When do you take MF towels out of paint duty?

[cptzippy]

Is there a time or condition that makes you no longer use your MF towels on paint any more? I`ve got some that I`ve had since 2007 and they seem ok.

[gmblack3]

Lint or marring on softer paints.

[Accumulator]

Noting that I don`t work on any really soft paints, I usually don`t take mine off paint-duty until/unless they become contaminated with something nasty or worn to the point that I`m worried about marring.



But I have noticed that as the nap wears down they often become less effective at buffing off product residue.



If in doubt regarding their safety, CD-test `em.

[Dan]

The cheapo costco/sams ones, I move them down to "other" duty after about 4-5 use cycles as they seem to get stiffer. The quality towels I keep an eye on and when they get contaminated of no longer feel baby soft.

[tom p.]

I`ve got some very old MF towels still in service. Never had an issue with any of them, but I do make it a point not to let them ever get real nasty.

[Accumulator]

I`ve got some very old MF towels still in service. Never had an issue with any of them..



Yeah, I still have a few or the orginal "Miracle Towels" in service. My old YoSteve MFs wore down so gradually that I didn`t really notice how worn they`ve become until I ran across one that somehow remained unused for all these years...yikes, what a difference!

[Brad B]

My old YoSteve MFs wore down so gradually that I didn`t really notice how worn they`ve become until I ran across one that somehow remained unused for all these years...yikes, what a difference!



That`s kind of my rule of thumb, too. I compare to some new towels. I then make the older towels `second tier` towels and use them for interior cleaning, jams, rockets, engine, etc, or places where I want a decent towel to work with ( better than a shop towel or paper towel) but not used on `beauty` parts of the paint. I keep these in a different drawer.

[imported_RZJZA80]

when a towel gets stained, I don`t bother using it again. I generally use brand new towels every time now, I use the ones from Sam`s.

[Accumulator]

Brad B.- Yeah, I have a whole RubberMaid can full of those 2nd tier ones. The last time I did the beater-Audi I used those exclusively, and I gotta say there were no problems. But I *did* cherry-pick `em to avoid the uhm... undercarriage-only ones.



RZJZA80- I generally demote mine when they get stained, but honestly I`d say that 99% of the time the stains simply don`t matter in a functional sense. Some of the ones I use on paint look kinda bad, but zero marring/etc. so I`m getting over my knee-jerk aversion to using them.