How to clean dirty/used MF towels

J

JUNNIEIV

New member
I read that the process is to basically just throw them into the washing machine and to use a regular detergent, except that it can't have fabric softener. But, I think I read somewhere that you shouldn't wash towels that were used for polishing with those that were used with waxing and either with those used with drying...can someone set me straight on that?



Specifically I'm wondering how to wash this 1 MF towel that i used for polishing, since it has a huge amount of caked polish on it...and if I can wash the couple of MF towels I used for buffing wax along with the others that I only used for drying, or even all the MF towels together...or even how to wash towels that i used for buffing wax.



The weather's so damn sweet right now that I'm going to go buy some S100 paint cleanser and wash/polish/wax my car tomorrow...didn't really plan on doing that for a long time...and all my materials are dirty from the wash/clay/polish/wax I did a week ago.



Edit: Goddamnit! I thought I just missed the paint cleanser the first time I went to the harley davidson store to buy the s100 wax, but it turns out they don't even carry it! I don't suppose there's a place that sells it cheap and overnights it is there? :mad:
 
You can pretty much throw them all in together in the wash with a liquid detergent which has no fabric softeners. Don't mix with any other fabrics, because the MF's will catch the lint. Dry on low heat, again, with no fabric softeners. Make sure you wipe down the cylinder of the dryer first, and clean the lint trap, for the same reasons as before.



The only thing you won't want to mix is MF's which are used for glass and one which are use with waxes and polishes. Many people have complained of streaking on the glass if the clothes are washed together.



I don't have any of these problems, as I wash all of mine by hand. I don't use enough at a sitting to waste water and power in the washer. :)
 
Mage said:
Edit: Goddamnit! I thought I just missed the paint cleanser the first time I went to the harley davidson store to buy the s100 wax, but it turns out they don't even carry it! I don't suppose there's a place that sells it cheap and overnights it is there? :mad:
Click to expand...



You can try here . Good luck! I too just got back from a Harley shop and bought a jar of S100, but passed on the Shine Enhancing Cleanser. I saw a post from Scottwax where he said that Meg's SF Polish is basically the same. I'll be using #9, so it should do just as well.
 
Hrm, I really want to avoid swirl removing polishes, and from searching Scottwax's posts, he seems to really really really like the s100 sepc if it's used with s100 wax. Autozone doesn't carry it (didn't think they would) and neither does "Murray's auto discount"... geez there must be some local store that has it
 
i have a lot of mf cloths and have no problem washing them together no matter what i'm using with no problems

this is the way I was told

1 fill washer to ex/lg size

2 use hot water with most detergents for half of tub then switch to warm for rest of cycle

2a now add mf cloths

3 leave top open so cycle does not continue past washing

let it sit for an hour or so, sometimes overnight

4 drain water and refill adding more detergent

5 set on long wash 15-18 minutes and put ex-rinse on too.



never had a streaking problem on anything since using this method :)
 
Mage..you can get S100 at any Harley Davidson dealer for $14.95. I stopped at one today and they had like 20 jars of it. Unfortuneately they were all out of the Shine Enhancing Cleanser and had to order it :mad:
 
Er, yeah, the s100 wax isn't the problem, I've had that for months... I just can't find any local store with the SEPC and the good weather (mid 60s) is going to end on Monday....after which it'll return to mid 30s-40s



Actually I think handwashing would be best, since I do only have 6 sort of small MF towels...and the one w/ polish has so much caked into it... how would i go about handwashing? (proportion of detergent (or other soap) to water, etc)
 
Any hints on how to get stuff out of MFs that gets tangled in the loops?



My MFs get little bits of plant stuff in them and little brown specks. May be because I detail in a friend's driveway that's gravel and has trees and mulch all around.



Cotton towels seem to launder clean, while any little bits get entangled in the MF nap. I've spent a half hour picking tiny dirt bits out of an MF, only to look really carefully and see that there's more gritty little stuff.:eek:



I've even thought of getting a cat flea comb to see if I could use it to comb out these little grits.
 
it is really hard to get all that stuff out...rule of thumb with mf is don't drop them on ground unless in a really clean shop and don't reuse them if they hit the ground while working...the only way to get that stuff out is painfully the way you're doing it..they suck up everything into them good/ bad . I just did a mf wash yesterday and 2 came out with little pices of leaves or something from the great outdoors and started picking away:nixweiss
 
I also run into this from time to time and have gotten in the habit of inspecting the MF before I use it. These things really grab on to anything - just like how it grabs all the tiny nicks in your skin!
 
Yeah, I'm really careful of where I put the towels so they don't pick up a lot of junk, but.. could someone sort of lead me through handwashing the towels? I'm..really...ignorant..about these things.
 
Think about it, a washing machine works by just swishing your clothes around in the water. The clothes just lightly rub against each other without any pressure and everything comes out clean. To wash by hand, fill your kitchen sink with some warm water, add a 1/4 cup, 1/4 cup = 2ozs maybe 1oz would be enough, of liquid detergent and using your hand swirl the water around to incorporate the detergent into the water. Take your MF towels and stick them in the sink. At this point you could just let them soak for 5 minutes or so to let the detergent dissolve most of the dirt. Come back and take 2 towels and gently rub them together or take one and work it against itself. You can spend 10 seconds or more depending on how dirty the towel was, but it shouldn't take too long to wash each one. If you had any towels that had stains or black spots you can pretreat them with a little detergent.



After you've washed your towels, fill the other basin of your kitchen sink with some cool water. Squeeze each towel to remove most of the detergent and one by one start rinsing them in the clean water. You'll probably have to change the rinse water several times. If you're only doing one or two towels you could just turn on the tap and rinse them under the running water. The main thing is you want to rinse your towels until the water running through the towels comes out clean and clear.



If you don't have a washing machine at home and don't stock clothes washing detergent at home you can also use Woolite. This stuff is highly concentrated and a very little bit creates a lot of suds. Also because it comes in smaller bottles than regular clothes washing detergent it's easier to stick under the sink.
 
HellrotCi said:
Think about it, a washing machine works by just swishing your clothes around in the water. The clothes just lightly rub against each other without any pressure and everything comes out clean. To wash by hand, fill your kitchen sink with some warm water, add a 1/4 cup, 1/4 cup = 2ozs maybe 1oz would be enough, of liquid detergent and using your hand swirl the water around to incorporate the detergent into the water. Take your MF towels and stick them in the sink. At this point you could just let them soak for 5 minutes or so to let the detergent dissolve most of the dirt. Come back and take 2 towels and gently rub them together or take one and work it against itself. You can spend 10 seconds or more depending on how dirty the towel was, but it shouldn't take too long to wash each one. If you had any towels that had stains or black spots you can pretreat them with a little detergent.....
Click to expand...
Make sure you wear dishwashing gloves of course. I don't think laundry detergent is good for your skin at all....
 
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