Ultimate Microfiber Towel Care Guide by Liquid Finish

Ultimate Microfiber Towel Care Guide

How do you clean microfiber towels? Microfiber towel care is by far the most important maintenance for your cleaning supplies. Great quality microfiber towels can last up to 500 washes if properly cared for. However, polyester and polyamide fibers are very sensitive to improper cleaning regimens. Spoiling hundreds of dollars worth of towels can happen at any moment. In this microfiber care guide we will review:

- how not to care for your towels
- the available detergents on the car detailing market
- proper drying procedures
- the importance of white vinegar as a rinse agent
- proper task separation of each microfiber you own
- occasional “boiling water” reset procedures
- small-scale hand washing procedures

This guide is for ALL types of microfibers and pertains to any car hobbyist or any detailer of any level. I firmly believe that proper maintenance is more important than even the QUALITY of the towel you own. This guide is really meant to help create a database of proper approaches to cleaning your microfibers. At the end of the day, just make sure you have a good setup.

You may see my microfiber review here for reference:
Rag Company Review

How NOT to Clean Microfiber towels:

NO FABRIC SOFTENER, BLEACH, & DRYER SHEETS

Bleach and softeners eliminate static charge. Softeners deposit a coating on the fibers which lead to loss of absorbency, cleaning power, and streaking.

NO CROSS CONTAMINATION OF TEXTILES

Microfibers are not to be washed with any cotton or textiles of any sort, strictly microfiber loads (applicator, bonnets). Cotton, or say steel wool, will simply detach their fibers and destroy the fibers by filling them with lint. If you happen to cross mix: try the Boiling Method and decontaminate your microfibers with a few washes. This MIGHT aid the problem.

NO IRONING

Microfibers should not wrinkle unless very wet, usually they flatten and are absorbent. If you fold into each microfiber into quarters you should have no problems.

How to Properly Maintain Your Microfibers!

#1 Separate your microfibers by Task & Purpose

You should have 3 group of towels: paint delicates, all-purpose, and specialty. Paint friendly towels (Quick Detailing, Buffing, Drying) are the most delicate since they are the only objects touching your paint. Non paint towels would include all-purpose (wheel jams, wheels, metal work, engine), and interior towels. These are essentially downgraded towels not meant for delicate surfaces. Specialty towels such as glass, waffle weaves, and suede can be also separated.

#2 Pre Treat & Inspect your Washer & Towels


You can use an all-purpose cleaner to spray on exceptionally dirty spots. Inspect your laundry load to ensure light or heavy microfibers are not cross contaminated with non microfiber towels or exceptionally grimy towels.

You may create a heavy APC/Chemical solution to pretreat towels and dwell them overnight or for 1 hour. Use Meguiars Super Degreaser, Optimum Power Clean, Charlie Soap Laundry Detergent/All Purpose Cleaner.
Pretreat your washer with a quick white vinegar or laundry cleaner such as Charlie Soap to remove any residue in the laundry washer.

#3 Hot Water Wash

I recommend 120F to 200F. Korean manufacturers suggest you wash at 60 Celcius. Just make sure the water is WARM to HOT. Consumer laundry machines are unable to melt the fibers (the temperature to melt polyester is 500F), so don’t be afraid to use mild to hot temperatures. Heat does ensure the release of dirt and contaminants. Extreme high heat can cause shrinking of polyamide or polyester, however most household water heaters do not exceed 140F.

#4 Chose a “Free” Detergent

You will want a clean “free” rinsing detergent, no powders that leave residual crystals, no bleach, no softener, no perfumes. You may add all-purpose cleaners or degreasers such as Optimum Power Clean or Super Degreaser. Try to avoid harsh alkaline cleaners.

Use about half the recommended amount of normal detergent, less is more. 1 – 2 Ounces per Standard Laundry Microfiber Load, observe manufacturer recommended dosage.

