We continue to test... its a really counter intuitive item for us to offer... we are in the business of offering perfection (or at least very close to it), so selling anything that is counter to that goes against what our best practices would preach.
The snow is finally retreating here and i was able to get the goods out in full force. Put an Adams beat down on my truck today. Strip wash, paint correction and polish, LPS topped with glaze and buttery, then VRT on on the tires and trim an finished up with the total interior detailer on the interior. Bonus, Fedex guy delivered my beanie and brilliant glaze flash sale purchase midway through. Could have used the beanie when i started out this morning, but thought it was great that they brought it on Sunday. Anyway, heres the final results, didnt get many before pics, but Adams polishes did an amazing job IMO.
:waveshand: Same here bro. And the best part is I'm driving 80% of the time so the wife has learned to live with where I want to park. Best is at the mall, because you know broads love to try and get close as they can as if they are going to miss a sale if they park far away. When I do a beeline for the farthest back corner, I can feel the grip tighten on the straps of her pruse.
I manage my 13 year old's baseball team. Since we try to get to our field an hour before the game starts, my wife drives separately with the rest of the kids. After last night's game, I walked my lovely wife to her van to help load up the kids. She looked around and asked "Where did you park?" I pointed over to the middle school parking lot about 100 yards away and said "There's no way I was parking in this dirt lot tonight. My car is too clean and this dust gets everywhere."
It was finally warm enough for the first time in months to wash my car and since I was home, I also did my parents' cars.
First up the new shampoo. I did not use it in a bucket, so this is foam gun impressions only. Personally I think the old one smelled better and despite the new one supposedly being more concentrated, it seemed the same as the old one and I used them back to back. The new one does feel a little more slick though. It still gets a 5 out of 5 because it's not worse than the old one and the old one was perfect so despite this somewhat lackluster sounding review, it is indeed awesome.
Now the foam gun. Overall it is very well built, but mine leaks in 2 places. The trigger leaks a tiny bit where it screws onto my hose and the soap reservoir leaks if you turn it upside down to mix the soap with the water (THIS IS NORMAL BY DESIGN), but I can get around that by mixing it side to side. I also did just a tiny bit of accidental durability testing. If you drop the trigger, the red paint on it will chip which is expected. I also hope that the plastic solution reservoir holds up overtime. I would have liked to see a rubber base around the bottom of it so that you could set it down without having to worry about the plastic getting damaged.
The overall performance of it is very good though with just 2oz of the old or new shampoo. Also, one bottle squeeze is almost exactly one ounce, so 2 squeezes and no need for a measuring cup. The suds are very generous and cling to the car very well.
I used the foam gun to eliminate one of my buckets. My wash process was to rinse the car, then foam it all up. I would then constantly shoot the foam gun into my wash mitt as I washed the car and used a rinse bucket with a grit guard when necessary. The foam gun kept on supplying me with fresh suds eliminating the soap bucket.
With just 2oz of soap and using the method described above, I was able to wash my Civic and my parents' Routan and still had some leftover, but I dumped it out so I could test the old soap in the foam gun too. That time I only used 1oz of soap and only filled the reservoir half way with water.
In the end, I feel that this cut down on my wash time and didn't cause me to use any more product than a traditional wash.
A lot of friends call me DT and it's just stuck over the years, and I figure there's going to be a lot of threads popping up about these two new products, so I wanted to make a kinda silly thread title for it to stick out
Enough mostly pointless introduction...onto the goodies!
It was 43 degrees out today, but the sun was shining and I couldn't wait any longer to get all the crud and filth off of my car from sitting at Pittsburgh Airport for 2 weeks and then the 90 minute drive back home.
The construction of the foam gun itself simply impressed me. All parts seem very sturdy and the stainless quick disconnect is very secure, unlike the generic brand foam gun I was using prior to this one. I used the yellow-green metering tip as recommended, then after attaching the fill tube, I filled up most of the container with water, then added in 2 or 3oz of the new blue goodness and shook it up some. The wash pad on top of the brand new wash pad is used for the rocker panels and lower rear bumper, hence why it looks a little beat up. I had a third one, not pictured, that I used as well for the lower half of the doors.
I prepped my wash buckets as I normally do, then added another 2oz onto the wash pad in the bucket. It foamed up very quickly, and made a very pleasant smell to me. I had no complaints with the scent of the red shampoo, and the blue shampoo has a great berry scent to it.
