Microfiber hairs

Try using a waffle-weave glass towel instead of a regular MF towel.:xyxthumbs:

Not to be a smarta$$ but it sounds like you might need better MF towels. What glass cleaner were you using?

Try not to dry-wipe the windows...leave them a little wet, the dry-wipe drag tends to pull more fibers from the towels. That isn't 100% of the solution, some of it is the towel.

As far as getting the fibers off, that's going to be hit or miss and may take multiple tries with a towel/technique that isn't leaving anything more.

I use CG window cleaner and Kirkland MF and have never seen any fiber residue from multiple generations of Kirkland towels. They get a seriously bad rap here that I am dubious of just from my personal experience with them for 10+ years.


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Route246 said:

I use CG window cleaner and Kirkland MF and have never seen any fiber residue from multiple generations of Kirkland towels. They get a seriously bad rap here that I am dubious of just from my personal experience with them for 10+ years.


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Click to expand...

Yet another dubious Kirkland user.

Take a lint roller to them before you use them. AGO member Mike implemented this a while back and it absolutely makes a difference.

I find washing them first will help with this issue, But like others have said buy $$$ dedicated glass MF

or give MEGS the green glass ones a try. =)

It is also a matter of how new the towel is.. Was the Mf towel washed before first use?
I use Britemax Uber towel (which is simply amazing ) and even after 4 hand washes it still leaves a ton of lint and color on what ever it touches...

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fly07sti said:

Take a lint roller to them before you use them. AGO member Mike implemented this a while back and it absolutely makes a difference.

Click to expand...

High quality microfiber does not render lint. It is the nature of the fabric. If you're seeing lint it is most likely picked up by the fiber mesh and not washed out properly. It could be introduced in the washer or dryer, especially from the drainage plumbing of the washer.


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Did anyone see that news story about fibers from microfiber and fleece clothing can be found in every ocean/sea on the planet. Apparently they can take a water sample from anywhere and find tiny little polyester fibers. The story I watched they were in Antarctica taking samples. The source is your washing machine which flushes those fibers out that eventually end up in the ocean. So the fibers do break sooner or later.

DBAILEY said:

Did anyone see that news story about fibers from microfiber and fleece clothing can be found in every ocean/sea on the planet. Apparently they can take a water sample from anywhere and find tiny little polyester fibers. The story I watched they were in Antarctica taking samples. The source is your washing machine which flushes those fibers out that eventually end up in the ocean. So the fibers do break sooner or later.

Click to expand...

This problem happens with all nanoparticles. Microfiber is defined as one denier or thinner. This is like 1/5 thickness of a human hair or thinner. Think of spider's web. The process was refined by Toray corporation in Japan during the '60s and '70s and commercialized in Japan before they figured out how to produce mass quantities. I studied microfiber in an engineering course years ago so I know a little about the history.

The problem with the 'lint' is you can't see it. It usually flows down the drain of your washer and dryer and does not collect. The lint you are probably seeing on the lint roller or in your washer or dryer screen is not microfiber, it is something that the microfiber collected and released. If it is microfiber then you have a polyester blend or something that is not true microfiber. Check your source.

Back to the spider's web analogy, think about it. You have a fabric that is woven from strands of fiber that is as thin or thinner than a spider's web. If you have access to a microscope, check it out. You will be amazed. Fibers that thin usually cannot be seen very easily.

Route246 said:

This problem happens with
all nanoparticles.

Microfiber is defined as one denier
or thinner. If it is microfiber then
you have a polyester blend

Click to expand...

Microfiber is very small...
but is it a nanoparticle?

***********************************

•Nanotechnology Scientists define
nanoparticles as particles that range
in size from 100 nanometers (nm)
down to 1 nanometer (nm).

•A one-denier polyester microfiber has
a diameter of about 10 micrometers (um).

10 um = 10,000 nm

**************************************

Sure...microfiber is quite small;
but, it is still ~100 times larger
than the largest nanoparticle:
Not really a nanoparticle, IMO.



Bob

FUNX650 said:

Microfiber is very small...
but is it a nanoparticle?

***********************************

•Nanotechnology Scientists define
nanoparticles as particles that range
in size from 100 nanometers (nm)
down to 1 nanometer (nm).

•A one-denier polyester microfiber has
a diameter of about 10 micrometers (um).

