Terry cloth vs. Microfiber for Buffing

[ofcrimson]

Is it true that buffing with a terry cloth will leave more of the wax on the surface of the car vs. buffing with microfiber?

It seems that leaving more wax on the surface would be a good thing by protecting the paint.

Thanks.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Terry cloth vs. Microfiber for Buffing

Originally posted by ofcrimson
Is it true that buffing with a terry cloth will leave more of the wax on the surface of the car vs. buffing with microfiber?

It seems that leaving more wax on the surface would be a good thing by protecting the paint.

Thanks.

It is believed that this is true. One reason is because of the miniature size of microfibers, they are able to contact the surface at a greater microscopic level than a normal cotton fiber, thus they have the ability to remove what they come into contact with.

A lot of people don't know Meguiar's made the first mold release wax in 1950 for the new Fiberglas industry and even today we still offer this first paste wax as well as a complete line of liquid synthetic polymer release waxes for the mold release industry.





To help insure the maximum amount of wax is left behind on the surface, Meguiar's recommends only removing waxes in the mold release industry with cotton toweling.

That said, microfiber is more gentle to the finish thus reducing towel and wiping induced swirls and scratches, so it's a trade-off. This is one of the reasons we alway recommend two thin coats of wax in any detailing session for not only uniform appearance, but also uniform coverage and thus protection.

[anthonyd]

Mike I find that really interesting.

IMO I haven't found buffing off with microfibre cloths that much easier, beyond not having to use so many cloths.

Hence I think I will try to use more terry cloths in the future.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by anthonyd
Mike I find that really interesting.

IMO I haven't found buffing off with microfiber cloths that much easier, beyond not having to use so many cloths.

Hence I think I will try to use more terry cloths in the future.

It's all about choice and preference, in the past Meguiar's has always recommended using premium quality 100% cotton towels, then microfiber technology was introduced to the automotive market sometime in the 1990's.

Think about getting an Armor-All type product on your car's paint an how smeary it can be to wipe-off, (Hint... it can be quite smeary.) With microfiber technology it wipes off faster, easier, with less pressure and more completely than with cotton.

In 1999, Barry invited me to Irvine for an interview at which time he gave me a Meguiar's Ultimate Wipe, which he and Mike Pennington demonstrated the performance of against a cotton towel on the hood of a Mercedes-Benz using M40 out in the training garage. It was no contest at all, the Ultimate Wipe blew the cotton towel away for removing the M40 off paint in one pass.

I'm not sure when Meguiar's introduced microfiber to the car detailing world, but often times they are way ahead of the curve. I actually still have the exact microfiber Barry gave me that day in my collection of Meguiar's products, I just snapped this digital photo of this first Ultimate Wipe out in the garage on our 1959 Cadillac next to an early half gallon glass jug of M02 Fine Cut Cleaner. Note the maroon edging...

[tbone2004]

Micro

My experience has been the Microfiber has really, really made a difference as far as amount of swirls and scratches are concerned. I used to use old t-shirts on my old cars, then went to 100% white cotton towels (USA made etc.) when we got my wife's new car few years ago and now on my new car I have been using nothing but MF since day one and while hers is so much better than anything prior to that, my car - using only Microfiber towels, is 100 times better than hers. I have a huge quantity of them, keep them sealed up and not just lying around in the garage, they get washed separately by themselves and so far I could not be happier.

Truly recommend them to anyone.