Cleaning a MF towel.

Egleone6

New member
How should you do it so where it performs as new? I have read that you can use a washing machine, but others say only in your sink with some woolite? And also, how should you dry them?
 
i wash mine in the washing machine with normal detergent but no fabric softener. To dry, i either put them in the dryer on low heat or hang them up to dry.
 
I think that is what I will be doing. I bought 12 of them yesterday, plus I had 2 others, I have 4 that have not been used.



Warm or Cold water? I am assuming Cool water with Woolite?
 
Try to use hot water and any quality liquid detergent that is free of dyes or perfumes.



That should be sufficient for just a normal wash. I think splashing in some Simple Green can help if its especially caked with tough waxes like Collinite or stubborn polish residue
 
I add about a cup of white vinegar to the wash, it helps to get rid of stains and adds the fluff back to the towels.
 
dave40co said:
I add about a cup of white vinegar to the wash, it helps to get rid of stains and adds the fluff back to the towels.



Thanks.



I don't have any Simple Green. What about OxyClean?
 
It is incredible how nobody seems to be doing search on the subject that has been discussed in details ad nauseum so many times.
 
Egleone6 said:
How should you do it so where it performs as new? I have read that you can use a washing machine, but others say only in your sink with some woolite? And also, how should you dry them?



It has been discussed quite a bit but FWIW:

you can use hot water

you can use a warm dryer (rarely, some fibers stiffen with heat but so far I haven't had any problems) but take them out while they're still damp to decrease static

any detergent without softener/bleach would work (some prefer liquid because the powder sometimes doesn't dissolve completely) but use the least amount of detergent you can get away with

vinegar in the rinse cycle (~1 tbsp per towel) helps remove excess detergent

ammonia & bleach weaken microfibers

to minimize lint from cotton towels, wash microfiber separately from cotton



A couple of amusing & instructive threads on boiling microfibers:

http://autopia.org/forum/detailing-...itts-am-i-nuts.html?highlight=towel+hot+water

http://autopia.org/forum/detailing-...ur-mf-towels-well-enough.html?highlight=towel

Apparently, Leo of DFTowels favorite detergent was ERA but this was three years ago.



I find if I rub in dawn into stains immediately after each use then rinse, the stains come out completely. Oxyclean helps remove stains too but when I got a little carried away with soaking the towels in dawn & oxyclean the towels faded rather quickly. No change in performance, though.
 
bleach in a washing machine with hot water. then just make sure you run the washing machine with a little bleach on hot water by itself when your done. done want any left over residue to get on your clothes next time you wash them.
 
- machine wash : hot water + detergent (free of everything and half of what mfg suggests)

- 1 tablespoon of distilled white vinegar per 16x16 towel in rinse cycle

- additional rinse cycle if necessary

- air dry
 
Egleone6 said:
Thanks.



I don't have any Simple Green. What about OxyClean?



I believe I've heard of people using some OxyClean as well with nice results. As long as its just the regular stuff, which AFAIK doesn't contain anything "extra" like dyes/perfumes/softeners, then you should be ok!
 
paul34 said:
I believe I've heard of people using some OxyClean as well with nice results. As long as its just the regular stuff, which AFAIK doesn't contain anything "extra" like dyes/perfumes/softeners, then you should be ok!





I have both kinds of OxiClean. I have the Dye/Chlorine/Perfume free OxiClean. I use this for my beer making. But I cleaned the towels with Tide Dye and Perfume Free and it worked fine. I put in about 4 dashes of Vinegar during the rinse.



Thanks again.
 
i wash in warm water with liquid tide and on the last rinse cycle add 4-5oz's of vinegar, and then off into the dryer they go on the lowest heat setting with NO fabric softener/dryer sheet...
 
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