The great Towel Debate!

[Guess My Name]

As many know I have quite a collection of micro fiber towels.

The following are the sellers of the towels I own:

CMA Viper Glass Cleaning Cloth - gold color
CMA Magic Towel - green color
YoSteve - Micro Fiber Towel - Lt. blue color
Neat Items - Micro Fiber Terry Cloth - white, Lt. blue, & mint green colors
Aztech link - MFT 12 - Lt. Blue
Aztech link - MFT 14 - Lt. Blue
Aztech link - SU1 - Lt. Blue
MicroFiber Unlimited - Pastel Micro Fiber Cloth - pink, Lt. purple, yellow, & peach
Nic Sand - Micro Fiber Cloth - Lt. blue & yellow
3M - Scotch Brite High Performance Cleaning Cloth - Lt. Blue

ADDED:
Meguiar's Ultimate wipe -Thanks Carguy- White with black trim
Turtle Wax - Windows & dusting Cloth - Green
TW - Polishing & wax Removal Cloth - Lt Blue
TW - Washing & drying cloth - Royal Blue

Detailer Choices 3 pack (AutoZone) - Micro Fiber Cloths - Lt. green & Lt. Yellow & Lt. blue suede Glass cloth. The kit has a 2 terry towels and 1 glass suede. These Detailer's choice are different then those Detailers Choice I have seen at other places. The packaging is different in that it is a platic case not stapled to cardboard.

ADDED:
YoSteve - New Micro Fiber Towel - Green
Meguiar's Ultimate wipe -Thanks Carguy- White with black trim
Turtle Wax - Windows & dusting Cloth - Green
TW - Polishing & wax Removal Cloth - Lt Blue
TW - Washing & drying cloth - Royal Blue


I have others but I am unsure of whose they are so I will not comment.

I looked at the CMA towels, Yosteve's towel, Aztech link and Neat Items under a microscope I have. I could not see much difference at a 20X power. They are neat looking though. The Viper glass says looped ends but I noticed all of them had looped ends. Some had a few strands that were poking out. but I must say they do have a bunch of tiny fibers per square inch.

I consider the following to be high end towels suitable for my cars paint and I did some analysis of them and it follows:

CMA Viper Glass Cleaning Cloth, CMA Magic Towel, YoSteve, Neat Items, Aztech link - MFT 14 & SU1

Well I felt all towels and measured thickness using calipers. They all are within about 0.020" thickness. And yeah it was a pain and I figure my error was more like 0.030". To the touch with eyes closed the CMA Magic Towel felt the thickest and seemed to be the densest.

Of these high end towels I do not think there is too much difference to warrant saying one is better than the other. I do give the edge to the CMA MAgic though for being denser. I wish I had an accurate scale so I could weigh but I do not.

I do not think the Viper glass towel as special as compared to the others. It feels the same looks the same under the microscope as the others. I would use it on my paint but since it is the only gold one I have it makes it easier to recognize that it is used on glass only.

I rate all the towels below on a 1-10 scale. The scale is such that the higher the number the better the towel and my opininion is the less likely it is to swirl paint. I have also added notes to some.

9.0 - CMA Viper Glass Cleaning Cloth

9.1 - CMA Magic Towel - I rate this the best of my bunch!

8.8 - YoSteve - Micro Fiber Towel - Extremely similiar to the NeatItem Lt. Blue towel. I had a hard time telling them apart.

8.8 - Neat Items - Micro Fiber Terry Cloth - I found all colors about the same except the white felt thinner to my hands even though it measured the same as the other. THe tag removes easiest out of the Lt. blue whereas the other colors are a PIA!

7.1 - Aztech link - MFT 12 - This towel has a coarse weave and did not feel as soft as the MFT 14.

8.6 - Aztech link - MFT 14 - A good towel the size is smaller thaqn the others hence the lower rating but otherwise identical weave and feel as the Neatitems and YoSteve.

N/A - Aztech link - SU1 - This is a suede towel and I was blown away. I will be buying more suedes in the future and doing similar tests on them. Suedes are a different towel and have a different purpose so I did not rate it here.

6.3 - MicroFiber Unlimited - Pastel Micro Fiber Cloth - These towels were not as dense and were a bit smaller in size. They are delegated to household use and grunt work. They can be used on paint by why bother when there are better towels for a bit more money.

N/A - 3M - Scotch Brite High Performance Cleaning Cloth - This towel was designed for monitors and such. I would not use it on paint since it is pretty thin. It is soft so I use it on the interior of the truck only.

8.5 - Detailers Choice (AutoZone) - Micro Fiber Cloth - I found the info after revisiting the auto parts store. I have had these a while and I do love them. They are very close to the high end towels. Problem with mine is I used them so much they are kinda dirty and worn so it is hard to judge them properly. I plan on looking for more of these. the lt green one is the best and has white serging. It feels almost like the CMA Magic towel for density. It rated low due to having some threading come loose and a few runs. This is due to me and my abuse of this towel. I bet if I had a newer one it would rate 9.0ish. I am on the lookout for them.


