Microfiber shedding and risk?

[tnforever]

Hello all, I've been a microfiber user for a couple years now, started with the big Costco packs of 36 towels and gradually moving up to things like Meg's and Viking.



This is not a recent problem, but one I've seen again today and am curious about. When I used to clean glass with the Costco towels, on the car it would leave no apparent lint, and under inspection from the sun no apparent lint either, but when I used it on glass, with IG, the towel would "bite" into the glass as the glass dried out.



After finishing, the glass would indeed be clean, except when I'm in the car, there would be an infinite number of little glittering specks. At first I had come to the horrible conclusion that I scratched the glass, only to find that they are really tiny fibers that I could wipe away with a wet rag.



Today, I've done the same thing again with a TW towel (came with a detailing pack), and in the back of my mind, I raised the question of whether these little fibers are safe, especially since they're so small and you can breathe them in.



Any thoughts/studies ever done on it? I know MFs are made from polyester and polyamide, which are pretty safe chemicals, but for now, I'm moving back to good old paper towels, and keeping MFs away from glass.



Luckily I've only cleaned glass with MF a few times (less than 10) over the years. It's always been CWB with IG and a paper towel. Just so happened today I felt lazy and used the clean side of a towel I used to wipe some AW away.

 

[BigAl3]

i bought one pack of the yellow costco microfibers and will never buy them again (they still would lint after numerous washes), the ones at sams luck are better IME. there are plenty of good microfiber towels sources (otc and boutique) these days and you just got to find some that will work with no issues/problems and you'll be set...

 

[dan46n2]

Hello all, I've been a microfiber user for a couple years now, started with the big Costco packs of 36 towels and gradually moving up to things like Meg's and Viking.



This is not a recent problem, but one I've seen again today and am curious about. When I used to clean glass with the Costco towels, on the car it would leave no apparent lint, and under inspection from the sun no apparent lint either, but when I used it on glass, with IG, the towel would "bite" into the glass as the glass dried out.



After finishing, the glass would indeed be clean, except when I'm in the car, there would be an infinite number of little glittering specks. At first I had come to the horrible conclusion that I scratched the glass, only to find that they are really tiny fibers that I could wipe away with a wet rag.



Today, I've done the same thing again with a TW towel (came with a detailing pack), and in the back of my mind, I raised the question of whether these little fibers are safe, especially since they're so small and you can breathe them in.



Any thoughts/studies ever done on it? I know MFs are made from polyester and polyamide, which are pretty safe chemicals, but for now, I'm moving back to good old paper towels, and keeping MFs away from glass.



Luckily I've only cleaned glass with MF a few times (less than 10) over the years. It's always been CWB with IG and a paper towel. Just so happened today I felt lazy and used the clean side of a towel I used to wipe some AW away.

Even if you did breath them in they are way too big to cause problems, most of them will be filtered, the airborne particles that cause problems are microscopic and bypass your bodies filtering ability.

 

[carlsson]

This is not a recent problem, but one I've seen again today and am curious about. When I used to clean glass with the Costco towels, on the car it would leave no apparent lint, and under inspection from the sun no apparent lint either, but when I used it on glass, with IG, the towel would "bite" into the glass as the glass dried out.



After finishing, the glass would indeed be clean, except when I'm in the car, there would be an infinite number of little glittering specks. At first I had come to the horrible conclusion that I scratched the glass, only to find that they are really tiny fibers that I could wipe away with a wet rag.

I've noticed the exact same thing with IG using the Costco yellows. It's the rags that are at fault, I would say. On the other hand, I find IG to be not all that consistent in the way it works, as well as being more than a little problematic depending on what type of towel used.