Do this instead of throwing out your microfiber towels 🏁
If you’re treating your microfiber towels like single-use napkins, you’re wasting money.
Here’s how to keep them in rotation for as long as possible:
How to wash towels without ruining them
Much like your favorite shirt that your kid rubbed his snotty nose on, you can throw your microfiber towels in the washing machine.
You do need to exercise some caution, though.
Use warm (not hot) water.
Use cheap detergent
(No smells, colors, or softeners) or a dedicated towel cleaner like Micro-Restore.
Wash similar towels together to avoid cross-contamination
(Don't put wheel towels with window towels).
If you have to dry them in the machine, use low-heat only.
I prefer to hang mine on a rack to air dry them because the heat can melt the fibers.
Now you can reuse them many times without any problems.
But what about when they start to look beat up or permanently stained even after washing?
That's where the ranking system comes in:
Ranking your towels
Don’t just toss all your towels in the same bin. I use a tiered system that lets me squeeze every last bit of life out of them:
#1 Towels
Brand new or basically perfect. These only touch paint and sensitive areas and are awesome for polish or wax removal.
#2 Towels
Still clean and soft, but no longer brand new. Great for rinseless washes or drying aids.
#3 Towels
A little stained or rough around the edges. These are perfect for dirty areas like door jambs, wheels, and engine bays.
Retired Towels
Too beat up for car use. They become shop rags, house cleaning towels, or get tossed if they’re beyond saving.
By demoting towels down the ranks as they age, you’ll keep your paint safe and stretch your money further.
The truth about ceramic coating towels
A lot of people believe that a towel that's been used for anything related to ceramic coating application is immediately garbage.
This isn't true.
Some people swear by the fact that tossing them into a bucket of water and all-purpose cleaner immediately after using them will keep the coating from hardening in them, so they can be washed.
Personally, I'm not a fan of this. If I'm applying a coating, it's because I've spent hours perfecting the paint first. I'm not willing to risk scratching that if I'm wrong about the towels.
However, there are other ways to reuse ceramic coating towels.
They can live a 2nd life as towels for your wheels, tires, engine bay, exhaust, etc.
You can even reuse your applicator (if you use those microfiber blocks) to apply rubber/plastic dressings or polish metal.
Don't give up on them too soon!
