When to wash drying towels and wash mitts

B

Bill1975

New member
Hoping to get a reasonably clear answer on this. Should wash and drying media be cleaned after every wash? Here is what I currently do for traditional washes using a two bucket method

Wash mitts (microfiber and wool mitts) are rinsed thoroughly and dried. They go in the washing machine periodically, usually after 3 washes.

Towels (I use WW and a Griots PFM towel) ,assuming they picked up no dirt, are hung up to air dry and are machine washed periodically, every third wash or so.

For rinseless washes, I machine wash the mitts every time since this method keeps the dirt on the mitt (and I use several when washing a car this way). I usually hang the towel out to dry.
 
It is my opinion and practice to only use a wash mitt or towel once before I wash it. I can`t really guarantee that they are perfectly clean otherwise. But I have also gathered and accumulated enough of each to wash 6-8 times before I need to wash a load.
 
I wash my drying towels after every use because I am convinced that they still pick up some contaminants or residue from the car (especially if you use rinseless products). I know that the washing shortens the lifespan of the towels, but I accept that it isn`t infinite.
 
Wash everything every time I use it. It`s true, it does make the entire process longer. I always tell my daughter I`ll be glad to help her with her wash as long as she sticks around and helps me take care of the tools we use. It never works out that way. ;)
 
I sometimes don`t wash my washmit after using it. I rinse and ring it out thoroughly and hang it up to air dry. I always wash my towels after drying, but I normally use some sort of drying aid when drying my vehicles.
 
Bill1975 said:
Sounds like a pretty clear consensus.
Click to expand...

Heh heh, guess I`m gonna be the Autopian Heretic again...or at least a Contrarian. I don`t always wash my sheepskin wash mitts as there`s seldom much contamination on the vehicle by the time I switch to them (from the BHBs) and I generally don`t see any dirt on them or in the rinse buckets. Actually have to remind myself to wash them now and then, though I will say that I always use freshly laundered ones to wash certain vehicles :D
 
I wash mitts and towels after every use, separately of coarse. Mitts one load, and then separate towels by there uses and laundry them in batches.
 
I usually just rinse out the drying towel in a bucket with clean water a couple of times then wring it out and hang it to dry. Now that I`ve switched over to the GG PFM drying towel I find it nearly impossible to wring that thing out when it`s soaking wet. So with that one I`ll do the same as above and try to wring it out the best I can then put it in the dryer for 20 min on the lowest heat setting to dry a majority of it, then hang it up to dry the rest of the way.
 
One more thing I`ll mention is that I tend to wash and dry all my MF together since I hate washing just a few towels at a time. When I do separate, I keep wax/polish mf separate and do the drying towels and mitts together.

I started washing the sheepskin mitt by hand since it tended to shed a lot in the wash.
 
Hard to answer easily.
I have 3 hampers in the car-age.
One is Glass and Drying only -these get put into the hamper after each use.
second is for my really dirty MF towels
Third and last for good MF that are used for Waterless wash, polish removal
That`s the Hamper sections and everything gets used once and washed

the really dirty MF go to the local Laundromat and the others get washed in house. I run an empty quick wash with HOT, with heated Sanitizing after each in house wash just because.

Wash Mitts get rinsed out as I washout the buckets at the end of the wash. If I see dirt ( or grease that does not rinse out of mitt, I soak in bucket with degreaser and then wash out) it then goes in a dirty MF hamper for the Laundromat.

If the washmit looks clean, I am good. I have both Lambswool and the dredlock MF mitts. The lambswool I buy the soft ones that don`t last more than a season but they are super soft. The dredlock ones last a good while.

I don`t get marring from either. I used to be so paranoid but lately I have been wanting to mar the car so I can polish it. I waterless washed the whole car while it was trashed, and zero damage. Joe Driver was my witness and it has zero damage. Either my costing is super tough or the OCD has me thinking I am abusing my paint when I am not???


I rarely wash my paint wash mitts or my wheel mitts. I have some demoted wash mits I use on fender wells and in the splat areas that I wash with "dirty MF towels."
 
I as well wash all MF towels after each wash. I also store them in a closed plastic container after they are washed and dried. I maybe a bit OCD but I think it they will get "stuff" on if they sit on a shelf in the garage outside a container.
They usually clean/look as clean as they start before I wash cars. If they do not then I give them a couple more tries before they get delegated to wheel inside fender etc.. uses..

Regards

Nick
 
I admit I dont always wash my mitt after every use (usually during the summer when the cars barley dirty). My towels all get washed after every use. They get separated into 4 categories, Disgusting (get donated to work to be used on the trash trucks), real dirty (wheel wells, hinge side of door jambs, under hood), normal dirty interior or exterior towels, newer or fancier towels (rinseless wash drying waxing).

P.S. I know I am so non Autopian with this but I now use a Boars hair brush for my daily driver pickup truck. :eek::yikes::sorry:
 
I wash my mitt and towels after every wash. Depending on what I use for drying towels, I will sometimes wash everything together.

A few years back I wouldn`t wash my mitt\mitts after every wash. One day I decided to do a test and hand washed a mitt in a white bucket. To my surprise there was lots of dirt in the bottom of the bucket, since then I don`t chance it. I use the 2 bucket wash method and agitate the mitt at the bottom of the rinse bucket. It goes to show even with the two bucket method some dirt will still remain in the wash mitt. I would urge people who don`t wash your mitts every time to try this test, it will probably change your mind.
 
NLove- I`m guessing you use a MF mitt, right?

Wouldn`t want to mix sheepskin/wool with MF...

And yeah, if the mitt is all that`s being used, let alone one mitt for the whole wash, I sure *would* wash it every time! For that matter, even I would wash a mitt out properly if I saw dirt in the rinse bucket.
 
You guys are an anal, OCD bunch, I love it, it makes me feel somewhat normal.

I used to fret over all this cross contamination, heaven forbid I install swirls onto my paint. Well I was scarred by a soft Infiniti black paint job-PERIOD. That car would swirl if you sneezed at it. Since I stopped buying black cars, my hyper sensitivity to installing swirls remained. But I did not install any swirls. So my ultra crazy rinsing of the mitt during a wash, washing only the top of the panels, then doing the low splat areas last continued. Only the paint stayed totally blemish free. I got lax-er and it still stayed swirl free. All my cars are coated and currently wearing Gloss Coat (newest version), EXO v2, Can Coat, and Mhos topped with Booster. All of these cars have been increasingly washed in a less ocd manner bc I decided, If I mess them up, its almost time to polish and re coat. Well last month I did a waterless wash on my DD what has not been touched since before Halloween! 6 MF towels, 1 litter of waterless wipe and several drying towels. and it was dirty and salty. and it looked awesome. Zero swirling or marring. Ask Joe. Will try to post a link to pics. Sorry having pic problems, are we not suppose to use the IM link?

Front 1/4 done with waterless wipe and the first inch of doors.



After videos


 
Did you do any pre soak or pre rinse before washing?

I find with wash mitts that are dirty from rinseless washing, like ONR do well with a pre wash cleaning with dish soap to release most of the dirt. I do the same thing with my pads.
 
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