Waffle Weave towels: Life Span?

L

LQ9SS

New member
How long are your WW towels lasting? I have been washing mine in the designated micro-fiber wash and it seems like they loose absorbensy within a year. Yes, I am washing them seperately from my towels that I use for removing wax/detailer.
 
ALAN81 said:
How often are you washing them? I have ww from 3 years ago,it depends who you get them from.
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Everytime I wash my truck. One a week. I got all my towels from Danase. They are good towels.
 
I have some that are 4+ years old (used hundreds of times) that I still use on a regular basis and they seem to absorb water as good as they did on day one. And, FWIW, I *do not* wash them separately from polish caked pads and MFs that were used to wipe off polish/wax.
 
Mine start to work less effectively after maybe a year or two also. I'm still using them (and some are mighty old now...), but I've been starting to think that I oughta just accept the "limited working lifespan" and replace them more frequently. My newer ones sure do work a whole lot better.



Regulars here know how over-the-top I am about washing/rinsing them, and like LQ9SS's these are also high-quality WWs.



Sorta the same as with my WWMFs made for glass....eventually those always start to lint, no matter what.
 
LQ9SS said:
How long are your WW towels lasting? I have been washing mine in the designated micro-fiber wash and it seems like they loose absorbensy within a year. Yes, I am washing them seperately from my towels that I use for removing wax/detailer.
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I would give them a hot water wash in Dawn. Then run them through the rinse cycle until the water is clear. When my towels start losing their ability to absorb it's always fixed with a hot water Dawn wash. Dawn will clean out any product in the towel including any left over detergent you might have been using. Dawn rinses clean much easier than other soaps so there is nothing left in the towel to mess up the absorbency of it. Doesn't sound as cool to use a common dish washing soap instead of a specially made soap for microfiber but I would rather have towels that work than be cool.
 
Anthony A said:
I would give them a hot water wash in Dawn. Then run them through the rinse cycle until the water is clear. When my towels start losing their ability to absorb it's always fixed with a hot water Dawn wash. Dawn will clean out any product in the towel including any left over detergent you might have been using. Dawn rinses clean much easier than other soaps so there is nothing left in the towel to mess up the absorbency of it. Doesn't sound as cool to use a common dish washing soap instead of a specially made soap for microfiber but I would rather have towels that work than be cool.
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Thank you!
 
Ive had some nearly 10 years? And I dont use "dedicated" microfiber wash detergents....Like any "garment" they will lose some of the plushness over time. They are not indestructible, yet they are fairly rugged and durable. Buy well spoken of towels, and you shoudnt have any issues, also consider the actual cost of your purchase over the years of use its given you.
 
I think I still have the very first waffle weaves I bought from back in 2004....they still work fine. As mentioned, proper care for a quality towel will take it a long way.
 
I have 2 of these from Pakshak. They are in very good condition for 2-3 yrs old, but they don't absorb water that well anymore. I have never used anything but micro restore on them and of course never any fabric softners. Guess I will give the dawn wash and multi rinse cycles a try.



My MF washing routine is:



Hot water wash w micro restore.

2nd rinse and spin cycle with a few small capfuls of vinegar.

Dry on low heat.
 
Just a belated note about Dawn- while it works OK in conventional washing machines, I'm not about to try it in the HE washer.



Anthony A- Heh heh, think anybody *really* considers a choice of detergents to be a cool-factor?!?



gmblack3a- FWIW, Ranney at PakShak has said that vinegar in the rinse cycle can compromise the effectiveness of WWs. I dunno....I've quit using it but I can't say that it made any big diff :nixweiss



Matt@Autogeek- Oh sheesh...six year old WWs that still work great! You kill me...but hey, lucky you!
 
i bought my first dozen MF's from Pakshak in 2003, and still have 4 of them. In fact i used them this am on the Mini. I use them around the house for everything except the bath/toilet area. I have a HE washer (LG) and i would definitely not use dawn in it or any other non-HE detergent. I use the sanitary cycle to wash, extra rinse. Then another sanitary cycle with extra rinse with no detergents. It has a steam cycle as well, but I have not tried it.



Then in the dryer on ultra low until virtually dry then i air dry them. They don't smell, and are soft, but not like any new towels i touch/see/feel in stores.



However, I think I will head over to Costco today to pickup that 30+ pack or head over to Rightlook and pick up some of theirs. I like to buy locally, if possible. Although nowhere in San Diego that I know of has WW.



I love WW's more than regular plush ones. They seem to work better period. But I cant' afford to have exclusive towels for wax, windows, house, etc.
 
Accumulator said:
J

Anthony A- Heh heh, think anybody *really* considers a choice of detergents to be a cool-factor?!?
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I absolutely do believe that. They want the "best" and that to many means mail order boutique items and buying all the hype. Dawn is a far away from that as you can get.
 
AnthonyA- Huh...seems like the folks I know are more likely to act like *not* using boutique stuff imparts some degree of sophistication (an opinion I find equally silly- good stuff is good stuff IMO).
 
Accumulator said:
AnthonyA- Huh...seems like the folks I know are more likely to act like *not* using boutique stuff imparts some degree of sophistication (an opinion I find equally silly- good stuff is good stuff IMO).
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With 20,000 + posts I'm sure you have seen countless posts by people that are basically product collectors. The product of the month fan club types. They are not in short supply here or other detailing forums.



I agree "good stuff is good stuff". You can find some of that good stuff in unexpected places if don't buy into product hype.
 
Anthony A said:
With 20,000 + posts I'm sure you have seen countless posts by people that are basically product collectors..
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Heh heh, yeah...true enough. Though I often try to dissuade those people from fixing that which isn't broken :D



When something *is* broken it can be a different story; every now and then there's some product that'll be a magic bullet for the problem in question.



Some folks in my Jag Club thought I was all high-falutin' about my "special polishes" until I did a guy's car for him and let the results do the talking ;)
 
Prelude_ghost said:
i bought my first dozen MF's from Pakshak in 2003, and still have 4 of them. In fact i used them this am on the Mini. I use them around the house for everything except the bath/toilet area. I have a HE washer (LG) and i would definitely not use dawn in it or any other non-HE detergent. I use the sanitary cycle to wash, extra rinse. Then another sanitary cycle with extra rinse with no detergents. It has a steam cycle as well, but I have not tried it.



Then in the dryer on ultra low until virtually dry then i air dry them. They don't smell, and are soft, but not like any new towels i touch/see/feel in stores.



However, I think I will head over to Costco today to pickup that 30+ pack or head over to Rightlook and pick up some of theirs. I like to buy locally, if possible. Although nowhere in San Diego that I know of has WW.



I love WW's more than regular plush ones. They seem to work better period. But I cant' afford to have exclusive towels for wax, windows, house, etc.
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I've got a Bosch HE washing machine, and I don't hesitate to put Dawn in it. I'll put the Meg's WW microfibers in, and an ounce of Dawn, put it on hot, and then "rinse plus." Haven't had a problem yet, and all of my microfibers still work as-new.
 
I use a combo of dawn, tide and apc plus a extra rinse with vinegar in my HE machine and it works wonders. Use hot water for the wash cycle.
 
MDRX8 & VanityDetailing- Ah, OK...I'll bow to the voice of experience! So no over-sudsing issues with Dawn in the HE huh? Glad it was you guys experimenting as opposed to yours truly though ;)
 
Agreed. The WW drying towels do have a finite lifespan. I've retired some recently... I did a post about it not too long ago. I did everything possible to rejuvinate them and nothing helped. I'm not disappointed about it - - I certainly got my $$$ out of them.
 
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