Thoughts on Griot's Garage 100% Cotton Towels?

[joebruin77]

Hey, everyone,
Like so many detailers, I love my microfiber towels. I especially enjoy the Cobra Waterless Wash Shine and Buff Towels that I recently ordered on Autogeek. That said, I just learned that washing microfiber towels can release microplastics into the drain water and ultimately into the environment. I was considering alternatives. I don't want to use an air or leaf blower since I mainly do rinseless and waterless washes. I searched Autogeek and found this product:

Griot's Garage 100% Cotton Buffing Cloths - 10 Pack (https://www.autogeek.net/griots-garage-cotton-cloths.html)

These are 100% cotton towels from Griots Garage. I noticed that there are no reviews for them. I had a couple questions:

1) Has anyone used these or any other 100% cotton towels instead of microfiber towels? Are they effective without scratching the paint?

2) I know with microfiber towels, you are supposed to avoid fabric softener and you should dry them on ultra low heat. Do the same instructions apply to cotton towels, or can fabric softener help keep the cotton towels soft to reduce the possibility of scratching paint on the next use?

Any thoughts are welcome.

Thank you and happy (and healthy) new year,
joebruin77

[2black1s]

If the cotton towels are a high grade and super soft I wouldn't worry about scratching. There's just so many different qualities that you need to choose carefully.

Before microfiber that's all we had and we did ok back then. Microfibers do make it a little easier now. Especially for removing the last little traces of polish and/or wax residues. Ever notice how much easier it is to remove a slight smudge with microfiber rather than cotton? Sometimes cotton just seems to smear it around while microfiber will pick it up.

As for the fabric softener... that applies to any towel. Fabric softeners will diminish any towel's absorbency and increase its tendencies to smear or streak.

And as far as the environment is concerned, relative to the automotive world, I would think any microplastics released to the environment from washing microfiber towels to be near the bottom of the list of legitimate concerns.