Most specialized microfiber washes are degreasers with scents to be more consumer friendly. MicroRestore has surfactants and emulsifiers to remove stains. As well it contains water softeners to reduce mineral deposits. MicroRestore is simply a strong modified degreaser (specifically it’s a modification of a garage degreaser and wheel cleaner, no cause for concern however).

Household Cleaners: Tide Free, ERA, OxyClean, All Free & Clear
Boutique Cleaners: Micro-Restore, Charlie Soap, Chemical Guys Microfiber Wash, Pinnacle Micro Rejuvenator, Detailer’s Pro Series Microfiber Cleaner, 3D Towel Kleen, Blackfire/Wolfgang

#5 Use White Vinegar (pH 2) with an Extra Rinse Cycle

White Vinegar is a natural softener and rinse aid due to the acetic acid that breaks down any leftover residue from detergents or chemicals. White Vinegar has been used in the past as a natural softener and natural multipurpose cleaning chemical. It has many applications such as water spot removal and chemical cleaning.

1 Teaspoon per Towel in the Rinse Cycle. Most people just add 1/2 cup to 1 Cup per load.

*Some distributors do not recommend the use of vinegar in frequent or large doses in your washing routine since it can leave residue that induces repellency. Too much will give you a crust like effect on your fibers.

An extra rinse cycle is good; both before and after your microfiber load. Before you start your microfiber load, run white vinegar in a quick rinse cycle to remove any prior detergents or residue. For your final cleaning regimen, run white vinegar again to ensure no detergent, waxes, residue, or chemicals remain in the fibers.

#6 Line Dry or Low Heat

While your residential laundry dryer cannot melt your microfibers, (some distributors believe so, but again the heat index is not possible by normal equipment) high heat overtime reduces the life of your microfiber significantly. Due to the high electrical charge that occurs when drying on high heat, microfibers are seriously damaged and lose their natural absorbency properties. Tumble dry or delicate dry your microfiber loads. The best practice is to simply line air dry. If you use a dryer, microfibers dry significantly faster (1/3 time wise) so be careful.

Microfiber Tips & Warnings:

- Color Bleeding: It is common to have color bleeding after the first or second wash. This doesn’t compromise the cloth since the dyes are filtering out. You may want to separate each color.

- First Wash: It is preferable to wash your microfibers before their first use to ensure no contaminants from the factory or transportation remain.

- Drop it, Demote it: If your happen to drop your microfiber during your detail, simply throw it aside. Grains of dirt, sand, or contaminants become attached to the microfibers and should be washed right away. Pollen and leaves are also dangerous. Overtime some microfibers do get saturated with dirt and grime, I suggest demoting these to all-purpose tasks such as wheel or interior duty.
Storage: it’s best to store you microfibers so that no dirt or contaminants can be absorbed. Store the microfibers using zip lock bags or in plastic containers after a wash.

The Boiling Method (212 F)

Boiling water breaks down the build up of chemicals, wax, sealants, cleaning products in the fiber.
Korean manufacturers have recommended the use of “boiling” microfibers to ensure any of the dyes or contaminants from the factory are fully gone.
Be careful of boiling timetables, limit up to 20 minutes. May fade dyes.

Have Microfiber Streaking or No Absorbency Issues?

If you find water sits on the fibers as blobs or beads or the microfiber “pushes” water, most likely you have a case of cross contamination. Fibers were either contaminated with the wrong chemical, such as an improper detergent or softener. Boil you microfibers and redo your washing regimen.
Inadequate cleaning regimen can occur if your not using pristine laundry washer, which is leaving chemicals in microfiber. Also too much detergent will have an affect.

Restoring Damaged Microfibers – Flash Method

If you detail in a large amount there will be a time to reset or restore your microfibers. Essentially this method is a mix of the boiling/pretreat trick:
- boil hot water, get a large container, and dump the microfibers into the container
- add general cleaning chemicals (like Optimum Power Clean ), dump hot water, simmer those microfibers
- empty out, rinse the towels thoroughly
- start your normal laundry routine. Repeat if needed.