It throws A LOT of suds! The foam gun I used before didn't have any type of metering tip. It did ok but didn't put out this kind of volume, and didn't seem to last this long, even with a larger container.
I sprayed my GS down very generously to try to get those pictures, and I still had some mixture left in the container when I was done covering the whole car.
Then I did my normal cleaning
Rinsed off very easily, just like the old formula:
I just really liked how you can see all of the pearl in the paint in this shot below
Love the side profile of this car...
The Opel-Buick says thank you for cleaning me in this nasty cold winter weather!
Water wiped off very easily as usual with the Great White Drying Towel. Since it was so cold I didn't bother to spray any Detail Spray as a drying agent this time.
And there were still some suds left in my wash bucket after I was done, and it probably took me 15 or 20 minutes of drying after rinsing it off, since I was letting my hands warm back up after each section
Thanks for looking. I'm very pleased with both products, and I expected nothing less. Keep on rockin' Adam's Team!
Plush to waffle weave, glass towels to wash pads, and even more recently polishing pads, microfiber has forever changed how shine freaks keep their cars looking great and how detailers correct, protect, and care for customers cars. The argument could be made that no single advancement in the world of car care has had a larger impact in the last decade than microfiber. Professionals and enthusiasts alike all keep a hefty supply of a wide variety of towels on hand at all times, but despite its omnipresence in the care care world there is still a fair amount of mis-information and mis-understanding as to how they should be cared for.
In this FAQ article I'll be covering the basics of cleaning and care for your microfiber towels and a little bit of background on what makes them the preferred choice of detailers.
WHAT IS MICROFIBER?
What good is it to get into all the minutia of microfiber if you don't first have an understanding of the materials composition and history?
Microfiber can be composed of many parts, most commonly in the detailing / car care industry we use a combination of polyesters and polyamides. These microscopic laboratory born fibers are around 1/100th the diameter of a human hair, this ultra fine thread is what gives microfiber its delicate touch and super soft feel. To put that size into perspective, if you were to think of a regulation basketball as the equivalent of the diameter of a human hair, an individual strand of microfiber would be smaller than an M&M chocolate candy!
Why is this important? While you might see a fluffy towel with your naked eye on a microscopic level there is a very tiny, but very uniform and durable strand there. Almost all microfiber will share an identical fiber structure, regardless of weave or pattern. How the fibers are laid out will impart different characteristics to the material (plush for delicate surfaces, waffle weave for drying, flat for glass, suede for coatings, etc)
Each individual strand has a star-like structure and all strands are virtually identical across the entire surface of a towel. If you could pull a fiber from one towel, and another from a different towel of similar quality and cross section them you'd likely not be able to tell them apart. This leads to a uniformly soft towel that performs the same regardless of fold or what portion is in contact with the surface. This is in stark contrast to the wild inconsistency of cotton fibers which can vary in shape and size from one strand to the next. (see the image below)
The star shaped structure on each strand allow microfiber to trap small particles, dirt, moisture and debris making them very effective for cleaning. Compared to the inconsistent, tube-like, shape of cotton which is absorbent, but not ideal for cleaning microfiber has a clear advantage.
WHERE DID MICROFIBER COME FROM?
These tiny man made textiles were actually being produced back as early as the 1950's though the applications were extremely limited. Technology at the time had its limitations and it was next to impossible to produce long continuous strands in a consistent manner making it not only very expensive, but also very time consuming to produce. Technology began to catch up in the late 1960's when a team of Japanese researchers were able to produce microfibers in long continuous strands. This breakthrough lead to the adoption of microfiber for a variety of applications in the 1970's in the textiles industry. By the 1990's microfiber would gain popularity in the cleaning products market, but mostly in the janitorial and hospitality industries due to its sanitary properties and low tendency to shed or lint.
In the early 2000's I personally had my first experience with this new 'micro towel' a friend of mine had gotten his hands on. It was softer than the cotton diapers we were all used to using in those days and in the coming years we began to see more and more variety in towels available. A good friend and fellow detailer actually began importing these towels as a side business around 2002 and instantly the SoCal detail market began to change. Everyone wanted these incredible new towels.
In the years after that microfiber would explode and become widely accepted as the best option for any kind of detailing. The towels continued to improve and find new configurations - waffle weave, glass towels, foam core towels, applicators, and most recently the microfiber buffing pads. Its funny to think back on a time before microfiber, when a cotton diaper was the best option now, and even stranger to think that it wasn't all that long ago.
WHAT DOES 'WEIGHT' MEAN?
