How many MF towels do I need?

Dav22Mccu

New member
I'm new to detailing. I want to get some 16x16 Elite towels from Microfiber Tech for detailing my car (e.g., polishing & waxing). How many towels do I need?



Which drying towel is preferable, the Big Blue or the Big Grey? The blue towel is more absorbent, but the grey is softer. Which is better?



Do I need a Glass towel or will the Elite towel work?
 
Think of it this way. You will want a MF to apply wax with, and another to remove the haze. This is true with anything you put on the paint. So just think. 2 for every task you plan to do. I still use a Chamois. but the big blue seems to be a fave around here. Hope this helped. I only have 5 mfs. and i wash them after everytime i use them. And those 5 will do my windows. waxing, and any other polishing i do.



WELCOME TO AUTOPIA :wavey
 
Can you have to many MF towels? Even with 25, I am sure you could still run out. Not forgetting there usefulness around the house, cleaning shoes, computers, HiFi etc etc



Get as many as you can.



Steven
 
Oh yes it works very well. I tend to use old MF towels or any that have been dropped. Just like paintwork, apply with foam and buff with a MF. Great results :up



Steven
 
"How many MF towels do I need?"

Daryl:

How many you will need, I can't answer, but I have a dozen 16" x 16" and two 24" x 24". Might be a good place to start.

That seems to be enough to allow me to take care of two cars and one mini-van with no problem.



Charles:)
 
I've got 20 PakShak Towels and 20 100% cotton terrycloth towels. I really only need half that many, but I bought them so I don't have to wash them as often.
 
Each person and routine has different towel needs. I dedicate 1 big waffleweave towel and 2 16x16 towels for drying the car. 2 16x16 to remove Zaino. 2 16x16 to QD with, 2 16x16 to do the interior with, 2 16x16 to remove polish with. I have a few extras lying around that I haven't used yet.



Oh yeah! Welcome!
 
When I made my original order for towels for 2 cars, I bought 20 16x16 MF and 2 28x54 waffleweave towels for drying. After a full season of use, I should have bought 4 waffleweaves because I have often washed my cars a second time before I got around to washing the waffleweaves from the first car wash. The 20 MFs have turned out to be more that enough. I only use them for car stuff, wax and polish removal(2 or 3 for each car) and for cleaning windows(1 for each car) for a total of 10 to clean-up both cars. When I reach 10 dirty MFs and 1 or 2 dirty waffleweaves, I wash them. I could put 100 MFs in my washing machine and it not be 1/4 full, but who wants to fold 100 or more MFs at one time, not me. .:nixweiss



I've got at least 8 MFs from the original 20 that I doubt have ever been used. The funny thing for me is, I'm addicted to buying car care stuff and I've bought 10 more MFs that all I've done to them is wash them and put them away.
 
Hey Everybody,



Thanks for the response. I didn't expect to generate so much controversy with my first post, cleaning shoes with MF and all!



Judging from the responses, maybe I should have qualified the question a bit better.



When I said "How many MF towels do I need?", I really did mean "How many do I need" as opposed to "How many I would buy if money was no consideration". I'm not looking for an upper limit. ;-)



I have only one car to detail, my Bimmer.



I don't need any extras, for example, in the wash.



I think Roderigo maybe got closest to what I'm looking for.



I already have a sheepskin mit for washing, which I plan to continue using. So I don't need an MF towel for that.



I plan to polish and wax the car by hand. How many 16x16 MF towels do I need to do that? Is one towel enough to buff a single coat of polish or wax from the entire car? That sounds optimistic.



I was originally thinking that MF towels were used for buffing polish and wax. Is it also recommended to apply polish and wax with MF towels?



It sounds like 4 16x16 towels might be a good place to start. Or is that overly optimistic?



Thanks again.
 
Hey Daryl!



I am glad to see you posting on Autopia! :) I have a dozen MF towels and need more! I am very careful not to mix wipe off residues and such on each towel. When one gets saturated with residue, I switch to a new one. I wash them in the washing machine with liquid Tide; then air dry, NO DRYER!



You could get away with @ 4 MF's. One for polish wipe off, one for glaze, and one for wax with one spare just in case.



I use a foam app. to apply the wax, and 3M and Meguiar's buffing pads for compounding and polishing respectively. Foam app. are better to use IMHO because you can apply a really thin layer of wax which is better in the first place!!



MF towels really do make a difference!!! :up



Cheers

Tim!
 
I normally use about 4 mf's per car. Mostly for drying and removing polish/wax. I've got something like 85 or so now, but since I use them for my detailing business, it is good to have a bunch so I don't have to wash towels every night.
 
Even for one car I'd have at least about 6-10, depending on how often you're willing to wash them and how much you think you'll be using them. If you'd like to use MF on your windows as well, it's best to get dedicated towels for this.



I think you really could use 1 towel to buff off 1 coat of product, depending on how much residue it leaves of course. A wax might only take 1 towel, but polish might use up 2 or more. QDing takes 1 minimum, claying the same, and don't forget you really should have spares in case you drop one or something.



I have about a dozen now plus a few glass MFs, and at the height of detailing season I really wish I had twice as many. It's a better idea to switch to a clean MF before having to wonder how much more wiping you can do with the current towel before it's really loaded up. I'll definitely be getting more at some point. It's been said by many before, but you really can never have too many MFs.... :)
 
I have over 460 MF towels for my 4 cars and around the house,some, in the bath size from Neat Items, for actual bath:D
 
I think you should have the following:



4 Terry MF's

1 Suede MF for glass



That way, you'll have 2 for removing cleaners, and 2 for wax, and then the suede one for glass.



You can get away with this if you wash your MF's by hand immediately after you use them. I wash all my MF's by hand. Even though I have 25 of them, I normally use about 6 - 10 of them, depending on how many cars I work on that week. I have 2 cars and 3 motorcycles, so I can sometimes go though a lot.
 
Daryl Morse said:
Which drying towel is preferable, the Big Blue or the Big Grey? The blue towel is more absorbent, but the grey is softer. Which is better?



does anyone know the difference btwn Big Blue/Big Grey (from MF tech)? I know the Big Grey is softer but any good?

I can't judge myself btwn 3 Waffleweave towel,

- Super Large Waffle-Weave Towel (54"x28")

- Big Grey Auto Drying Towel (25"x36")

- Big Blue Auto Drying Towel (25"x36").



How often you guys actual machine wash the Waffle-Weave towel? Can you use the same towel for the 2nd drying purpose? or you need to wash all the time?



I think I need two towels since I dont want to wash the towel all the time, I rather machine wash all together.
 
Originally posted by MildSeven

does anyone know the difference btwn Big Blue/Big Grey (from MF tech)? I know the Big Grey is softer but any good?

Ian at Microfiber Tech told me the blue towel is 250k fibers per square inch and the grey towel is 200k fibers per square inch. He says he prefers the grey towel for drying because it is so soft.



I would be interested to hear from someone who has tried both flavours.
 
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