9.1 - YoSteve - New Micro Fiber Towel - Green - Hard to tell the difference versus the Viper green towel. Great towel and well priced.

8.0 - Meguiar's Ultimate wipe - White with black trim - I found this towel a great towel but thinner than others rated higher and for the price I think Neat Items or the TWs are worth a try.

8.8 - Turtle Wax - Windows & dusting Cloth - Green
TW - Polishing & wax Removal Cloth - Lt Blue
TW - Washing & drying cloth - Royal Blue
I am grouping the rating on these towels because I could not find any significant differance other than color. They were bought at pep boys for $4 each and are well equal to the Neat Items which I will use for reference. They are 70/30 blend on a heavy duty tag which was easily removed. They are 16x16. P/Ns are MC1W, MC1P, & MC1G and are made in China. I suggest you check them out at local retailers as they are much better then what they are selling (NICSAND)



This review does not say much but it can be a guide.

The one thing that amazed me was how close the YoSteve and NeatItems towels are down to the serging color. I will easily be confused as to which is which.

For Neat Items towels I say the Lt. BLue is the best. The label comes off easiest other than that the three colors were the same except for the white feeling a bit thinner.

PEACE

[BradE]

Nice post Guess. I am also very impressed with Neatitems towels, for the $$$ they are pretty tough to beat.

[Likecars]

Excellent GMN.

I believe that's the first time Lt Blue has beat the mint greens. THANKS! Now I'm going to have to try some. I had been doing so well avoiding the group buy so close to the post Christmas financial recovery.

[Prinz]

Thanks! Now I need to find someone with a microscope to check out my micro fibers. BTW, did you count the fibers per sq inch?

I have all the colors from neatitems and I really can't tell too much difference in them. I guess maybe my hands are too rough.

[Guess My Name]

Nah I did not count them it was hard I had to hold a flashlight on top since the lower light was not strong enough to shine through.

I tell ya they are very cool looking. I did not get down like they do on those websites where they show one fiber that looks like a bunch of pis slices were cut out.

But I could tell that most were looped for the most part. Next I will be getting slides and looking at the abrasives under microscope to see if I can see anything. ANyone have any slides?

[jimwh]

I take it that CMA has changed the color of the Magic Towel, as mine are a light (or powder) blue. Mine are about 9 months old.

My green towels are the Viper Detailing cloths, but I realize that manufacturers change colors when they wish.

Excellent post GMN !!

[Guess My Name]

Jim my viper came with the water blade kit and was a single in the pack. I do not have the packaging but I reread the CMA site to check what they ship with the kit.

[jimwh]

ah...Mine was the 3 pack of detailing cloths, which is what they include the the 5 pack kit (3 green, 1 glass & 1 Magic). Maybe that's why...

[Don2000g]

Good feedback. However, some of those "different" towels that you've rated are actually the same.

[FLONI]

....something that u said....about the gold window viper....there's gotta be something different about that MF....im not sure what but that sucker shed like crazy when i first got it...because i didnt wet and wring it out before use like the instructions say....now maybe the yellow/gold lint is alot easier to notice than the blue/mint green...but ive never seen any MF i ever had lint as bad as that viper one....so they have to do something different to it.....i always kind of thought it was a little bit of a scam to sell it as a "glass" cleaning MF as opposed to just another MF....but it definitely works great...once you break it in.....

also....i too think my original Miracle toels are the ultimate that ive ever used....steves are pretty close 2nd....the neatitems are cool...god knows i have a ton....but i think steves feels alot softer to me than the neatitems...maybe its just my soft delicate and sensitive nursey hands.................. ...ill give neatitems credit for 1 thing...they're suede MF's....nothing buffs to an incredible extra shine...like deep.....that towel is totqally useless to soak up any kind of fluid......but it buffs like crazy................

BTW...when are you heading up this way....i thought you ha to come get your aunt or sumthin...ive been waiting

[jimwh]

The trick with the yellow Viper Glass Cleaning Cloth is to make sure that you thoroughly wet it and then WRING until the cows come home. The object is to get as much wetness out of the towel before using it.

This prevents using too much product and will give the best performance. Continually wring it if it gets too wet.

I had problems with it in the beginning, too, until I tried this method. Ever since, no problems at all. In fact, I keep a dry one with me at all times to clean my glasses.

Also, I must be one of the fortunate ones that has never had a linting problem.

[FLONI]

i learned the hard way about the wringing.....i didnt do it enough and thats when i had yellow stuff everywhere.......good reminder jim.......BTW......i am officially saying im a retard cause you know the viper has it printed all over the package to wring it well.....