Supreme Shine Towels Not Absorbing - HELP!

[Marc08EX]

On my last microfiber wash, I decided to add a teaspoon of vinegar in the rinse cycle. I've read from some threads here that it makes the microfiber towels more absorbent and fluffier. This was my first time to do it so I was expecting my MF towels to look and act like it was new. However, the towels had a different agenda.

This already happened on two different towels. When I use the MF towel for QD'ing, it seems like the towel is having a hard time absorbing the product. (Using Meg's M135) It literally just spreads the product around on the first pass. It takes multiple passes for the product to get absorbed by the towel. Before, the towel would absorb it on the first pass leaving the surface with very little moisture. As a result, I'm experiencing very bad streaking problems.

The other variable that changed is the temperature but I don't think this should affect the absorbancy of the microfiber towels.

Did I mess up on using vinegar on my towels??? Anybody experienced this before?

Thanks!

[greg0303]

Re: Supreme Shine Towels Not Absorbing - HELP!

Marc, try to re-wash them with a super gentle product, like Woolite, and air-dry them or put in a dryer on low heat.

If unsuccessful you may need to try one of microfiber rejuvenators, AutoGeek has couple of them.

[Marc08EX]

Re: Supreme Shine Towels Not Absorbing - HELP!

Thanks for the response, Greg!!!

I will try to use woolite. I only use the micro-restore to wash my MF towels and I also use low heat to dry.

It's weird. I never had this issue before.

[s word]

Re: Supreme Shine Towels Not Absorbing - HELP!

Marc assuming you washed more than two towels at once, did this happen to the whole group you were washing? It almost seems to me that the towel had remnant product or didn't rinse properly. Like you used it for wax removal and some of that remained. The fibers and weave used in the cloth remains unchanged after your wash. This leads me to believe you have a third factor at play. Vinegar doesn't seem to be the culprit because it is a well know cleaner and can be used with these fibers. Even the drying heat shouldn;t impact too much. High heat can be an issue for these fibers, but I always dry my stuff on high heat and never had issues.

I have had some mf towels do similar things. I notice this mostly when cleaning my rims. I can spray QD or QW on the rim and most time I get the product first pass. Sometimes I do like 3 passes with the mf towel and there is still streaking.
But that same towel used a week later will not have the same issue. That is why I feel like the towel just had something left over in it.

Question: do you use a high efficiency wash machine, or old school washer with high center post? older washers tend to have much better agitation. I have a HE machine and it seems to not always get mf towels and foam pads as clean as i'd like them to be.

[Marc08EX]

Re: Supreme Shine Towels Not Absorbing - HELP!

Thanks for the response, Chris!

I washed a bunch of towels together and I've only used the second towel last night. The problem only appears when I QD. I've used a towel last night to dry the car but that towel got saturated immediately so I really didn't notice the problem. It could be some old wax/sealant there but I've never had issues before. This is not my first time to wash these towels.

I always use the old school washing machines to wash my towels and pads. Like you said, it provides much better agitation and that's the reason why I prefer that.

I will report back after I rewash the entire load again.

[wifpd4]

Re: Supreme Shine Towels Not Absorbing - HELP!

Marc,

I use a HE washer with micro-restore and vinegar on every load and low dryer heat without problem. The terry cloth may get a pre-wash by hand using APC+, as they are usual filthy, and high heat just to speed it up. I also pre-wash pads, foam and microfiber, with APC+ before washing them with a load of microfiber towels. If a large group of well used pads, I'll use Snappy cleaner first instead of APC+.

If the microfiber towels have any spots or miscoloration, I spray them with liquid "oxy-clean" and let them sit for twenty minutes before a wash with micro-restore and vinegar rinse.

A recent car was red, single stage. Everything got hand pre-washed with APC+.

I use some less expensive towels for QD'er as clay lube. They usually get soaked with QD, so I don't think vinegar is your problem. A teaspoon of vinegar seems like too little for a full load of towels.

[Bruce Devilbiss]

Re: Supreme Shine Towels Not Absorbing - HELP!

I also wash my towels with Oxy-Clean in warm water, then rinse with warm water. I will also give them an extra warm water rinse and then dry under low heat. Also NO fabric softener.