GSM or "Grams Per Square Meter" or "g/m2" is also referred to as the towels "weight". This measurement dictates the materials fiber density. In other words the relation between the mass of a towel and how much space or volume it takes up. Usually the higher the GSM the softer the towel. Plush towels for use on delicate surfaces should be at least 360gsm, but I personally prefer towels at least 460gsm or higher. Towels in the 200-350gsm range are best suited for non-delicate surfaces and tasks, like scrubbing leather seats or wiping off things under the hood.
Now, the GSM rating isn't always the best way to define a towel. For example a waffle weave towel may have a lower GSM, but thats due to the way its constructed not as much due to the quality of the material.
To be safe always buy your towels from a reputable source, and before jumping in with both feet test it in a small area to make sure its delicate enough for the job you're about to do. If you use a low GSM towel all over your car without first testing you'll have a lot of paint correcting to do!
USE THE RIGHT TOWEL FOR THE JOB
Because microfiber marks such a substantial investment in your detailing collection its important to do your best to preserve them to get the most use from them before they are retired. To this end its always a good idea to segment your towels into various types.
Plush or deep fibers are generally best for extremely delicate jobs, like wiping or polishing clear coat, while shorter or looped fibers have superior scrubbing and cleaning power. Waffle weaves offer the best absorbancy gram for gram and flat weave towels are ideal for non-delicate surfaces where streak free performance is paramount.
But don't just section your towels off by type! Sort your towels out in your collection for the jobs they're best suited for. Don't waste a good towel on a dirty job like wiping a door hinge or polishing metal. Preserve your best towels and retire old or stained towels to less important jobs.
WHATS CONTAMINATING YOUR TOWEL MAKES A DIFFERENCE
When you think about the contamination thats in your towels after a use you're talking about a pretty thick cocktail of polymers, waxes, oils, and other stubborn residues that need strong detergents to remove. For example waxes and sealants are products that BY DESIGN resist removal from detergents, water, heat, etc on your paint. A "good durable" wax or sealant is defined by its ability to resist detergents thru more than a few washes. These products behave no differently when buried deep within the fibers of your towels. Anyone whos tried to strip wash a sealant knows that sometimes it takes a pretty aggressive mix of All Purpose Cleaner to get it completely removed.
So knowing what kind of fight these products put up on your paint, why assume they'd be so much more easy going when bonded to a towel fiber? They aren't. This is why a stronger detergent or dedicated microfiber cleaner like Adam's Microfiber Revitalizer & Brightener is key to maintaining your towels. Removing product residues is just as important to your microfiber as any other part of their care and MFR&B was designed specifically to break down the things most commonly found in detailing towels.
The types of contamination found in automotive detailing towels will be far different than the soil, food, and grime found in other towels around your home. While a dish towel might have a combination of last nights spaghetti sauce and that mystery food goo from the fridge, your detailing towels will be full of polish, wax, and sealant residues. Because of this the type of detergent you choose is important.
Regular laundry soaps are still an effective option - most good detergents can remove most anything you find, or at the very least break them up enough to be effective. We've all seen the TV commercials where brand X removes grass stains, wine stains, ground in dirt - but I haven't seen one yet that says it'll remove carnauba wax and polymer sealants. Removing a grass stain from your socks is a much different proposition to removing a sealant from your towels.
The option to avoid, and one incorrectly recommended by amateurs all over the web, are 'delicate' detergents like woolite. Products in this category are lacking in the areas needed to really remove all the residues found in your towels. Sure, if you need to clean a silk shirt or delicate unmentionables by all means reach for your woolite, but we're dealing with tough residues embedded deep into very tiny fibers - use a detergent capable of getting the job done. While microfiber is important, and should be cared for appropriately, it is fairly durable stuff and can handle stronger detergents to make sure they are 100% clean. Weaker detergents will continually leave behind a small amount of detailing contamination, leading to a slow buildup and eventually hampered performance.
REGULAR CLEANING:
Your microfiber should be cleaned after every use. While it might be tempting to let that drying towel sit and use it again next weekend you run the risk of contamination causing swirls or letting something set into the towels that will be more difficult to remove later. Cleaning microfiber is usually the least enjoyable part of a detail, but in the end staying on top of your laundry just ensures that your towels will be at their best and ready when you are.
CLEANING TOWELS
Always separate your dirtiest towels, like those used to clean wheels or for metal polishing, from your 'good' plush and drying towels to avoid cross contamination and wash them in separate loads.
