Let's talk about towels

[Nacho98]

So let's discuss towels. Easily overlooked, but just as important as the chemicals you use to detail your car. There is an overwhelming selection of towels to choose from, with different weights, styles, materials, etc. Each job has a different towel, so let's find out what you have used and what you like and what you don't/didn't like.

So what towels do you use for each step? Do you use a dedicated towel for each step or do you use the same kind of towels for several steps? I think in general the cut-->wax towels can probably be the same or very similar, but throw up what you use and why you do or don't like it.

Lets break it down like this:

Exterior:

1) Drying
2) Clay
3) Cut
4) Polish
5) Glaze
6) Sealant
7) Wax
8) Quick Detailer
9) Wheels
10)Weatherstrip/trim (if applicable)

Interior:

1) Dash/plastics
2) Leather seats (if applicable)

Discuss.

 

[vermilion]

i only need towels for the ladies so they can wipe the kids off and leave.

 

[Javi]

I come here to escape from the gf blah blah and i run to this? lol

 

[vermilion]

yes. atleast you didnt run into my towels.

 

[WhiteStallion94]

Lets break it down like this:

Exterior:

1) Drying

Towels rarely needed. Leaf blower and/or air compressor do my drying for me. Whatever that don't knock out usually evaporates quickly in the Florida heat.

2) Clay
3) Cut
4) Polish
5) Glaze
6) Sealant
7) Wax
8) Quick Detailer

I have some decent, run of the mill microfibers for this. Can't remember where I bought them, but the quality is good enough. I do try to keep them somewhat separated based on which step of the process I used them for.

9) Wheels
10)Weatherstrip/trim (if applicable)

Cheap ones from Target or Advanced Auto. No need to get expensive here.

Interior:

1) Dash/plastics
2) Leather seats (if applicable)

Again, cheap ones from Target or whatever clean cotton towels/rags I have laying around. My interior doesn't have anything delicate enough that would require a more high end microfiber.

 

[Sinned83]

I think of it as interior and exterior towels.
Cheaper MF's that you can buy them by the dozen for upholstry, carpet and interior trim
Thicker better quality MF's for your paint.

I dont clean my wheels with towels.

 

[Nacho98]

I generally use throw-away terry cloths to clean the interior and to apply tire/exterior trim dressing.

So far I really like what I see from PakShak for MF towels.

 

[Sinned83]

So far I really like what I see from PakShak for MF towels.

If you are talking about the rag shack then yeah Justin has great products at even better prices.

 

[Nacho98]

No I'm talking about PakShak: http://www.pakshak.com/micro-fiber-towels.html

They seem to have overwhelmingly favorable reviews as being very high quality towels that don't shed at all...but the shipping from Hawaii is murder.

 

[wytstang]

I have and love Pakshak towels and ww towels. By far the highest quality towels I own. 2nd best in my collection is Poorboy DMT towels http://www.poorboysworld.com/microfiber.htm plush well made towels. I've had good luck with the Cobra Jr towels and no linting.
If you need affordable towels that a well made quality towels these yellow towels are hard to beat http://www.westcoastdetailsupply.com/Towels_WCDS_Yellow_Supreme_Polishing_Towel_16x16.html
Most of my collection consist of these towels with some cheap towels for rim/wheel use.

 

[SRT Handz]

I use Chemical Guys towels and some starfiber towels. I get my towels from a source that buys in large bulk.

Drying - WW full size towels followed with a Ultra Plush 16x24 Silk Lined towel
Door jam drying - small WW towel followed by a 16x16 standard CG microfiber

Polishing, waxing, and anything else i pretty much only use those 16x16 or 16x24 silk lined MF towels but soon i will be upgrading to the 16x16 and 16x24 MICROFIBER lined MF towels.

 

[Nacho98]

DO the WW towels dry up and get crusty like cardboard after a few uses? I've seen lots of reports of WW towels doing that in general compared to plain MF towels.

EDIT: I was also thinking of getting 2-3 of the big CG Miracle Dryer or Orange Fatty MF towels for drying, and following up a few of the Microfiber Max towels, which look really soft:

http://www.chemicalguys.com/MICROFIBER_MAX_p/mic_1001.htm

But it says it's only 250k thread count, which is a lot lower than a lot of other towels.

PakShak looks awesome, but that shipping hurts.

 

[Nacho98]

Let me ask you this...how many MF towels (say 16x16) do you REALLY need to do the whole car, meaning a layer of cut, a layer of polish, a layer of glaze, two layers of sealant, and two layers of wax, door jambs and all? 12? 24? 36?

 

[imnotfullthrottlestangs]

Let me ask you this...how many MF towels (say 16x16) do you REALLY need to do the whole car, meaning a layer of cut, a layer of polish, a layer of glaze, two layers of sealant, and two layers of wax, door jambs and all? 12? 24? 36?

i did this to my car yesterday.

- 1 cut and polished layer
- 2 sealant layers
- 1 coat of wet obsession

only used 2 towels, one for the polish and paint correction, and one for sealant and wax. i see no need for a crazy abundance of microfibers.

 

[Nacho98]

IMO you should at least use a new towel for each different product, but even then that's a tiny number of towels...I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around using just a handful of little towels to do 5-6 coats of stuff on the car...

 

[02GT]

Let me ask you this...how many MF towels (say 16x16) do you REALLY need to do the whole car, meaning a layer of cut, a layer of polish, a layer of glaze, two layers of sealant, and two layers of wax, door jambs and all? 12? 24? 36?

i did this to my car yesterday.

- 1 cut and polished layer
- 2 sealant layers
- 1 coat of wet obsession

only used 2 towels, one for the polish and paint correction, and one for sealant and wax. i see no need for a crazy abundance of microfibers.

You need to at least use one microfiber for each product. Thats just a usual rule of thumb.