Small Microfiber Load? Hand Wash them!

If you have a small quantity of microfibers, you may wash them by hand:

Find a clean sink or bucket, ensure clean by rinsing with an all-purpose cleaner or vinegar
Fill appropriately with HOT water.
Scrub microfibers with small amount of detergent or cleaner
Empty water, fill with water and vinegar.
Rinse microfiber
Hang Dry

Proper Car Microfiber Towel Care

Feeling lost? Here are the short steps:

No Bleach, Softener, or Ironing.
1 Teaspoon of White Vinegar per Towel
1 to 2 oz of “free” Detergent per Standard Microfiber Load
Wash Only with Non-Linting Microfiber
Treat as Delicate with Tumble or Hang Dry


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R8JikIfrJ0
* While this video does a great summary, please note we recommend the dirt releasing power of hot water instead of cold water. *

Additional Opinions & Beliefs

- Lower grade "chinese" towels that are on the cheaper scale will lint/decrease in performance rapidly even with proper towel care. Also, these ideas are aggregates of ten years playing with many detailing towels.

- I personally like Charlie Soap since it is a dedicated special laundry detergent that removes harmful additives within most laundry detergents.
- Micro-Restore is a great specific cleaner for microfiber towel care.
- Just clean your microfibers often and immediately after usage so the chemicals can’t linger within the fibers.
- Inspecting each towel before placing into an organized sealed environment really helps isolate any contamination that can occur. We prefer to use a towel in a light manner and to constantly wash to properly ensure a long lifespan.

Proper microfiber towel care may seem intensive and laborious, however remember fibers are the only items that touch the delicate surface of your vehicle. Treat these towels like they are diapers for your baby. Would you wipe your finish or even your skin with something scratchy, dirty, or filthy? Remember the microfiber towel care breakdown:

- pre-treat and inspect microfibers
- add clean “free” detergent
- use hot water to release dirt
- add vinegar for an extra rinse agent
- air dry or tumble dry

Microfiber towel care doesn’t get harder than those five steps. Feel free to expand more on your own tricks.

Fantastic info !!!! Thanks for sharing !!!! I always line dry my MF towels. Once they are dry I throw them in the dryer for about 5 mins with those "dryer balls" to cut down on static.

Great information for people looking to take better care of their Microfibers. This thread deserves a sticky! :)

It can be messy to literally boil but rather boil water, remove from heat, and add towels. I have never done it. Once in a while I will presoak in APC if I feel a towel got contaminated (mainly my glass and drying towels).

I found Blackfire mf cleaner superior to Micro Restore. All soaps and detergents can be degreasers to one extent or another.

fantastic thread/article. I will post it on the Autopia Facebook as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bunky

It can be messy to literally boil but rather boil water, remove from heat, and add towels. I have never done it. Once in a while I will presoak in APC if I feel a towel got contaminated (mainly my glass and drying towels).

I found Blackfire mf cleaner superior to Micro Restore. All soaps and detergents can be degreasers to one extent or another.

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Was thinking about boiling some of mine to see

FL water is very hard, and was hoping this would help a little

Great post!

Give it sticky status!

Dear Friends

I`m an inexperienced detailer but discovered what I think is a pretty cool tip in the past week.

I drop every towel I use. It`s impractical for me to demote each towel`s use, because if I did I`d quickly run out of first-tier towels. I just toss them into the pile to be washed and pick up another. When I wash, most of the debris comes out, but there are a few pesky hangers on.

Guess what I found to be the perfect solution for making those hangers on come out and make themselves easily plucked. ONR. Yes, sirs, ONR made those little things come out to the end of the nap and fatten and soften up, thereby making their removal much easier.

So maybe you want to make sure you run those dropped towels in a bucket of ONR and let them soak for five to ten minutes before reinspecting and rewashing them.

Maybe you detailing veterans know this already, but I discovered it on my own and thought, Gee, this stuff is pure science at work.