PFM Drying Towel(s) and using Bead Maker as a drying aid

So the consensus is:
1) Use a PFM towel for drying the initial rinse water
2) Use a separate drying towel for use with Bead Maker as a drying agent
3a) Wash them in HOT water
3b) Wash the Bead Maker-impregnated microfiber drying towels separately to avoid cross-contamination (Might be a bit overboard, and hence an optional consideration)
4) What you use as a detergent does make a difference in how clean they get. Suggested to use a microfiber-specific cleaning detergent.
5) Use vinegar in the rinse first cycle (you ARE using a two-step rinse cycle!?) to soften them
6) Dry on lower heat without fabric sheets (I do air dry outside on a clothes line, BUT only on windier days AND when no one is cutting the lawns OR if there is NO cottonwood dander, pollen, or leaf debris floating in the air)


There is always dander, pollen, leaf debris, or dust in the air, don`t fool yourself.
 
There is always dander, pollen, leaf debris, or dust in the air, don`t fool yourself.
That always comes to mind when I see people posting about having to Detail outdoors. Which yeah, I did when I was a kid...and could *usually* get away with even in the days of soft ss lacquer, but not always by a long shot.
 
No problems using pfm’s with drying aid. I wash on hot or medium. Tumble dry low for 10 minites then hang dry. All towels have stayed soft and absorbent for over a year.

I Use Griots Microfiber and pad cleaner 50/50 with a free and clear detergent which is recommended (mixing) by griots....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I only use a specific for microfiber soap, never used anything else..
Like to wash them warm or hot water temp., depending on what I just used them for.

Like to occasionally run Distilled White Vinegar ( Gallon Jug at Walmart), in the Rinse Cycle, sometimes, I might add a little to the Wash Cycle with the microfiber soap..

Run all microfibers in a Clean Dryer on Low Temps, monitor that load to insure they don`t get too hot, take them out and fold them while warm..

Never, Ever, use any of those Downy Coating Liquids for laundry in the Wash Cycle, Never, Ever, use those Coating Sheets for laundry in the Dryer...

These things coat your laundry ! Every time I visited my Parents when they were alive, and used their towels, I was amazed how terrible they absorbed water.. Yes, my Dear Mother, was a fan of those blue laundry sheet things AND Downy in the Wash, forever.. :)

Since I was alive before those horrid blue, etc., colored things were invented and towels were hung on lines outside, I can tell you, there IS a difference.. :)

Perhaps, it would be good, to occasionally run a big Affresh Pill in the Washer to help clean it all out and perhaps make the wash more efficient for cleaning instead of sloshing all that extra Downy water in there already, on your towels again???

Or perhaps a load of Distilled White Vinegar through the machine before you wash your microfibers??

I`ve read this whole post and even my old microfibers from 15+years ago still work great.. No issues with absorption..

Regarding Tankless water heaters- I have never seen one I can say I liked.. Perhaps it is a bigger math equation than I can do, but I will never understand how water that is running by some hot elements, (that is definitely jacking up your electric bill, right?), is ever going to be better than the old 50-gal tank, already full of hot water that is usually run by way less expensive natural gas.. :)
Dan F
 
I only use a specific for microfiber soap, never used anything else..
Like to wash them warm or hot water temp., depending on what I just used them for.

Like to occasionally run Distilled White Vinegar ( Gallon Jug at Walmart), in the Rinse Cycle, sometimes, I might add a little to the Wash Cycle with the microfiber soap..

Run all microfibers in a Clean Dryer on Low Temps, monitor that load to insure they don`t get too hot, take them out and fold them while warm..

Never, Ever, use any of those Downy Coating Liquids for laundry in the Wash Cycle, Never, Ever, use those Coating Sheets for laundry in the Dryer...

These things coat your laundry ! Every time I visited my Parents when they were alive, and used their towels, I was amazed how terrible they absorbed water.. Yes, my Dear Mother, was a fan of those blue laundry sheet things AND Downy in the Wash, forever.. :)

Since I was alive before those horrid blue, etc., colored things were invented and towels were hung on lines outside, I can tell you, there IS a difference.. :)

Perhaps, it would be good, to occasionally run a big Affresh Pill in the Washer to help clean it all out and perhaps make the wash more efficient for cleaning instead of sloshing all that extra Downy water in there already, on your towels again???

Or perhaps a load of Distilled White Vinegar through the machine before you wash your microfibers??

I`ve read this whole post and even my old microfibers from 15+years ago still work great.. No issues with absorption..

Regarding Tankless water heaters- I have never seen one I can say I liked.. Perhaps it is a bigger math equation than I can do, but I will never understand how water that is running by some hot elements, (that is definitely jacking up your electric bill, right?), is ever going to be better than the old 50-gal tank, already full of hot water that is usually run by way less expensive natural gas.. :)
Dan F

I pay £16 for each Rag Company Gauntlet towel I have - no chance I`m putting any LSP near them!!! If you`ve got a properly hydrophobic coating, why not sheet the bulk of the water (95%) off then use the PFM, alternatively use something less expensive like a Pluffle towel to apply your QD/drying aid?

I see people mentioning pre-soaking... in MF detergent or dilute APC? Mine could be sitting in my detailing wash basket for weeks before I get around to washing, would it do any harm to leave them in the solution for that long?
 
atbalfour said:
I see people mentioning pre-soaking... in MF detergent or dilute APC? Mine could be sitting in my detailing wash basket for weeks before I get around to washing, would it do any harm to leave them in the solution for that long?

I do both/either approach for presoaking although with mine it`s usually more a case of "pre-spotting" by spraying the stuff on the obviously stained areas and then letting them sit. And mine can sit for a *LONG* time too, just like yours. No problems so far, but I`m not saying that letting it go for so long is a good idea.

