Microfiber laundering - A nightmare find...

[Lonnie]

have you considered making a pvc drying rack or something? I use the sticky hooks and place them under the door frame so I can hang the towels on hangers but still shut the door (to the laundry room) when the hangers are not in use

might not work so well for someone who doesn`t live by themselves but I`ve never even had a woman notice those sticky hooks were there unless I had towels drying on them

I don`t even like using the same washing machine for my micros but I do because I don`t really have space for a second washing machine just for the micros. Plus I feel that would be further wading into the deep end and I`m already waist deep, ha.

Good point about air-drying vehicle exterior-dedicated microfiber towels INDOORS to keep them clean. I usually dry mine on the clothes line outdoors, BUT in a residential neighborhood when someone cuts their grass or its a dry, windy day,"lawn and tree debris" can and will get into those microfibers. Not a good thing for wiping vehicle exteriors. Tree leaf and small bark pieces , not to mention pollen, can be (and is) quite abrasive.

Trying to hand-pick out debris from good (IE, expensive) microfiber towels can and is a time-consuming job. It`s one of the reasons professional detailers work INDOORS (unless, of course, your detailing is a MOBILE one doing customer`s vehicles OUTDOORS). No tree and grass "natural" debris to mess up wipe-downs or wipe-offs. Sometimes I wonder if that is one of the "unknown causes" of micro-marring (or just plain marring) for hobbyists and weekend warriors. Try just washing a car outdoors in the fall when the leaves have turned color on dry, windy day in the Upper Midwest; you never will again. (Been there-done that; live-and-learn)

[Accumulator]

Whenever I air-dry my textiles...MF, cotton, whatever...they come out stiff. That`s even with filtered/softened water...never have figured it out.

And yeah...while I wash all sorts of stuff in my shop`s washer, I never take my Detailing MFs outside nor use them for anything other than Detailing. Never work outside period other than inspections in sunlight. My environment just isn`t clean enough...suppose that`s gonna vary between different people, but I sure sympathize with anyone who has to do their detailing outdoors.

[Oneheadlite]

Thanks for all the input!

I`m going to start with shake, vacuum, double wash, dry, and vacuum and see if they still skeeve me out.

An indoor drying rack sounds interesting, but like Accumulator I find they end up more plush after running through the dryer.

"Ron" em

(garbage or engine work)

Would love to be able to do that, but I`m not currently in a position to replace the $100+ in towels. I`ve gotta try to save them.


Found out the mystery of how I missed sand in the dryer before I started - It wasn`t there when I put the towels in.
The night after my discovery, I was relaying to my wife why I was so late getting up to bed. The look on her face as I was explaining what the towels were was both an immediate explanation of what happened, and all the apology needed for such an honest mistake: Saturday she ran all of our daughter`s shoes through the wash, and put them on a drying rack to air dry.
Sunday night I put my good towels into the dryer before I went to bed.

I leave for work at 6am, so I left them in the dryer to deal with in the evening.

Monday morning (615ish?), my wife was getting ready for work and checked the shoes - to find most of them still damp. She grabbed the driest pair and threw them in the dryer. Early morning brain meant she just saw towels that meant the shoes wouldn`t be clunking around while she tried to let our 2.5 yr old get as much sleep as she could.

And so they deposited the sand left in them into the drum. *Facepalm* Again - though a huge bummer, an honest mistake.

[nickclark08]

I have a daughter, and have had some stuff stained pink by the exact situation you mention. common to all fathers of daughters, I suppose - I wouldn`t trade it for anything though.

Sorry about the towels, I hope the super-clean and vacuum works out alright.

[512detail]

air dry!


accumulator- what detergent do you use?
im using poorboys typhoon and no crusty towels air drying

[512detail]

air dried earlier...maybe its the texas air?

[Ronkh]

Would love to be able to do that, but I`m not currently in a position to replace the $100+ in towels. I`ve gotta try to save them.

.

IMHO - in the long run it will save $$$$$ and time correcting the scratches installed.

[Accumulator]

Easy for me to spend other people`s money too, but yeah...I`d probably demote them to either undercarriage or household duty. Probably just being paranoid, but still....

OTOH, if my vehicles weren`t keepers, I`d just use `em and not care all that much about some marring. Disposable cars (which I sometimes miss) don`t need to be perfect IMO, only matters as much as we want it to.

[Mary B]

This thread makes me want a Detail specific setup for towels.
Here`s one



OR maybe a set (love the color)

[PA DETAILER]

OFF TOPIC. I also run a cleaner in the dishwasher on occasion.

[Mooser]

Inside my shop is a waaaay more dangerous environment than the outside world but it`s the only place I`ve got "out of direct sunlight" so there`s always a transition period from working shop to detailing shop before I can do anything "clean"
M

Whenever I air-dry my textiles...MF, cotton, whatever...they come out stiff. That`s even with filtered/softened water...never have figured it out.

And yeah...while I wash all sorts of stuff in my shop`s washer, I never take my Detailing MFs outside nor use them for anything other than Detailing. Never work outside period other than inspections in sunlight. My environment just isn`t clean enough...suppose that`s gonna vary between different people, but I sure sympathize with anyone who has to do their detailing outdoors.

[Accumulator]

Mary B- While my approach is a little different (shop washer/dryer is for Detailing stuff and/but also other nasty laundry), yeah...I`ve *always* had two sets of washers/dryers ever since I first had my own place. FWIW, I`m a HUGE fan of old-tech direct-drive washes with agitators, which are often available really cheap since they`re all getting pretty old now. I got my first set for the shop for free from the lady whose house I`d bought...and they were still going strong when I sold them along with that shop decades later. Some of the old stuff just lasts and lasts, and IME cleans better than the fancy new-tech ones.

Mooser- Ah, OK...you know best what`s best for you That sounds like the shop I mentioned above, with mechanical and detailing work going on all the time in the same area (used to pull my good cars into the showroom for everything but the wash).

[Accumulator]

PA DETAILER- Yeah, I can just imagine what the inside of some people`s dishwashers look like!