Need advice - drying towel and car wash soap

Don

Don

Darth Camaro 12/27/15
What`s up all? I have run into a problem. I am almost out of Meguiar`s Hyper Wash and AG is out of stock (1 gallon lasted me 2 years, not bad). I know a lot of you would suggest a RW or WW, but I am old fashioned and like suds - lots of suds and I don`t really want a wash & wax or something that will leave "stuff" behind after rinsing the car. That`s why I liked the Hyper Wash - it left nothing behind. What would you all suggest?

Secondly, my microfibers aren`t very absorbent - I have to dampen them like a chamois (and wring them out a lot) to get them to work well. I don`t have the income to let me get a good forced air blower (I`m stuck with an electric leaf blower that is only so-so, it leaves a lot of residual water on the car and I still have to use a mf cloth to mop up what`s left. What is a good mf towel to get for strictly drying the car? I was looking at The Rag Company`s `Dry Me a River.` Is that a good option?

Thanks.
 
Dry Me A River`s good, I have a Gyeon Silk Dryer which I love. As for soap, when I do a normal bucket wash, which is rare. I use Gyeon Bathe+, the non plus version`s the one that leaves nothing behind. It doesn`t sud a lot for me, and when I`m washing the wash I almost don`t see any. I know you said suds are important to you, but this is one of the slickest soaps I`ve used and it cleans very well. I`ve also heard a ton of good things about Carpro Reset.
 
Second on the Reset but not too sudsy. Optimum car wash mire sudsy but probably not like hyperwash.

Eldorado 2k loves the suds and he’s a Hyperwash fan. I believe he said he uses 3D pink and it suds well but not 100% sure.

As for drying towel the one that get’s most love on AG by far is Griots Garage PFM’s. Amazing towel. Their are others made of the same type of microfiber (twisted loop?) but all are around same price and why sway from a winner. Look them up on forum and you’ll see their loved.

If he doesn’t pop on this thread maybe PM Eldorado2k about the soap. He is the biggest champion for shampoo’s that suds up.


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If you really like Megs Detailer Line D110 Hyper Wash, you could try ordering from an alternate detailing product internet store OR from a Bumper-to-Bumper brink and mortar store in person.
I`ve tried Optimum`s Car Wash Soap and its OK, but I do think Hyper Wash is better and that is what I am using after reading about it in this forum by a number of professional detailers use it regularly in their business.

If you venture out of that "comfort zone" of Hyper Wash, you can try:
1) Griot`s Garage GR-11103 Car Wash in the gallon size
2) Wax Shop Cherry Car Wash
3) Poorboy`s World Super Slick Car Wash
4) 3D`s Pink Soap as mentioned above, which is the most economical (AKA cheapest) of all name brand car-care manufacturer soaps

If you want to experiment on an over-the-counter soap, I found two that I use:
1) Turtle Wax MAX wash soap, but I mix it with a little Hyper Wash soap because it does not provide the lubricity needed for "safe" washing, in my opinion.
2) Rain-X Heavy-Duty Car Wash Soap. Just found this recently at Meijer`s here in the Midwest on sale for $4.50 for 48 ounces! It cleans and foams very nicely, but is does not rinse clean the best. BUT for the price, if you do not like it for washing daily drivers via the two bucket method (2BM), you can always "demote" it to washing wheel wells, rims and tires, and under carriages (or your lawn mower, kid`s bikes, ATV`s).

For microfibers, I bought Griot`s Garage PFM Terry Weave Drying Microfiber towel in the 16x16" 2-pack, again after reading how many professional and hobbyist detailers used this towel. This is coming from someone who ONLY used a goat -skin chamois forever. This microfiber drying towel works as advertised, but is it expensive. I like the 16x16" size rather than the 25x35" towel that some found too bulky and heavy to handle when it gets saturated.
 
Coatings=crack said:
Second on the Reset but not too sudsy.
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I`ve seen this mentioned a few times and I just don`t get that same impression. I`ll admit I haven`t tried a ton of soaps, Honeydew, Hyper-Wash have been the other soaps I`ve used in bulk to compare it to. Obviously Reset has a higher dilution but Hyper-Wash is up there too. I`ll admit I haven`t done the proper science on it and gave them a proper compare as I`m usually trying to bang out at least 2 vehicles when I wash. I find that if I use more than 50ml Reset to 700-900ml water I`m making shaving cream thick foam which is more foam than I`d think is reasonable. I usually do multiple mitt so I tend to foam up the vehicle as my soap bucket and have just a cap full or two in a bucket full of mitts that don`t get reintroduced to that bucket. I have a little Hyper-Wash left and I recently tried some 3D Pink but after realizing how much of that soap I`d use vs Reset I`m having trouble thinking it make any sense not to use Reset full time. As for the suds, I think I spend 2-3 times longer trying to rinse the suds out of the 10-12 TRC cyclone mitts than it would to wash the 2 cars. Even rinsing the remaining suds out of the PF22 bottle is ridiculous.