Keep cotton and other materials out of the wash loads. Wash microfiber only with other microfiber.
Use a dedicated microfiber detergent like Microfiber Revitalizer or a dye free/perfume free liquid laundry soap - no powders or granulated.
Set washer to a warm water setting. Some heat is required to break down waxes and polishes. Cold settings will not clean towels as effectively.
If your washer is equipped with an extra rinse cycle, use it. This will make sure as much of the contamination and remaining soap is removed from the towels as possible.
Microfiber can be machine dried if you prefer, use a low heat setting and NO FABRIC SOFTENER. Air or line drying is also an option, be sure to do this somewhere the towels cannot be contaminated with dust or lint.
MICROFIBER PADS & APPLICATORS
Just like with towels, separate any extremely dirty or contaminated pads from the group and wash separately to avoid cross contamination.
Wash pads and applicators separate from towels. The foam backing and velcro can become snagged and damaged during agitation by a towel in the same load.
Use a brush to break up heavy, caked in, polish residues on pads before washing.
Microfiber Revitalizer is preferred, but if using regular laundry soap make sure its dye/perfume free.
Set washer to a warm setting, not hot. Pads have a glue membrane that is sensitive to high heat so stick to warm wash water settings.
Air dry all pads and applicators on a wire rack to maximize airflow and expedite drying.
HEAVY STAINS AND CONTAMINATION:
No matter what there is going to be occasions where a towel becomes extremely contaminated or stained from either something you removed from a vehicle (grease, oil, tar, etc) or it becomes saturated with a product to the point there is some discoloration. In these situations pre-treating or at the very minimum pre-soaking the microfiber to keep these stains from setting in is key. Obviously, you can't stop mid-detail and clean your microfiber accessories, so here are some quick tips to help with heavier contamination on the fly.
Pre-treat any towel that becomes heavily soiled with grease, oil, brake dust, etc - spray liberally with All Purpose Cleaner or Microfiber Revitalizer. Soak the heaviest contamination and rub the towel against itself to agitate, then set aside for cleaning later.
Pre-soak towels to help start the cleaning process long before you get around to doing your detail laundry. Prep a separate bucket with clean water and add 2-3oz of Microfiber Revitalizer. As towels become too dirty to continue using toss them into the pre-soak bucket. Place a grit guard, upside down and ON TOP of the towels after they've been put in the mix to hold them in the solution as they try to float to the top.
For microfiber polishing pads or applicators use a stiff brush, like the pad conditioning brush, to break up residues before they harden and set in. Pads can also be added to your pre-soak bucket if desired.
If a towel ever becomes so contaminated that it doesn't wash clean, it may be time to retire it to a new job. Rotate towels that have been heavily stained to less delicate tasks.
MICROFIBER STORAGE:
Where your towels are kept when they are not in use is just as important as how they are cared for, so make sure you have a solution for keeping your towels out of harms way and dust free between uses. Plastic storage totes are an inexpensive solution - the lid will keep your towels from collecting dust in an area like a garage and will also minimize the amount of crawly insects that might find a new home buried in all that plush softness.
Always be sure your microfiber is completely dry before storage. Mildew will form on towels in some climates if they are even slightly damp. This is especially true of microfiber applicators and pads. The foam backing and cores is a magnet for moisture avoid using air tight containers for anything with a foam core or backing unless you are completely confident it is dry all the way through.
BOILING YOUR TOWELS:
Over time your microfiber may become contaminated past the point it can be completely cleaned using traditional methods. Typically this will present itself during use - drying towels will begin to feel less absorbent. Plush towels may lint slightly or smear products more than remove them. This is an indication that the fibers are 'full' either from residues deposited during use or things like fabric softener accidentally introduced during cleaning.
In any event, if your towels begin to loose their performance or just don't feel as good as they did new boiling is the solution, the last resort, to bring them back. NOTE: this process applies only to towels and microfiber without foam cores or backing. Never boil pads or applicators.
Fill a large cooking pot approximately 2/3rd full of water and bring to a boil
Add approximately 1-2oz of distilled white vinegar per gallon of water and stir
Place a few of the towels to be treated into the pot, maintaining a slow boil
Stir continuously with a large spoon, avoid letting the towels rest against the bottom or sides for too long
After about 60-90 seconds in the boil, remove the towels using tongs and rinse under cool water
Wash using the "Regular Cleaning" guidelines outlined earlier and they should be as good as new.
