There has been alot of discussion on this subject. Most of us have been using Tide Free-Clear detergent, Charlie's and other detegents. Along with vinegar in the rinse cycle. This is all that alot of use.
I can understand your frustration. Should I use Blackfire, Micro-Restore, Chem-Guys, Pinnacle, Detailers Pro or Sonus. Each states that they do the best job. If you use one that works, is cheap enough for your wallet, stick with it. IMO. Liquid Detergent with a vinegar rinse works best for me. I have tried them all and could really not see any big difference to justify the price.
:iagree:
I use Tide Free-Clear for my MF followed by several extra rinse cycles (I rinse until there's no more foam). Vinegar would probably cut the number of rinse cycles I would need, but then I'd be running out of vinegar all the time! I have some Charlie's soap but haven't tried it on my microfiber.
I think where people run into a lot of problems with washing their microfiber towels is they don't take care of the detergent residue buildup that is typically present in the average washer. Charlie's soap advises that most people tend to use too much detergent and it leaves a residue in your machine. I'm not so picky with my clothes, but I believe this is true when it comes to detailing microfiber. Try using less detergent for clothes loads preceding a microfiber wash. Whatever cup line the liquid says to fill to for a regular load, fill it somewhat below that. And then for my microfiber loads I go about halfway to the bottom most line of the Tide Free cup, on an extra small load wash cycle. That's very little detergent. First I fill with warm or hot water, then add detergent, let it run a second to mix and then add the microfiber towels so that a water+detergent solution is the first thing into the towel. When you don't let the detergent mix with the water first, then the first thing into the towel is just water, and then when things get going the water+detergent mix has to work its way into the towel, displacing/mixing the plain water that's already in the towel. Does that make sense? Somewhat anal, but I've had my share of mediocre results washing microfiber, and I find that what I'm now doing works for me.
Other tips:
Liquid fabric softener: Just say no!
Fabric softener sheets: Just say no!
Fabric softener of any kind: Just say no!
If your machine and dryer are residue free and if your laundry is rinsed free of all detergent, you won't need fabric softeners. You can deal with static cling in your regular clothes by leaving some moisture in the fabric (don't dry until bone dry).
Washing a load of high linting laundry as the load preceding microfiber: Just say no!
I try to arrange that either a load of my clothes (jeans, t-shirts) precedes the load of microfibers or, and this might sound crazy, I'll wash my skanky microfiber towels right before doing a load of my good microfiber towels. Skanky towels means costco yellow microfibers that have cleaned underneath the rockers, wheel wells, wheels, brake calipers, door jams, engine compartment, trunk, and behind the fuel filler door. I actually will use extra detergent for those. First I'll usually use the Costco fragrance free liquid detergent and hot water. I may or may not use another wash with the Tide Free to finish them up. Depends on how bad they are and my mood. Regardless, they get lots of extra rinses so in the end the towels are clean and yellow again, the machine is clean, (indeed I feel it is scrubbed by the cheap microfiber towels) and ready to wash my good microfiber towels. I wouldn't do this if I felt I was leaving contaminants behind (i.e. my nasty microfiber towels finishing up less nasty rather than clean). If I wash a load of regular clothes before washing my good microfiber towels, I make sure to do an extra rinse on those. Sounds like I use a lot of water washing my microfiber towels? Yes, but A: They are extra small loads. B: I save water in other ways to offset. C: I'm only taking care of two cars, so I'm not doing laundry all the time.