Yeah it seems stupid expensive when compared to other soaps but the dilution ratio brings it back into comparison with it`s cleaning power and easy rinse has made me not use up the remaining 50 or so ounces of Hyper-Wash I`ve got left. So yeah, go for the gallon of Reset on a 25% off sale and don`t look back. As for drying Griot`s PFM either a couple 16x16" or one of the teal border is great for an entire vehicle.
 
Car Soap:

Meguiar`s Hyper Wash is really hard to beat, like really hard. It`s also one of the most economical soaps on the market, as its dilution ratio is matched or beaten only by a few other soaps. Reset is a great soap for cutting through stuff that a common majority of pH neutral, wax/sealant safe soaps don`t cut through. I have recently started experimenting with using Chemical Guys Honeydew SF/AW as an auto wash, I don`t have enough experience to comment regarding hand washing, but it is a great snow foam that is hard to beat in cleaning ability/price/dilution (cleaning ability is further increased when adding Superior Products Road Warrior to solution). I will say that 3D Pink is another great soap, but its dilution makes it more expensive per car wash because I generally end up using the recommended one oz/gallon where as I can use one oz/three gallons using Hyper Wash. Hyper Wash, Honeydew SF/AW, and Pink all rinse well off the surface and are sunlight friendly. One soap that I would like to try is DPC Foam, it appears to have good reviews and is sunlight friendly. Keep in mind, the soaps listed (excluding Reset) work really well in foam cannons.

Side Note: But in all honesty, I am looking into using American Detailer Garage Wipeout for a conventional soap substitute. After doing a modified version of a rinseless wash since September, I have really become aware of how much water, product, and time I save compared to a traditional soap wash. But I have a boat load of Gold Class to use before I make the switch, it will be a while.

Microfiber Drying Towel:

Out of my selection, which includes the Auto Finesse Auqa Deluxe (don`t buy it), TRC Platinum Pluffle, Griot`s PFM, and Luxury Microfiber Sucker. I reach for the Sucker nine times out of ten. Griot`s PFM is a great towel, but it just isn`t as absorbent as the Sucker from LMF. As well, for the last few months I have had to use rather aggressive means to wash and dry my towels, a process that has degraded some of my towels (that was the price to get them clean), but I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the LMF Sucker has held up the best (I have a lightly used one to compare it to). To assist in extending the life of the towels, I would suggest a dedicated mf cleaner. I recently switched back to Poorboy`s World Typhoon from All Free & Clear.
 
If you`re looking for over the counter, Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow Foam is available at WalMart, and Jay Lenos Vehicle Wash is available at Advance Auto Parts (or Autozone). Both will give you good suds, with the Jay Leno product giving much better lubricity. For drying towels, look no further than Griots PFM.....available locally at Pep Boys. Large size is on sale for 27.99, and the 16x16 size is on sale for 4.72
 
Don- I doubt we have the same criteria for the Shampoo (I don`t really care about suds, and might even consider them undesirable), but for the MF Drying Towel I`ll say that all of my WWMFs have eventually quit picking up water and I don`t consider them a very safe way to dry anyhow (in the case of residual dirt, which I believe is a "when" rather than an "if" at least IRL).

I use the Microfiber Madness Dry Me Crazy MFs, and they`re 100% perfect for me, but they`re also quiet pricey and I bet you`d be happy with somebody else`s, less expensive PLUSH MF Drying Towel. IME some lint more than others, but at least all of mine have kept picking up the water just fine despite using leave-stuff-behind Drying Aids almost every time.

Maybe you can indeed find a GG PMF on sale, nobody seems dissatisfied with those.
 
Hello, Don ! I hope you guys are all safe and well !!

The replies up there are just great !! I cannot add anything to them, that would be much different..
My best all around soaps have been Optimum Car Wash, Car Pro Reset, and sometimes, I use good old Zaino car wash..

What I want to ask you more importantly, is how are you cleaning those microfibers??? Are you using a dedicated microfiber cleaner and the washing machine?

I have only used dedicated microfiber cleaners, the one lately is the Chemical Guys version, and it works great..

What I like to do to all my microfibers is occasionally, add some Distilled White Vinegar into the rinse cycle and it always helps them.. They come out much more fluffy, and they work better for me..

Perhaps your particular water content is different and that sometimes plays into the way some products work better than others ??

Dan F
 
Stokdgs said:
how are you cleaning those microfibers??? Are you using a dedicated microfiber cleaner and the washing machine?

