First look: 2006 Mothers microfiber line (PICS - no 56k)

[Bence]

Living in a distant country called Hungary, Mothers products were unavailable and virtualy unknown for me – up until last year. I was familiar with the brand, but other than that I had no experience with the products themselves.
This changed very quickly, when a friend who is living in Canada, sent the ’old’ 3-step Mothers products to me. I tried them immediately along with my boutique products and I was amazed by their results and ease of application.
I followed the buzz on other detailing forums about the new Mothers lines and decided to order them. Well, this was one of my best decisions ever. And then a new rumor emerged: Mothers will release a completely new microfiber line in 2006... Needless to say, I was excited.

A few weeks later – thanks to the joint efforts of Forrest Tosie (Mothers), Geoff Tolsdorf and Darline Johnson (Schroeder & Tremayne) – a nice little box was awaiting me:






This is the new Mothers microfiber line, and they raise the bar in OTC microfiber quality as they’ll rival the best boutique offerings. Remember the success of the new Reflections and FX lines?
All towels are a 70:30 composition; all made in Korea – except for the foam core WW, which is made in Korea, but ’further processed in Bangladesh’. I think Mothers/Schroeder & Tremayne made an excellent choice with them. The overall quality level and the material specification is excellent. The packaging is a display-hanger type paper cap with the (now) signature Mothers F50 motif. They are the most luxurious feeling towels I’ve ever touched. Currently I have 3M, Farécla, Lux, Lampa, Victoria Wax, MTS, Hyosung, etc. towels. I am awaiting samples from Korea, from different manufacturers, but I’m sure that these towels are one of the most outstanding products in terms of overall quality level and specification.

First impressions:

- ULTRA-SOFT DRYING TOWEL
This is a very substantial, positively huge (20×24) foam core WW. The tri-layer towel is heavy but not too stiff (dry), and softens nicely when wet. The weave is tight, consistent, very smooth and has a wonderful, tactile micro-fluffiness. Way better than my old WWs. I heard that foam core towels can push water around, but because of the $#!tty weather (snow & rain) I have no experience on its actual absorbency yet.

Folded


This thing is THICK!


Closeup



- ULTRA-SOFT WHEEL & JAMB TOWEL
A 16×20, handy little WW, with a thinner structure and a more aggressive surface. It has rounded corners, silk borders with regular, excellent stitching. Almost as soft as the big WW; and absolutely on par with it in weave density/consistency.

Folded


An old WW in the new WWs’ sandwich. Crate size: Old – 6×6 mm, W&J – 4×5 mm, DT – 5×6 mm. The new towels have a deeper, more pronounced waffle structure.

[Bence]

- ULTRA-SOFT POLISHING CLOTH
A very nice, tagless/edgeless 16×16 towel, with above average thickness and plushness. I got plush towels from Victoria Wax and MTS (Meg’s Euro partner), but this towel surpasses them by far with its unusual thickness and softness.

Folded


No sewn-in tag, no edge!


Thickness comparison: Mothers/Victoria Wax Plush/MTS (Meg’s EU)/Lux General/Lux Microterry/Lux MF Suede*


*Actual thickness is a bit less because of different folding. Here you can see the Victoria Wax plush towel vs. the Mothers Polishing towel – folded the same way.



- ULTRA-SOFT QUICK DETAIL TOWEL
Just WOW. I’ve seen a lot of times that ’this towel is this soft, that cloth is that soft’. But this towel is simply über! Same high quality workmanship/stitching and same well chosen yellow-gold color as the polishing cloth’s (Cali. Gold). It has a dual nap thickness; one side is 1-1.5 mm thick while the fluffier side is around 5 mm. Break the wax with the shorter and give final buff with the longer. Unbelievably soft!
For me this towel was definitely a tactile superstimulus. I have soft hands (giving up body building in 1990), but this towel makes you think your hands are made of some kind of Velcro or sandpaper. It grabs every little imperfections on the skin. Spooky. Very high quality towel; I can’t wait to try it properly when the weather permits!!!



Dual nap thickness


Top of the MFs



Final thoughts: As with the new 2005 car care lines, Mothers has excellent weapons on the field of MFs. They will combine absolute quality with OTC availability. For me the QD towel was a completely new dimension in OTC MF softness. Foam core WWs are completely new territory for me (as WWs are generally not available in Hungary), so by using them I will gain a lot of exciting, useful experience. The jamb towel is truly a multifunctional tool, great for both delicate and heavy duty work. With the polishing towel we have the comfort and safety of a tagless/edgeless design. All four passed the CD-marr test.
I have no final informations on pricing or availability but Mothers/Viking/Schroeder & Tremayne did a great job outsourcing and offering this terrific line.

(Note: Colors look different in a normal halogen light vs. in my phone’s LED flash.)

[Matt]

Very interesting...great pictures too. When will these be available?

Props to Mothers for bringing quality to OTC products. I absolutely love the Reflections line.

[Bence]

According to Forrest, by mid-April.

[SVTContour]

On Mother's "Waxforum.Com" they were showing these back in November. Yes they do seem very nice, and I wanted to get some. However, it seems like they only sell them in singles. I was hoping they would offer some sort of bulk package (5 or so) that would come with a per unit discount.

So with that being said, I recently ordered an 8 pack of the Cobra indigo MFs and I ordered 2 of the super plush MFs on AG last week, they are actually suppose to arrive today. I think I will still purchase one or two of the Mother's WW with foam core drying towells though, they are suppose to work extremely well from what Forrest was saying. I also have to give Mother's big time props for stepping their game up with the Reflections, FX, and now their MF line.