DF Concours Microfiber Towels

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imported_memnuts

New member
As everyone knows I has been converted to using MF towels lately ( call me hard-headed and old school ( 100% cotton)). Like any car care product one has to search around to find which one works best for you and your car's appearance needs. Like sealants, carnuabas, tire dressing, and interior care products, microfiber towels also have various favors. The most popular is the polyester blend type MF. Very soft, durable and plush enough for car care uses.

There was a thread last week discussing MF towels and their construction. The thread started because of someones concern with using a polyester product on his/her paint. Several very technical points were posted by DFTowel. This illustration of knowledge caused me to really look at his name - DFTowel. I did a web search and found out why he was so knowledgeable. His company makes microfiber towels. He is a weave (textile) person by trade. What I found very interesting about his MF is the fact that they are "natural" in terms of being manufactured from cellulose rather than polyester blend. Cellulose:scared . My first thoughts was "MF towel made from wood"? I did a little research after remembering a little college botany - "cotton and vegetable fibers both come from plants. The main ingredient in all vegetable fibers is cellulose, a carbohydrate found in all plant life. Both cotton and linen are vegetable fibers. WOW :shocked , the best of both worlds 100% cotton-like fiber and a towel made from the microfied weave of this material. I got to try this DF towel!! I ordered a 16 x 29" towel. Boy is it soft. Let's remember the the poly-type MF's are already extremely soft but this cellulose derived terry towel is beyond that. The DF towel is well constructed ( seams and thread are also of natural material) and the plushes MF I have tested so far. Unfortunately this plushness created by the large looped terry weave can create a minor car detailing problem. Snags. One must be very careful when buffing around edges and emblems. No big deal after becoming alerted to this problem. The towel buffs off both carnuaba (P21S) and sealant (BLACKFIRE 2) flawlessly. I have wash it twice and it retains its plushness and softness. Actually after the first wash ( instructed to do so prior to first usage) it increased in softness.

This is a high-end towel. For those who show their cars you can even have them embroided (SS,Z28,911,BMW) I wish they offered a 16 x 16 size which would probably drop the individual price( maybe ~ $6 - $7). The 16 x 29 was $11 plus shipping.

Bottom line is that we have another excellent variant in the microfiber family - all "natural" MF towel. Go to the DF Concours Towel website and read the interesting articles. Some statements are biased but still very enlightening.

Do you need a MF of this quality for car care? Probably not. Do you want a towel of this quality - Yes

Recommendation::xyxthumbs :xyxthumbs :xyxthumbs

Has anyone else used this towel?:wavey
 
Thanks for the review, BlkZ28! I too was intrigued by that thread a week ago. I found the DFTowel very intriguing. It's on my Christmas list, so hopefully I'll get to try it out soon. My main interest was for drying the car off. My Pakshaks aren't quite up to that challenge, although they are great for everything else. Have you tried this with the DF's? I hope that one large towel will be able to dry the car completely. Thanks for sharing your experience! :xyxthumbs
 
I got to read the prior threadf again!! I like your review and was thinking of getting some (the price made me think if getting a waffle weave as an alternative). I think I will try the "new" mf.:wavey
 
ejant said:
I've been using the DF Towels since the beginning of August, they to me are the best by far.

Try using them with Z6, the paint is so slick if you lose the towel it will literally fly away.
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LOL.:D I did use it with Z6 the other day. You are correct the Z6 slickness ( great on BF2) and the softness and feel of the DF one must be very careful. Zero resistance.:xyxthumbs

Ejant are you keeping any more secrets from us?;) :D



Aurora 4.0

I have not used it to dry a car. I'm getting good results with the P21S synthetic chamois followed with PakShak's waffle-weave MF. Judging by the way the DF felt wet prior to throwing into the dryer that it would be good for car drying. Bath towel size and plushness with microfiber absorbancy.:xyxthumbs :wavey
 
Thanks for the great review Ed, you make me blush! :D



To do a 16x16 doesn't work since the usable width of this expensive fabric is 59" I need to eliminate waste so to make a 16" towel I would get three across then have about 10 inches left which is hard to use.



As far as drying is concerned, this fabric absorbs about 30 times more than pure cotton HOWEVER it's absorption rate is slower. In other words, if you wipe fast it will push the water around, wipe slowly and it will suck it right up. This is what makes it work well on glass, first spray, wipe fast to clean, wipe slow to dry. Personally I use a leaf blower on my car first then use a towel to wipe up the excess.
 
Yes, I’ve tried the DF Concours towel and I think it works pretty well. They look and feel like ultra, super-soft cotton Charisma towels, but if you look at the threads very carefully, you can see that they are composed of many individual microscopically sized yarns.



Another thing worth mentioning is the way the edges are structured. They are covered with a ‘bias binding’, where a material completely covers the edge and is wrapped and sewn onto the edge. I have found that if you accidentally fold your SERGED MF towel incorrectly and buff your car so that the serged threads on the edges rub against your paint, they scratch. Supposedly, the bias binding material in these DF towels will not cause any scratching because they are made of the same or similar blend of cotton & cellulose the yarns are made of. Haven’t tested that yet though.



In terms of the effort required to fully buff wax, polish & QD, I still give the SLIGHT edge to our favorite Pakshak/JT/YoSteve/CMA/MF Tech towels. They seem to wick product a tad better than the DFs. But on the other hand, I really like how the DF's don't cling and grab unto your paint when trying to buff QD. Instead, they just glide over your paint. I also tried using one without QD to dust the car (per Leo's suggestion) and it worked beautifully.



I have the 16 x 29's also, but I think I'm going to order some 12 x 12's. These towels are a bit 'heavier' than what I'm used to and the smaller size might make them a little easier to work with.



