Washing chenille mits/sponges

[NeonLights]

I just got a shipment from Detailer`s Paradise which included two of their cotton chenille wash mitts and one chenille sponge/pad. I noticed they had a pretty fair amount of lint on them, so I tossed them in the washer with a load of other cotton and foam detailing towels and pads, and when I just went to put the load in the dryer, I found the washer filled with cotton fluff. Looks like the chenille sponge/pad lost most of the stuff that was in the washer (big fluffy pieces, not lint). Are these things not safe to machine wash? I now have to do the load again to remove all of the fluff from the other stuff in the load, and I don`t know whether its safe to put the rest of chenille stuff back in. I`m leaning towards rewashing the mitts but not the sponge/pad. Any advice on how to care for these things?



-Keith

[Bill D]

Tell me about it. I hated how the chenille continues to lint like crazy. If you decide to wash by hand maybe you can cut down on the lint :nixweiss I`m sticking with sheepskin even if people find it a PITA to dry.

[NeonLights]

I`ve done some searching through old posts on Autopia and saw that the chenille mits do llint, but I had no idea they`d be this bad. I used wool mitts for years and last year switched to a boars hair brush, but I`m afraid that the brush might be introducing some scratches to our cars (two are dark green, one is black, the fourth one is a beater and never gets washed). I`ve heard good things about cotton chenille mits so I thought I`d give them a try, but not if I`m gonna get a lot of lint and fluff all over our dark colored cars.



-Keith

[shaf]

Quality of things like mitts with no clear or well-known manufacturer can vary sometimes. Some mitts shed/lint a lot, while others don`t....



Personally I`d never machine wash any of my mitts. They`d get beat up too much in the washer and I can get them pretty clean by hand with a few minutes of patience.

[Mr Concours]

After use I soak my chenille wash mit in overnight in a bucketfull of hot water with a bit of washing powder,if its really dirty I`ll put some vanish oxy in with it.

Then hand wash the next Day.

[3Dog]

I must be real lazy.....I just squeeze the soap out, hit it with the hose sprayer, dip back in soapy water, squeeze again, spray again and let dry.

[DSVWGLI]

Any of you try a natrual sea sponge yet. They are fantastic. They will not scratch, hold about a litre of water and naturally expell dirt. I`ve had mine about a year and it`s still like new. After washing, turn upside down and rinse out then hang it in a mesh bag to dry. I have a black Jetta and the sea sponge does not scratch at all.