Towel Cleaning...

Prometheus

Prometheus

Perfectionist in Rehab
So, I generally clean my towels after every time I use them (with the exception of the one I keep in the car for quick wipes). My MF's are pretty much reserved for the "cleaner" jobs, like applying 303 or #39 or interior glass cleaning, etc. I use my older Terry towels for the heavy duty cleaning, like on door jambs, really dirty plastic parts, on the tires, etc. And, well, the terry towels are looking down right nasty. I have washed them a couple times now with regular laundry detergent, and last time I added a scoop of oxyclean to see if it did anything (it didnt FWIW), but does anybody know of a good way to clean them?



I mean, they werent really expensive towels, but I dont really wanna pitch them just yet, theyre only like 2 months old. THey just have black spots on them (I think its from cleaning off the winter oxidation on the tires) and some brownish ones that just look like dirt or dust that won't come out. I dont know what else to do to them to clean them.



I thought about bleaching them, but 1) I dont know if it would even work, and 2) I am assuming that it will make the towels more prone to marring (even though they're not used on the paint, I'd rather not take a chance on marring if I do for whatever half-a**ed reason use them on the paint). Anyways, got any good cleaning suggestions?



Thanks in Advance
 
Keep cleaning simple:



Don't use ammonia or bleach, they will break down the fibers.



Wash towels in HOT water with liquid detergent, I prefer unscented Era. Specialty micro-cleaners are no different than any other detergent, don't waste your money, there is no way for the detergent to know the difference between micro or regular yarn. You don't need to use lots of detergent as it will only build up. Run a couple of rinse cycles if need be and put some distilled white vinegar in the rinse to use as a rinse agent, one tablespoon per towel.



Don't worry about stains, they will not effect performance, only appearance which really doesn't matter.
 
DFTowel said:
. Specialty micro-cleaners are no different than any other detergent, don't waste your money, there is no way for the detergent to know the difference between micro or regular yarn. You don't need to use lots of detergent as it will only build up. Run a couple of rinse cycles if need be and put some distilled white vinegar in the rinse to use as a rinse agent, one tablespoon per towel.
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Bravo! It never made sense to me that a microfiber fabric would need a specialized detergent. I use vinegar with my laundry all the time now.
 
Bill D said:
Bravo! It never made sense to me that a microfiber fabric would need a specialized detergent. I use vinegar with my laundry all the time now.
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This is purely anectdotal, of course, but at least in my case, Sonus Wunder Wasche is leaps and bounds better than what I was using before (Dreft, I believe . . . also tried Era and Cheer in the past). You can argue that it's a placebo effect, but my towels feel softer and seem to come cleaner since I switched.



YMMV,

Tort
 
TortoiseAWD said:
This is purely anectdotal, of course, but at least in my case, Sonus Wunder Wasche is leaps and bounds better than what I was using before (Dreft, I believe . . . also tried Era and Cheer in the past). You can argue that it's a placebo effect, but my towels feel softer and seem to come cleaner since I switched.



YMMV,

Tort
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I'm with this guy. ;) I have used the Sonus Wasche before with my *gasp* sonus towels.. and they seemed a little softer than normal. That being said, i don't know if i would pay the premium again.
 
Cool, Thanks. I have washed them and put them on double rinse, and they still look bad, but if it wont effect performance, its fine with me. I was just wondering if the stains would possibly be damaging to anything. If not, well then I guess the stains dont really matter. Thanks
 
Quote: Both polyester and polyamide (the components of microfiber) are resistant to household ammonia.



Ammonia resistant I wouldnâ€â„¢t disagree with but not ammonia proof (as in water resistant vs. waterproof) these chemicals will weaken plastics like Polyester and Polyamides

JonM
 
Prometheus said:
Cool, Thanks. I have washed them and put them on double rinse, and they still look bad, but if it wont effect performance, its fine with me. I was just wondering if the stains would possibly be damaging to anything. If not, well then I guess the stains dont really matter. Thanks
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I also wanted to know the answer to this. Even though the towels may be stained after thoroughly washing, do they still pose a danger to anything that you may clean them with?



Also, before I learned how to properly clean MF towels, I used to mix the towels that I used on my paint all together with everything else that I used to wash my car such as wash mitts and applicator pads. These towels should be fine if I wash them alone from here on out and inspect them for any debris? I don't want to toss them because they weren't cheap and seem to be in very good shape.
 
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