NOTE: Should boiling fail to bring absorbancy to a towel or the towel continues to lint then you are most likely dealing with a towel at the end of its lifespan. Retire the towel to less important tasks and replace with a new one for future use.
HOW LONG WILL A TOWEL LAST?
There really is no set answer to that question. Depending on how frequently they are used, how well they are cared for, and the types of products they're used with a towel can last for a very short or very long time. On average a towel should last the average user at least a year or two. Understand that no towels are good forever, they wear out eventually like any other product that sees frequent use.
If you experience diminished performance after some time and try the recommended boiling method it might be time to retire that towel and replace it with a new one. Your vehicle is a big investment and towels by comparison are a relatively small price in making sure it stays looking nice.
One thing is for certain - the better care you take of your microfiber towels and accessories, the better they'll do at caring for your vehicles.
Well…. The frame is sold, but in great hands! With Porterbuilt parts being in demand right now(12 weeks out) and knowing the frame was just going to collect dust in the garage for a while, I put it online to see if I get a bite. I did from a builder out of Miami(juankybuilt if ya'll have Instagram). He is building a pretty badass C10 now and lots of builds in the past. He asked if I could deliver to Miami and me being tired of cold weather, I loaded it on the truck and headed out!
This is a build he is working on and a feature he had in the past..
So I figured while I was down there, might as well check off a bucket list item… Drive to Key West! That morning I dropped off the frame and headed South. Well it ended up being a lot longer drive than I thought, 150 something miles down a 2-lane road doing an average of 40mph take a lot out of you. Not to mention the town of Key West is not designed for full size crew cab trucks pulling a 20ft trailer!! But none the less, I drove by the buoy, took in the views and headed back North. It ended up being a 2,156 mile trip I did in 3 days with 45hrs of seat time.
^^^ please God don't make that suggestion. Peanut butter masks the issue with oils, it doesn't permanently solve the problem.
The solution to remove the residue is a combination of a chemical that will liquify the wax and a brush. I use the pad conditioning brush actually quite a bit for this purpose. Does a great job as its stiff and the bristles are a fairly small diameter.
Spray APC onto the stained area, agitate the cleaner with the brush in short circular strokes, then flush with water. Repeat as needed. For really stubborn residues substitute Isopropyl Alcohol.
After cleaning and rinsing dress the plastics with a generous coat of SVRT to restore color and protection. A customer did a nice video on this process, I'll see if I can find it and repost here.
There's no additional pressure needed. The pressure of the machine is plenty.
I like to put the sealant on the pad and then spread it out by dabbing the panel before even turning the machine on. Then once it's dabbed across the panel I'll turn the machine on and then work in a snake like pattern horizontally and then vertically just to make sure a spot isn't missed.
Nothing we sell 'attracts' dust... detail spray or brilliant glaze... it doesn't do anything to repel it either though. If you are experiencing a high amount of dust on a vehicle it has more to do with a static charge on the paint from rubbing it than it does the chemicals you're using.
You can fix this by grounding the vehicle - using a copper wire and a couple of metal clips (like a jumper cable) clip to your frame or a pinch weld on the lower rockers, attach the other end to a piece of rebar staked into the ground. That grounds the vehicle, releases the charge and reduces the dust accumulation by a good amount.
I have a piece of rebar tied into the foundation of my garage that I clip the C-10 to to keep the dust down. Makes a huge difference.
Or just take a gallon of water and ounce of Rinseless and about 6 regular mf towels and your GWDT and do a quick rinseless wash in the lot while prepping. Then go over with Detail Spray after finished
Good stories and thanks for the tips! Going to add some Waterless Wash and some Rinse Less Wash on my next order. During the show season, I can defiently tell where these products will come in handy!
Hi Emir, your process is similar to my 'Driver Detail,' which is about 90% of the detailing I do!
1. Crazy deluxe wash, wheels, engine, door jambs, exhaust
2. Clay everything, while still wet, misted with Detail Spray
3. Master Blaster, then dry with Great White
4. VRT / In & Out the exterior trim
5. Cyclo/ Flex/ your favorite polisher and Orange Microfiber Cutting Pads, w/ Paint Correcting Polish, slow passes, top speed setting.
6. Very lazy and quick residue removal, then....
7: Daily driver: Gray Foam Pad, Liquid Paint Sealant
8. Garage Queen: Patriot or Americana Paste.
The Paint Correcting Polish finishes extremely well, and only on a show vehicle, or finicky dark finishes would I consider using the White Foam pad an Paint Finishing Polish.
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