I’m considering making the permanent switch to DF towels because I often find the corners of my poly-blended MF towels ever so slightly melted. I always dry on the lowest setting and for the last ten minutes of the cycle I turn the heat off. Once in a while, a few tiny melted balls break off (due to the clingy nature of all the MF towels together in the dryer) and get stuck on the face of another MF towel (I noticed one a few days ago because of the different color) and this could be a prescription for scratches.



Aurora, IMO, while the DF towel works fine for drying, it doesn't work quite as well as a good-sized waffle-weave MF towel.
 
DFTowel said:
As far as drying is concerned, this fabric absorbs about 30 times more than pure cotton HOWEVER it's absorption rate is slower. In other words, if you wipe fast it will push the water around, wipe slowly and it will suck it right up. This is what makes it work well on glass, first spray, wipe fast to clean, wipe slow to dry. Personally I use a leaf blower on my car first then use a towel to wipe up the excess.
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Gotcha, thanks for clearing that up! Actually I was a little puzzled when I tried using one to dry my car. I'll try using slower motions! :)
 
Thanks Leo and Tony very much for expanding on my comments.:up



Thanks everyone for comments about my review.:xyxthumbs



Leo (DFTowel), you are welcome and stop blushing ;)
 
blkZ28Conv said:
LOL.:D I did use it with Z6 the other day. You are correct the Z6 slickness ( great on BF2) and the softness and feel of the DF one must be very careful. Zero resistance.:xyxthumbs

Ejant are you keeping any more secrets from us?;) :D



Aurora 4.0

I have not used it to dry a car. I'm getting good results with the P21S synthetic chamois followed with PakShak's waffle-weave MF. Judging by the way the DF felt wet prior to throwing into the dryer that it would be good for car drying. Bath towel size and plushness with microfiber absorbancy.:xyxthumbs :wavey
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Since when does Pak Shak have waffle weave:nixweiss
 
blkZ28Conv said:
My mistake. MicrofiberTech Waffle-weave.:bow
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blkZ28,



Out of curiosity, did you by any chance try the grey waffle-weave that MicrofiberTech offers? Their website indicates it's slightly lighter, but softer than the blue towel of the same size . . .



Tort
 
TortoiseAWD said:
blkZ28,



Out of curiosity, did you by any chance try the grey waffle-weave that MicrofiberTech offers? Their website indicates it's slightly lighter, but softer than the blue towel of the same size . . .



Tort
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Tort,

The waffle-weave I have is lime green. I can not compare it with any others. It is soft and I use it to finish drying after the synthetic chamois ( P21S/S100) initial wipe. Sorry I can't answer your question about the grey/blue towel comparison.:wavey
 
blkZ28Conv said:
Tort,

The waffle-weave I have is lime green. I can not compare it with any others. It is soft and I use it to finish drying after the synthetic chamois ( P21S/S100) initial wipe. Sorry I can answer your question about the grey/blue towel comparison.:wavey
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Then I guess I'm going to be the guinea pig . . . I plan to order one blue, one grey, and a couple of the smaller green ones from MicrofiberTech, and a couple from JTInt. Ranney hinted in another thread that waffle-weaves should be coming soon to the PakShak lineup . . . if so, I'll try a couple of those, too. Some will be gifts for friends, and I'd like to add at least a couple more to my own collection of two BBTs from CMA. The two are more than enough to dry my own car, but when I do polish jobs for others, I'm washing at least twice. I think having a couple of fresh towels for the second drying will be convenient.



I'll post some reviews once I've done comparisons . . .



Tort
 
Well as usual, I caved in and bought one of these towels. Damn blkZ28Conv, I have to stop reading your review posts:D Any way, the towel showed up today and holy crap man, this thing looks like it belongs in a $1000/night hotel! It's almost like silk! I haven't used it on the car yet though, but wanted to post that it feels really nice and you can definitely see the different structure (looped).
 
DP-Jedi said:
Well as usual, I caved in and bought one of these towels. Damn blkZ28Conv, I have to stop reading your review posts:D Any way, the towel showed up today and holy crap man, this thing looks like it belongs in a $1000/night hotel! It's almost like silk! I haven't used it on the car yet though, but wanted to post that it feels really nice and you can definitely see the different structure (looped).
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I agree DP-Jedi. When I first received the towel I was extremely impressed with the packaging and label presentation. The towel is of "4-Star" hotel quality.

I use the DF Towel for light dusting ( like a Cali duster) and final buffing of wax / sealant and QD removal. As Tony and DFTowel mentioned the "wicking" ability is not on par with the poly blend MF's ( unless one follows Leo's slower wipe method) So I initial remove wax/sealant or QD with poly MF's ( PakShak, MicrofiberTech:xyxthumbs ) and final buff with the DF Towel.:xyxthumbs

One thing is for sure. If one damages their finish while using the Df Towel it would not be the towel's fault. It's just too soft. :wavey
 
Intermezzo said:
I’m considering making the permanent switch to DF towels because I often find the corners of my poly-blended MF towels ever so slightly melted. I always dry on the lowest setting and for the last ten minutes of the cycle I turn the heat off. Once in a while, a few tiny melted balls break off (due to the clingy nature of all the MF towels together in the dryer) and get stuck on the face of another MF towel (I noticed one a few days ago because of the different color) and this could be a prescription for scratches.
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In all fairness to Pakshak, I should mention that i closely examined my towels over the weekend and noticed that I only get this problem with my older towels and NOT my pakshak towels. In fact, the Pakshak towels are stitched beautifully and are very compact. The "prominent" stitchings on my other towels are colored differently from the rest of the towel and are the ones that seem prone to melted corners. Since I don't have this problem at all with Pakshak towels, I highly doubt I'll be making the switch over to the all natural DF towels (in case anyone's interested).
 
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