitts?

thanks.

[edonthenet]

I've tried lots of soaps and detergents and Woolite w/ hot water seems to work the best. It doesn't leave the MF towels stiff like regular laundry soaps.

[Setec Astronomy]

Stains are inevitable on any fabric on contact with the right...er...stain. If you are worried about the stain harming your paint, then segregate your MF's as many do so that the ones you use on wheels (brake dust) aren't used for paint. Another tip is to segregate the ones you use for glass. As far as detergent residue, you need to make sure you are thoroughly rinsing, especially for drying towels.

[BigAl3]

i use liquid tide with cold/warm water and dry on low with no fabric softener. on the last rinse cycle, i adjust the water a quarter turn more to insure all the detergent gets rinsed out.

[CoryB]

I've been trying something different with my microfibres recently and like the results - nice and fluffy!

I wash with Liquid Tide and go through the regular rinse cycles. Then I rewash again using 0.5 cup of white vinegar to remove all of the detergent. I know a lot of people use vinegar in the final rinse only, but I find the longer agitation of the wash cycle makes the towels feel even softer.

Then I dry them as normal with no fabric softener sheet.

[qadsan]

On my MF's that get super dirty and or greasy, I've been washing them with Simple Green and I'm quite impressed with their appearance afterwards. I probably won't do this with my newest cleaner MF's and will stick to Woolite for them, but the ones that get grimey dirty will get the Simple Green treatment.

I've been trying various cleaners over the last week and had soaked some of my MF towels in dawn, some in Tide, some in Sears laundry cleaner with OxyClean, Woolite, etc, and many of the towels came out much cleaner as expected, but some still had black marks on them that pre-treating and scrubbing didn't get rid of. The rinse water from numerous hand washes came out clean and I thought that may be as good as it gets even though the black marks still bugged me. I poured some Simple Green at full strength into one of my MF towels and worked it in before rinsing it out. To my amazement I could see more filth in the rinse water and the stains were significantly reduced or removed.

Don't go hog wild with the Simple Green because it may end up being a bad idea for MF's, but so far so good for me on my MF's that get flithy from the trucks I'm detailing.

[BMW645]

Pinnacle Car Care Products sell cleaning agents for MF towels. I've never used them, has anyone here tried them out?

btw, thanks for all the information, guys.