Final Touch Detailing San Deigo CA Car Wash
Mobile In San Diego
County North & South
San Diego, CA 92126
United States
ph: 619-253-5257
afinalto
ARE TOWELS THE SAME?
Microfibers & Swirls?
In this day and age any professional business washing or removing product from your paint, should be using a microfiber based towel. What is a microfiber? Microfiber is a man-made material that combines two fibers, polyester and polyamide. The polyester gives the material strength and durability, the polyamide allows the fabric to be tremendously absorbent and quick drying. Microfiber towels have over 200,000 strands of fiber per square inch. One strand of this Ultra Microfiber is 10 times finer than silk and 100 times smaller than a human hair. It is softer, finer and more absorbent than any other conventional cloth available today.
As professionals we use microfibers towels in the polish/dry stages with the following facts-
- The towels use a "Ultra Microfiber" thread
- The towels have a weight of at least a 500g/m²
- The towels have a blend of at least 70/30 microfiber
- The towels are clean and dry when first used
- The towels are switched when becoming dirty
So why are those facts important? We will break the specifics in the following paragraphs, but the bottom line is those facts above mean that our microfibers will not add scratches, swirls, marring or any other defects to your paint.
Lets start with the most common sense issues about any towel used to dry your paint surface or remove product from your paint surface. The towels being used, must be clean. Clean meaning washed to a level where they are free from contaminants and as soft as when they are new. While it may be common sense to you use a clean towel, many of the towels used by car wash type places are not clean when they are used on your vehicle.
The next common sense issue is that if the towel being used become dirty in any fashion then that dirty towel can damage the paint. The only way to address this issue is to consistently monitor the towels for dirt/dust/contaminants . Once these contaminants are found the towel then needs to be switched out for a clean towel. While it may be common sense to not use a towel that is dirty, many of the towels used by car wash type places are dirty simply from being used on other peoples vehicles.
If you are using a detailing service or are going to a car wash that is using any kind of used or dirty towels to dry or remove product on your paint surface these towels ARE CAUSING SCRATCHES/SWIRLS/DEFECTS in your paint surface. Used or dirty can mean any of the following-towels that have been used on a vehicle before you, towels pulled off a wet pile of dirty towels, towels that have been rinsed in water but not actually washed with detergent, towels used on wheel surfaces then used on the paint, towels used to wipe down the interior and then used on paint, and many others. When we say these used or dirty towels ARE CAUSING SCRATCHES/SWIRLS/DEFECTS, this is not a guess on our part, we know for a fact from our experience that dirty/used towels ARE CAUSING SCRATCHES/SWIRLS/DEFECTS on your paint surface. Think about this fact the next time you go through any car wash that has employees standing around drying your car off with wet/used/dirty towels that have been using on other vehicles. Bottom line is to be sure all the towels used on your paint surface are clean, consistently monitored for dirt/dust/contaminants , and switched immediately to clean towel after becoming dirty.
So moving beyond the common sense issues we talked about above there are other facts that separate microfibers used on your paint from each other.
As most things in life there are levels of quality. The three things you want to be concerned with in regards to microfiber towels are-
- Blend
- Weight
- "Ultra" or "Non Ultra" thread
Blend is a reference to to the ratio of polyester to polyamide. Polyester is noted as the stronger fiber and, because of its incredible durability, there is always a higher percentage of polyester found in microfiber. Towels made with an 80/20 blend are most often multi-purpose towels because they hold up well to a wide variety of tasks. Polyamide is a derivative of nylon. Polyamide gives the microfiber a softer, silkier texture. Towels made of 70/30 microfiber are often designated as buffing towels because of their fluffy softness. Bottom line here is you want to be sure the microfibers being used are at least 70/30 blend.
The weight of a microfiber towel is directly related to its thickness. Higher weight = higher density = a thicker towel. Microfiber weight is expressed in grams per square meter or g/m². For example a generic microfiber that a normal drive through car wash would use is approx 200g/m². We believe thickness is important because it allows the microfiber to remove product better, hold dirt and dust away from the paint better, and provides a more complete buffing shine. Bottom line here is you want to be sure the microfibers being used are a minimum weight of 500 g/m²."Ultra" microfiber thread is the industry term for referring to the size and weight of each individual fiber. It is the highest quality microfiber made. Many lower priced microfibers do not use the Ultra microfiber thread in them. Bottom line here is you want to be sure the microfibers being used have the "Ultra" microfiber thread in them.
Our Superior Blue Microfibers
A stack of typical below 200 g/m² used in car wash vs a stack of our 500 g/m² blue towels.
The edges and corners of the 200 g/m² vs 500 g/m² towels.
Final Touch Detailing San Deigo CA Car Wash
Mobile In San Diego
County North & South
San Diego, CA 92126
United States
ph: 619-253-5257
afinalto