I have only use dedicated microfiber cleaners, the one lately is the Chemical Guys version, and it works great..
Click to expand...

That CG`s one worked OK for me too...but makes me wonder which MF Detergent it was that some vendors said was bad for their MFs?

(Yes, that does tweak my suspicion-meter.."gee, why might somebody who sells a product say that about the competition?")
What I like to do to all my microfibers is occasionally, add some Distilled White Vinegar into the rinse cycle and it always helps them.. They come out much more fluffy, and they work better for me..
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IME that can be a good thing to do to most any textiles now and then, though it has never done the "softening" thing they way some say it does :( Great for dealing with excessive sudsing though, can save a few Rinse cycles that way.

BUT..*nothing* have ever brought back my WWMFs once they quit working right. (Dampening them first doesn`t do it for me as they *always* leave a tiny..near microscopic..amount of water behind when I use them that way.)

Perhaps your particular water content is different and that sometimes plays into the way some products work better than others ??
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Yeah, I think the water quality is a real YMMV variable. I`d hate to deal with *any* textiles using really hard water, it just never worked out for me as well as using Soft water; they always came out a bit stiff eventually.
 
Have you looked at other online retailers to see if Hyper Wash is still available (ie DI). It is ok to buy from somewhere else. Meguiar`s is having issues due to Covid-19 causing shutdowns.

Sounds like your towels have become hydrophobic if you used them with a drying aid. They don`t last forever.

If you are using polymer sealants then Reset is off the table. It will degrade a polymer sealant and wax a bit quicker.

Here are a few other options

Adams Car Shampoo
Meguiair`s D111 Shampoo Plus
Optimum
McKee`s Xtreme Foam
P&S Pearl - I have not tried this one but people seem to like it

As far as towels

Griot`s PFM
CarPro DHydrate
Dry Me A River - They are ok. I am not a big waffle weave user anymore
 
The Guz said:
Sounds like your towels have become hydrophobic if you used them with a drying aid. They don`t last forever.
Click to expand...

I`m actually so interested in whether my DMC ones will keep working that I`ll be OK if...not saying "when" lest I jinx it ;) .... they do quit working!

I`ve been using OCW and other such stuff with `em for, uhm..however long I`ve had them, I forget but it`s been years.

I`ll also be interested to see whether such stuff ends up killing PFMs...and I wonder whether [whatever 3D 50:1 leaves behind] will mess up my PFMs for Glass. No problems yet...
 
Thanks all for the replies. I know my MF towels are suspect, they are older (Sam`s Club specials :( ) and I have used them for just about everything. I definitely need to restock some quality ones (especially for drying).

You guys have given me a lot to think about for the car wash soaps, thanks.
 
Don- I`ll be interested to hear what you go with on the Shampoo.

Do you buy in specific qunatities? Wondering as I never buy less than a gallon, and I`m really bugged that I can`t get the 3D Pink in 5 gallon buckets any more.
 
Don:
I have to mirror Accumulator`s sentiments and also ask that you tell us Autopians which car wash soap (or soaps) you bought, used, and your opinions of it (or them).
With SOOOO many car wash soap choices available on the market, both over-the-counter and "boutique" (AKA, name brands purchased only via the internet), there is a lot of angst about which one works the best for you.
Just like coatings, there are properties or characteristics of car wash soaps that have varying importance to the end user. Her are some to consider , in no particular order:
1) Foaming or sudsying ability
2) Cleaning ability
3) Rinsing clean (Including from wash media)
4) Lubrication or slickness
5) Affect on Last-Step Products (some are great for cleaning, but harsh on sealants or waxes)
6) Leaving something behind for surface "protection" or water beading/sheeting (like wash-n-wax soaps or SiO2 soaps, which I do not use, but that is me)
7) Ability to use in the sun (Yes there are some, but I do not wash in the sun)
8) Ability to be used with harder mineralized water (Yes, it may not suds up or rinse clean or it requires more product to be used to be effective)
9) Cost per use
10) Water-to-product ratio (which may or may not lend itself to cost because a less expensive soap at 4 ounces per gallon may prove to more cost effective than an expensive soap that only requires 1 ounce per gallon.
11) Odor or fragrance (Yes, it matters if you have fragrance allergies or sensitivity to such or it attracts insects while you are washing).

You just need to figure which one`s are most important to you and which soap(s) fit that profile of preferences.
 
Lonnie said:
You just need to figure which one`s are most important to you and which soap(s) fit that profile of preferences.
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And !oh man! are those preferences subjective! Different people value such different characteristics in their Shampoos that it can be a truly involved subject, far moreso that I bet most non-Autopians could ever imagine (as with most of the stuff we care about).
 
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