Micro towels linting like crazy

[hemi1300]

My single soft and double soft towels have been leaving small lint particles on the paint lately and it drives me nuts. Hardly even use them anymore and reach for the blue micro fibers bc they wipe down perfectly. Do I need to boil the towels? Any other solutions to fix the lining problem

[camaro2ssblack]

Once they start its over. Boil them for a last futile attempt but don't get your hopes up. Whatever you do, don't wash them with the ones that are still good.

There are several threads on this topic so I won't elaborate on the issue itself.

[hemi1300]

Sucks, the towels are not that old and still bright white, would hate to toss them already

[camaro2ssblack]

Sucks, the towels are not that old and still bright white, would hate to toss them already

Yes it does but you don't have to toss them. My linty Adams towels are washing wheels, door jambs, or the first pass of a rinseless wash. I find they are still functional for wet application duties.

 

Personally I would send them back since they were so new.

Edited October 1, 2014 by camaro2ssblack

[Chris@Adams]

Yea boilin them may very well take care of the problem. How old are they?

[HFX Detailing]

Did you wash them right away? I notice a new towel lints...until it is washed

[zxgto06]

I boiled mine and washed them with all free and clear. It seems to have stopped the linting for the most part.

[Roshi]

The only towels I have that don't lint are WW towels and the GWD (new and old of both. I use the newer WW towels as my final wipe down towel for all products - DS, WW, RW. Still have 15 -20 of the older blue towels and some newer border less Blues - wthey all lint. Some have been retired to wheel duty. The new borderless Blues towels are great for using RW. DS towels are holding up ok - some linting but then I just over the car real quick with DS or WW to it down.

 

I tried boiling and the like without much success. So, now, to mitigate lint commingling, i wash by towel type: WW & drying towels only, double softs only, blue towels only and of course utilities towels are always washed separately.

[Team Adam's]

First thing to remember - it only takes one towel going bad to cause an entire load to then be chalked full of lint. The chances ALL of your towels simultaneously started linting is thin and none. If it did happen like that I might suggest you buy a lottery ticket ASAP

 

You mentioned you have 15-20 of the older blue towels... which by my estimation are probably going on 4-5 years old by now given how long its been since we carried them. Microfiber towels do wear out, they don't have an infinite lifespan, and when they start to fail, linting is part of it - the fibers actually begin to deteriorate.

 

My first suggestion would be to quarantine your older blue towels or dispose of them entirely. The linting issue you're having might be entirely due to them failing and contaminating your other towels.

[Roshi]

I figured as much, which is why i boiled all of them and separated from there. no dice as they are all hosed. I still have a few BBs that are brand new, still in the packaging. We'll see...

[Team Adam's]

Keep us posted.

[Ricky Bobby]

I still wash all my towels together for the most part, all are pre-treated (any stains), and I have some towels with 3 years on them still working wash after wash.

 

If you don't want to cross contaminate and are doing some filthy work, get a bulk pack of the cheapo yellow towels from Costco and let those be "sacrificial" towels for the extra heavy, dirty, greasy jobs that you wouldn't risk to use your good towels on for fear of them going bad and linting the lot.  At 70 cents apiece they serve their purpose and that is to get better life out of my more expensive towels.

 

For what its worth, all new fluffy towels will lint a bit at least the first 1-2 washes, its to be expected.