Somebody feel free to correct me if I`m wrong here, but I view MF as basically a form of "plastic" and none of my MF Detergents or APCs (at least not the ones I use for this) have ever [messed] up any plastics for me, so I figured I`d be OK and so far so good.

Regulars here can quit reading this post now, as what follows has been posted by Yours Truly countless times in the past:

Never, Ever, use any of those Downy Coating Liquids for laundry in the Wash Cycle, Never, Ever, use those Coating Sheets for laundry in the Dryer...

These things coat your laundry ! Every time I visited my Parents when they were alive, and used their towels, I was amazed how terrible they absorbed water.. Yes, my Dear Mother, was a fan of those blue laundry sheet things AND Downy in the Wash, forever.. :)

Agree on the Dryer Sheets for Towels, agree on the "never use either one!" for MFs, but as I`m always posting, the Fabric Softeners are a !YMMV! thing. Yeah, I`m posting that *yet again* :o just because you mentioned Downy specifically, and that one (NOT others), when used *in moderation* does not negatively affect the absorbency of my *cotton* towels. Can`t over do it, and I sure wouldn`t do it *if they don`t need it to be usably soft*, but the way I use it it doesn`t [mess] up my cotton towels.
Since I was alive before those horrid blue, etc., colored things were invented and towels were hung on lines outside, I can tell you, there IS a difference.. :)
Oh man, air-drying my cotton towels *without having used the Downy*, which is indeed the way I sometimes do the Dog Textiles, results in stiff, nasty-rough towels that I hate using on my *hands*, let alone more sensitive areas. And they don`t soak up water any better than the ones I use Downy for and dry in the Dryer.

Yeah yeah, I know...but hey, I did say !YMMV! ;)

And yes indeed, you absolutely do need to clean out the Washer and Dryer far more regularly if/when you use that [stuff]. Man, I sure *wish* I didn`t need to use that Downy at all...and I will say that I have one set of old Martex Grand Patrician towels, and a few other oddball ones, that come out soft-as-can-be without it, so of course those don`t get it.

I`ve read this whole post and even my old microfibers from 15+years ago still work great.. No issues with absorption..

Even your WWMFs? My WWMFs which have *always* eventually quit soaking up water, other than the newest one that I got as a freebie from, uhm...somebody. Now *that* one works great and doesn`t lint...I *think* it might be the one from MF Madness, but I wouldn`t swear to it and since it wasn`t invoiced I have no way to verify.
 
My WW MFs stopped absorbing as well. That’s why I got PFMs and haven’t looked back.

Everybody seems to love their PFMs :D I sometimes wonder whether I would too, but, uhm...nah...

The WWs still soak up water if I "prime" them first, but doing that invariably leaves more moisture behind than I want. Yeah, it evaporates, but it`s still not the right thing for me.
 
I pay £16 for each Rag Company Gauntlet towel I have - no chance I`m putting any LSP near them!!! If you`ve got a properly hydrophobic coating, why not sheet the bulk of the water (95%) off then use the PFM, alternatively use something less expensive like a Pluffle towel to apply your QD/drying aid?

I see people mentioning pre-soaking... in MF detergent or dilute APC? Mine could be sitting in my detailing wash basket for weeks before I get around to washing, would it do any harm to leave them in the solution for that long?

Hello, atbalfour ! I hope you guys are all safe and well.

I never use any microfiber for things that are greasy, very dirty, etc., that is going to require special soaking, cleaning, etc.,... I consider microfiber anything a higher level towel that certainly costs much more than similar sized cotton towels..

Have used microfiber for wiping every LSP off vehicles and they cleaned up just fine with my process..

In the past, I read about some LSP`s that had some crazy things in them that turned all material used to apply or wipe them off, into stiff, unuseable towels that were thrown away.. Why would anyone want something like that ?? :)

I am not sure any harm would come from leaving them soaking in something, and I have never heard of anyone for almost 20 years that did that and damaged them..

Years ago, when I got really busy in the Shop, I bit the bullet and purchased a Metropolitan Master Blaster = 8hp blower that I place in the top of my rolling cart, and this bad boy definitely blows almost all the water off anything, including all those little annoying places that want to drip slowly later, etc..

This is the machine I speak of -- https://www.autopia-carcare.com/master-blaster.html#.XqnVpCmpH3g

And, since this is a paint correction Detail, I am not going to use microfiber anything to wipe it down after wash/blow dry, but instead use them to wipe off what little correction/polish residue I get at the Paint Correction step..

Perhaps others will reply to your question, re - soaking them.
Dan F
 
Everybody seems to love their PFMs :D I sometimes wonder whether I would too, but, uhm...nah...

The WWs still soak up water if I "prime" them first, but doing that invariably leaves more moisture behind than I want. Yeah, it evaporates, but it`s still not the right thing for me.

Hello, Mi Hermano ! Hope all is well for you guys up there in NEOH !
Im ok here in NorCal, wishing I could be at Swan Lake, Hallstatt, Austria.. :)

Regarding WW anything waffle weave - I have Never liked them, the first ones I tried perhaps 15 years + ago were awful, and I never used them again..

Way, way, back then, I cut off the long nozzle shorter on a Echo blower, overlapped some nice, thick, soft, rubber over the nozzle edge, and used that to blow as much water off the vehicle, and this was light years faster than those useless light blue waffle-weave-money-wasters.. :) With 6+ vehicles coming in each month for years, I had no time to waste.. :)
Not sure I even have them any longer, they might have been tossed in the few moves I have made since..
DanF
 
Back
Top