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  1. #1
    Mike Phillips
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    Buy enough towels to make a DEDICATED small wash load

    Buy enough towels to make a DEDICATED small wash load



    The Clean Dirty Towels Bucket

    The Clean Dirty Towels Bucket is a CLEAN bucket you keep your dirty towels in as you work around a car and then take IMMEDIATELY to the washing machine when ready to wash them.








    I'm back in the office today after the February 3-day detailing bootcamp class, this one,

    Pictures and Comments: 2021 February 3-Day Detailing Bootcamp Class


    And here are JUST 2 of the 14 cars this class detailed. The class actually wetsanded these two cars and then polished them out swirl-free.




    And for what it's worth - there simply are no other classes where complete strangers get to wetsand some other guy's streetrod or muscle car.



    And now I'm playing catch-up with paperwork and communications.

    I always say,

    One day off - one day behind.

    Two days off - Two days behind.

    A week off - a week behind.

    Etc.

    I'm sure you all experience this with your job and life also.


    So I get an e-mail asking me a series of questions and while I MUCH prefer to answer questions on the forum where it maximizes my typing time and helps the most people out over time, I went ahead and typed out the answers for the person in the reply to the e-mail.

    Here's my article on this topic from 2009 - that's 11 years ago as I type today in February of 2021

    Please post your questions to our discussion forum - Don't send them to me in a PM or E-mail...


    One of the questions was about which towels to buy? I show the towels I use all the time on this forum in my write-ups. I would guess any regular members know what they are. I don't know that they are "the best" but they get the job done and are for the most part inexpensive.


    In my reply I included links to 12 packs.

    Why?

    Because if you're in it to win it - then you don't buy one or two towels for any specific type of detailing process. For examples, towels to wipe of compound or towels to use with a panel wipe etc.

    Don't think like that. Thinking like that will not serve you well.

    Instead, think like this,

    How many towels at a minimum do I need/want to make a small wash load?:

    The answer is a dozen.

    You don't want to mix and match your towels with other types of towels used for other chemicals and you certainly don't wash your car microfiber towels with your cloths, bath towels or the wife's dainty's.

    So wen INVESTING in towels, buy enough of any given type of towel to do a dedicated wash load. Then wash them, dry them inspect them, fold them and store them where they will stay clean and uncontaminated until the next use.


    Here's the towels I shared with this person, I care not the color as they are the same towels.








    Links to each color in the order I show them in this picture




    Carbon Black Edgeless Microfiber Polishing Cloth

    Forrest Green Edgeless Polishing Cloth

    Sky Blue Edgeless Polishing Cloth

    Crimson Red Edgeless Polishing Cloth

    Edgeless Microfiber Polishing Cloth

    Storm Gray Edgeless Microfiber Polishing Cloth

    Arctic White Edgeless Microfiber Polishing Cloth



    And the above is taken from this article that as I type is now about a year and a half old.

    Must Have Microfiber! At least my opinion



    Do what you will but in my opinion and experience, one of the factors that should determine how many towels you buy is not the towel or the cost but how many towels do you need to make a small wash load. And for the average washing machine, a dozen works for a small or medium load. This takes into consideration the volume of water for GREAT SWISHING of the towels to actually get them clean for the next use.


    Think.


    Hope this helps someone...




  2. #2
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Buy enough towels to make a DEDICATED small wash load

    And....

    I've been back into the office for less than one hour after the 3-day class and I've already created one new piece of original content.

    In case you missed it - it's a a recommendation to buy your towels in groups of at least a dozen for washing common sense washing purposes.


    Off to a good start!



  3. #3
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Buy enough towels to make a DEDICATED small wash load

    And more...

    If you have never read this article, looked at the pictures and watched the videos - then you're behind.


    How, why & when to inspect your microfiber towels when detailing cars







  4. #4
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Buy enough towels to make a DEDICATED small wash load

    More...


    I need to update this thread - and I will as soon as I get a chance.

    There's a couple of new towels, one for drying cars that I would update and add to this list and also an ORANGE version of the Rag Company's blue glass towel I would add. Mostly because I like the color orange.


    Must Have Microfiber! At least my opinion



    We used the orange towels a LOT in this last class and besides working great for wiping off compounds, polishes, AIOs, and coatings, the best part is - (at least so far),

    NO LINTING


    The Rag Company FTW Premium Orange Microfiber Towel


    Like I've said about the blue versions - I don't know why the people at the Rag Company would only promote these for wiping glass.

