Microfiber questions with ONR

[PhaRO]

Sorry if this is long winded but I'm stumped.

Over the last year in my mobile business I've been switching over to rinseless washes. I started with QEW and tried ONR and DP4N1. All worked well and initially I preferred QEW but tried ONR again and am leaning towards it now. I use Sams Club and Costco MF towels but lately have been rethinking it some but have some questions.

Generallly I have 100 towels in circulation. Right out the package they absorb great. I noticed after a couple of washing they don't absorb as well. No fabric softener or bleach is used and they are tumbled on low heat. Cheap towels poor results is my initial thinking. I picked up a Cobra Super Plush a while back and tried it out. Certainly a nicer towel. I've used it a few times and it's been washed a few times. It doesn't seem to absorb as well either. So much for my cheap towel theory. My guess is either my towels are not getting clean enough, rinsed enough or it's the drying. I notice as the towels get older they become more and more water resistant. I can drop a towel in water and it won't get soaking wet until I wring it out once. When drying I use one towel and chase with the other. The first towel will pick up easier if it's damp but no matter if it's dry or damp it will have to be chased with a second towel. When they are new I don't have to follow up with a second towel as much, especially on the paint. My washer was old and it died so I got a new washer. I thought maybe my washer was too blame. New washer has extra rinse and great spin cycle. I was hoping extra rinse and better cleaning would do the trick. I recently replaced my towels again so this batch has only been cleaned in the new washer. They again are getting less and less absorbant. We don't use fabric sheets in the dryer so I don't think that is it. I use the low setting and a pretty short cycle. I suspect the blame is chemical or soap building up. I was using Cheer Powder. I tried MF restore with the Cheer and that didn't seem to help. I tried just the MF restore and that didn't clean the towels well enough. I've also oxy clean, vinegar in the rinse cycle, Meguiars Super Degreaser and various combinations. Last night I took a handful of towels and cleaned them in a bucket several times with Woolite a few times and Oxy Clean once or twice. I rinsed them several times then washed them with Cheer and MF restorer. After the double rinse, I started a new cycle with a couple cups of vinegar and a double rinse. Going to let some of them air dry and some tumble to see if that helps.

I have been thinking of buying nicer towels but need to figure out what is going wrong before I dump the money into them. If you use a rinseless wash what towels are you using to dry with?

[Surfer]

Product could have built up in the towels. Try this, get a couple bucket of hot water (as hot as will come out of the shower) and put a couple drops of Dawn (it does very well to loosen up product in towels) or some Tide Liquid Free, or some APC/Citrus Degreaser etc. Place the towels in the buckets over night. I've left towels over night and though they looked clean, the water would turn a murky color from the product being released. Then just wash normally (I used a little Tide Liquid Free and wash on warm/warm) and dry on low-med heat.

Over the last year even my cheaper towels like Vroom or Viking from Target have held up as well as my boutique towels. Before every wash with the towels I also do a quick spray of citrus degreaser in the washer.

Though the Costco ones aren't even near the quality of the otc stuff like Vroom or Viking let alone boutique. I'd look into the Edge Shmitt, I think others are using it with rinseless washes. Micros are just going to gunked up to easily with dirt/product on a dirty car with a rinseless wash.

[3Dog]

Another thing to look at..When washing other loads of laundry is fabric softner used? Those fabric softner cups on the agitator tend to hold product that is released later.

[Nuke33]

Originally Posted by Surfer

Product could have built up in the towels. Try this, get a couple bucket of hot water (as hot as will come out of the shower) and put a couple drops of Dawn (it does very well to loosen up product in towels) or some Tide Liquid Free, or some APC/Citrus Degreaser etc. Place the towels in the buckets over night. I've left towels over night and though they looked clean, the water would turn a murky color from the product being released. Then just wash normally (I used a little Tide Liquid Free and wash on warm/warm) and dry on low-med heat.

Over the last year even my cheaper towels like Vroom or Viking from Target have held up as well as my boutique towels. Before every wash with the towels I also do a quick spray of citrus degreaser in the washer.

Though the Costco ones aren't even near the quality of the otc stuff like Vroom or Viking let alone boutique. I'd look into the Edge Shmitt, I think others are using it with rinseless washes. Micros are just going to gunked up to easily with dirt/product on a dirty car with a rinseless wash.

Thats a good idea im going to have to try that...

[Surfer]

Originally Posted by Nuke33

Thats a good idea im going to have to try that...

Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 times of sitting in boiling hot water, you would not believe even what looks like clean towels will release. Makes the towels easier to clean, that could be why my "cheap" otc mircros still don't scratch even cd's after a year or shed.

[abrcrombe]

Surfer - do you do this process EVERYTIME you wash them?

[Surfer]

Originally Posted by abrcrombe

Surfer - do you do this process EVERYTIME you wash them?

What, the buckets? I have a bunch so after I use them and have enough ready to wash I have 4 buckets I use, only takes like 10 minutes lol. I don't just throw the micros in with product in them. Sounds complicated but it's pretty quick, and works! All my towels feel even softer/plusher then they orginally did now.

[PhaRO]

I had a chance today to try out some of the towels that I cleaned several times. About half air dried, other half in the dryer. I normally don't work on weekends but had a car to do. I grabbed some of the air dried towels and used them. Not as good as new but definately a lot better than they were. I will try the dryer towels out tomorrow which I expect to work better too. I gather so far that my towels are definately building up chemicals over time. I had to use my PC on the car today and usually I use my inverter. I decided to run my generator and used one of my 1000w heater to boil water. I soaked the towels I used in the water with a little degreaser. I guess I'm going to have to spend more time on towel care. Should end up saving me time in the end though as the poor absorbtion is killing my drying times.