10 um = 10,000 nm

**************************************

Sure...microfiber is quite small;
but, it is still ~100 times larger
than the largest nanoparticle:
Not really a nanoparticle, IMO.



Bob

Click to expand...

Nice catch. I wrote this in a hurry. It should have said, "This problem happens with all nanoparticles, too."

I meant to address the reference of finding things in the ocean, not with respect to the relative size gradient. The nanoparticle controversy with respect to the oceans came from cosmetics, face creams, toothpastes and other consumer goods that use nanoparticles for their abrasive qualities. I stocked up on Crest toothpaste (with the abrasive nanoparticles) last year when I heard they were being removed from the market.

Hopefully, microfiber towels will not suffer a similar fate, but it could happen.

Route246 said:

High quality microfiber does not render lint. It is the nature of the fabric. If you're seeing lint it is most likely picked up by the fiber mesh and not washed out properly. It could be introduced in the washer or dryer, especially from the drainage plumbing of the washer.


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Click to expand...

I have to disagree. Sure better towels will not lint like cheap towels usually, but when you use on glass, very tiny fibers can sometimes be seen. I have towels from TRC, AG, MFT, MM, CarPro etc. Also in very large quantities and I can tell you from my own experience that even with the best care that there can be micro linting from the best of towels. Now just to be clear, im not talking about fuzzy lint that everyone can see but more like spider web thin lint. Not always detecible on paint, but can be seen on glass.

You need better towels. I use rag company because of good prices and awesome company. Also I keep my towels with one company because it's easy and less hassle. Harder to do with detailing products as no one is entirely 1 company, it seems.


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fly07sti said:

I have to disagree. Sure better towels will not lint like cheap towels usually, but when you use on glass, very tiny fibers can sometimes be seen. I have towels from TRC, AG, MFT, MM, CarPro etc. Also in very large quantities and I can tell you from my own experience that even with the best care that there can be micro linting from the best of towels. Now just to be clear, im not talking about fuzzy lint that everyone can see but more like spider web thin lint. Not always detecible on paint, but can be seen on glass.

Click to expand...

It is OK to disagree.

Microfiber towels by purpose and intent are designed to pickup anything they come in contact with, including very fine lint and particles. I can only guess that lint is being rendered from an inferior MF product, from lint picked up in the wash cycle or airborne, from the non-MF backing or from non-MF content of the weave itself.

I only use Kirkland MF and I have never seen lint on glass (or paint). I have some other brands of MF and I will try those this weekend on glass but the Kirkland MF towels I have are stacked and ready for use on my cart. All of our vehicles are white or silver, although my Prius has a gloss black spoiler that I use to test new products. I would be very interested to know how I can recreate the scratching and ill-effects that Kirkland MF is supposed to be doing to a finish. I believe there must be pros out there using Kirkland MF without issue. The latest version is thick, soft and very absorbent. I just want to see "harm done" and I will cease using them. Otherwise, it seems like the negative sentiment is more the result of negative brand sentiment without any real hands-on experience.

Disclaimer: I'm a hobbyist and I do not detail for a living. I have no financial interest or livelihood at stake here.

DBAILEY said:

Did anyone see that news story about fibers from microfiber and fleece clothing can be found in every ocean/sea on the planet. Apparently they can take a water sample from anywhere and find tiny little polyester fibers. The story I watched they were in Antarctica taking samples. The source is your washing machine which flushes those fibers out that eventually end up in the ocean. So the fibers do break sooner or later.

Click to expand...

And some people say that we humans can't effect the environment. It's like in the late 90's when 3M took out the original ingredient from ScotchGuard because they found it in the blood of every human they checked, even people on remote Pacific islands where there had never been a can of ScotchGuard, ever. They didn't even know if it was harmful, they just made the call that if they had an ingredient which could infiltrate every person in the world whether they had ever used the product or not, that probably wasn't a good idea to continue using that ingredient. Of course, it did turn out to be harmful, although probably not at the levels found in those islanders.

I think people really can't wrap their head around how many people there are in the world, we are just not equipped to understand numbers that large. I mean what is the statistic of the number of gallons of gasoline used in the US every day? I just looked it up, it's 392 million. That's over 43,000 tank trucks. Does anybody have an idea what 43,000 tank trucks parked together looks like? Oh, wait, it looks like that RV show from Competition Ready...times about 200.

Ok, I'd better stop talking now.