    The are STOUT and still soft. This makes them excel at wiping off sticky things like compounds and polishes. And even better for AIOs as well as products like the 303 Graphene Nano Coating.



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  6. #5
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Buy enough towels to make a DEDICATED small wash load

    More...

    Here's another related and great article to read.


    The OCD Method of Washing Microfiber Towels


    If given the choice - I would always buy a top loader washing machine with a REAL AGITATOR to get my microfiber towels and buffing pads clean.

    Everything else wasted time and resources.



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  8. #6
    Super Member fly07sti's Avatar
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    Re: Buy enough towels to make a DEDICATED small wash load

    I’m a firm believer in you can’t have too many MF’s. Also in my experience, if it’s possible to buy in bulk/case, the price per towel drops significantly.

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  10. #7
    Super Member PaulMys's Avatar
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    Re: Buy enough towels to make a DEDICATED small wash load

    Quote Originally Posted by fly07sti View Post
    I’m a firm believer in you can’t have too many MF’s. Also in my experience, if it’s possible to buy in bulk/case, the price per towel drops significantly.

    Yeah, that's a HUGE understatement!!
    It is no coincidence that man's best friend cannot talk.

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  12. #8
    Super Member Eldorado2k's Avatar
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    Re: Buy enough towels to make a DEDICATED small wash load

    Quote Originally Posted by PaulMys View Post
    Yeah, that's a HUGE understatement!!
    Ikr... “price drops significantly”

    ...Yea, but it’s still higher than most put down on a brand new car.Buy enough towels to make a DEDICATED small wash loadlol.

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  14. #9
    Super Member Jacob Harrod AUTOCLEAN's Avatar
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    Re: Buy enough towels to make a DEDICATED small wash load

    I have some of the Rag Company FTW blue microfiber towels and I use a couple for wiping off the BLACKFIRE Glass Waterspot Remover. I also use them for cleaning glass and they work great!

    Do they still sell the blue ones or are they switching over to orange all together?

    Mike, I know your an advocate of the top loading agitator style machines, and if I could get one in my shop I would for sure. As your completing each detailing process are you then taking a load of towels to the machine, and "cleaning as you cook" so to speak?

    For example, when you get the washing and drying process complete and iron decon if you desire, then you'd take your wash mitts and drying towels over to the machine and chuck them in? This way a load is processing for each previous process you complete?

    What about wheel towels? Do you save them for last?

    Can we get your SOP or standard operating procedure for an exterior detail including laundering towels? So this way we can better improve our own process. I know you've made time stamped videos of your process in the past but it would be cool to get everything including set up, re set for different process, and little details like cleaning towels. I can see it now. A day in the life of Mike Phillips.

    I have to take my towels to the laundry mat at the end of the day. So this means I need to hustle and get as much of the vehicle done as possible by 7:30 pm before the laundry mat closes. I have a different bucket for each type of towel I use, and I take a roll of trash bags with me. After the loads are complete I put the towels in the clean bags and put the bags in their respective buckets. Then I take them home and hang them to air dry before air fluffing and then taking them to the shop inspecting, and folding.

    The laundry mat I've selected is very close to my shops location and is actually the most professional and clean laundry mat in the area. I've built up a great rapport with the laundry mat and they respect me because I only bring in "clean dirty towels"

    An unknown side effect you probably didn't know that your books and training have taught me is that my towels stay pretty clean thus improving their life, which in turn saves me money and allows me to provide much higher quality results.


  15. #10
    Super Member Me Time's Avatar
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    Re: Buy enough towels to make a DEDICATED small wash load

    Quote Originally Posted by Jacob Harrod AUTOCLEAN View Post

    Mike, I know your an advocate of the top loading agitator style machines, and if I could get one in my shop I would for sure. As your completing each detailing process are you then taking a load of towels to the machine, and "cleaning as you cook" so to speak?
    If you can find an AWS432 (I think that's the model #) Speed Queen, that would be the machine. I think they are the only company left that makes a true top-load with an agitator. There might be an Amana out there, but the rest are a generic impeller/agitator machine. Probably not a bad machine, but not a true agitator style top-loader.

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