How to correctly fold and use a Microfiber Towel

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

How to correctly fold and use a Microfiber Towel


People Watching
Most of my life and even just recently while working on an expensive car with a nice finish, I observe people and the techniques they use for any and all aspects of detailing cars. The goal is to help them tweak their technique if anything they're doing could use some improvement. Most pros would agree, when it comes to taking a car's finish to it's maximum potential, that even more important than pad, product and tool selection is technique.


Technique is everything...


Basic Technique but Vitally Important
One common procedure that is as basic as you can get is also one of the most important procedures involved with creating a true show car shine and that's correctly folding and using a microfiber towel to remove a coating of polish, wax, paint sealant, spray-on-wax or spray detailer.

• Good Technique - Used correctly, your hand and a microfiber towel will create and eye-dazzling finish that that will hold up under intense scrutiny under bright light conditions like full overhead sunlight or while on display at an indoor car show.

• Wrong Technique - Used in-correctly and you can easily instill swirls and scratches into the paint not only ruining the finish but requiring machine polishing to remove them and then you're back to wiping the polish off without instilling swirls all over again... catch 22

How To Fold and Use a Microfiber Towel
Here's the basics on how to correctly use a microfiber towel.

Start with a clean, microfiber towel. If the towel has been washed and dried, I will usually inspect each side to make sure there are no contaminants on the towel. Microfiber acts like a magnet and can easily attract and hold all kinds of things to itself that you don't want to rub against your car's paint... so take a moment to visually inspect your polishing towels.

If you're working on a show car finish, even if the show car finish is on your daily driver, make it a "Best Practice" to visually inspect the face of each towel before folding and using.

Clean, laundered Cobra Indigo Microfiber Towel



Fold the microfiber towel in half...



Then in half again...

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Continued...

Control over the towel
By folding your microfiber towels into quarters, you will now have 8, dedicated sides to wipe with and you have control over all 8 sides of the entire microfiber towel. When you simply lay a microfiber towel flat or scrunch it up into a wad, you don't have any control over the towel because it's too hard to gauge and remember how much of the towel has already been used.


Cushion to spread out the pressure from your hand
Folding your microfiber towel like shown above provides cushion to spread out the pressure from your hand, this provide two benefits,

1) Helps reduce the potential for fingermarks caused by excess pressure from your fingertips.

2) Helps to maintain even contact between the working face of the folded microfiber towel and the surface of the paint. This is important at all time but especially whenever you're working on any panel that is not flat.

Folding your microfiber towel provides cushion to spread out the pressure of your hand plus gives you 8 dedicated sides to wipe with.



Not folding means less cushion and only two sides to wipe with...




Correct Technique
Folded towels provide cushion, cushion enables you to work more carefully on your pride and joy plus even contact of a folded, flat microfiber towel against the paint helps you to remove product residues more effectively...





Incorrect Technique - Unfolded Microfiber Towel
Simply laying the towel flat against the paint increases the potential for swirls and scratches due to pressure points against the towel. Using a towel flat and unfolded offers little to no cushion and reduces even pressure between the cloth and the paint. I cringe when I see someone wiping a nice finish by simply placing the towel down flat on the paint and then placing their hand flat on the towel.




Incorrect Techniques - Scrunched-up Microfiber Towel
Here's another common method, or actually lack of method, for wiping product residue off paint and that's to simply scrunch up a microfiber towel into a wad of cloth and wipe using this wadded up towel. Not only do you have zero control over the surface of the towel but you now are introducing folds and edges of towel directly to the finish... under pressure!






Argh!
There's nothing gentle about wiping paint with a wadded up towel...




Inspect and Fold
Make it a "Best Practice" to inspect the working face of your wiping cloths before using and adopt another "Best Practice" and that is to fold your microfiber towels 4-ways to give you 8 dedicated sides to wipe with and plenty of cushion to spread out the pressure from you hand while being gentle to your car's finish.

It should look like this...



Product Showcased
Cobra Indigo Microfiber Towel



Further Resources
The Final Wipe – Tips for creating a streak-free, show car finish

[Pristine Image]

Thanks Mike, this is another informative post. I'm guilty of using two incorrect techniques in the past mentioned above; the wad and laying the towel flat on a surface. But since I've found AG a few months ago I've adopted many new techniques including folding MF towels as you just described. You have to start somewhere and make mistakes along the way to better yourself (and in this case your techniques).

I've noticed when I have a MF folded 4-ways sometimes I experience the top half of the towel trying to "pass" the bottom half during a wipe. Essentially it's like the towel is trying to unfold while wiping. Is there any way to minimize this or is this just something that happens and you need to be attentive to it?

[IID]

I've noticed when I have a MF folded 4-ways sometimes I experience the top half of the towel trying to "pass" the bottom half during a wipe. Essentially it's like the towel is trying to unfold while wiping. Is there any way to minimize this or is this just something that happens and you need to be attentive to it?

I think as the MF pick's product up,it wants to roll itself over.Like the product in the MF and the product on your surface want to bond with each other,in hence you get resistance?

[Kurt_s]

Thanks Mike!
I can attest to the value of using an MF towel correctly. I've had to remove a few fine scratches when I was not careful with MF towel use. More recently, my son helped me remove Fuzion from my car and I have a few new linear scratches to remove next time I polish.

What the idiom, "...there's always enough time to do it right the second time."

[Rob T]

While I have always used a MF (or even in the days before MF with a terry cloth) towel this way, these techniques are important for those newer to detailing to see and understand.

[BillyJack]

Thanks, Mike.
Very informative as usual, but I do have a question. When I'm vigorously pounding in larger than usual quantities of M07 into a weathered lacquer finish, I find it difficult to keep the MF folded with the extra drag of the material. I folded it one more time, making a 4" X 8" size. I can use thumb and little finger to pinch the sides slightly, leaving three fingers and palm flat on the surface and polish just as hard as I want, while still keeping the cloth flat on the panel. Does that sound OK to you?

Bill

[dougaross]

Mike

Is there something wrong with folding the towel one more time, getting extra sides to work as well as softer/thicker cushioning

[DARK HORSE]

I see you guys... C, C, and D

[CEE DOG]

Originally Posted by dark horse

i see you guys... C, c, and d :d

lol!