Are all Microfiber created equal?

rolop6

rolop6

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Well I recently went to Sam's club and bought several packs of their microfiber towels, now I tested it on the screen of one of their cash registers they sell since it does state scratch free. So after rigorous rubbing, it did leave minor scratches but when I mean rigorous I mean rigorous! I was pressing hard seeing results. So anyway it seemed like they would live upto the expectations I had. Well I just received my shipment from autogeek and I bout a few cobra microfiber towels to see if they are as soft as people hype them to be and.............
They are not they feel just like the few walmart brand I also have, I even looked at the tag and it's the exact same material percentage 80% polyester ( for scrubbing) - 20% polyamide ( for absorption). So is it really worth shellin out $5.99+ for 1cobra or $11.99 for a 24 pack at Sams. I know even if the material is the same what matters is quality, but seeing first hand in my opinion it isn't. So buy in bulk and save!
 
Depends which Cobra. Some are thicker, and those that are 75% polyester 25% polyamide are softer.
 
The difference is shown after repeated uses and washes. IME the cheaper MF's do not hold up nor keep their plushness after repeated uses and washes. The fibers tend to bunch and become stiffer and most of the time shrink. Plus, the towels you are talking about are typically an "all purpose" towel versus a towel that you purchase for drying or polish/wax removal. Performance is greatly increased with these types of towels.

This is just my experience, others may have had a different one. I view my MF towels as tools, so I like to have the correct tool for a specific job.
 
I use to buy and use those SAMs towels all the time but never really had a problem with them BUT at that time I didn't have a place to store them or how to wash them so I just used them once and threw them away. I don't buy and throw them away more but have a few left over that I use for non-paint stuff.
 
Short answer is no, the reason mf cost more or less usually comes down to the machines splitting the fibers. There's only 3 manufactures in the world that I know of that have the extremely expensive machines that can properly split 200k+ fibers per sq inch. The ones from sams are 90k while a top quality cobra will be over 200k and the top end of towels being around 220k, forgot to add the reason that's important. The easiest way to explain why you'd want more fibers is there's more places for particles to hide and gives the mf more absorption
 
IMO, linting is almost as bad as causing swirls. I have purchased expensive towels that have linted and cheap towels that do the same.
 
microfiber these days are generally getting better in quality and one doesn't need to spend a fortune on them. just look around, there are plenty of sources...
 
When I first started detailing cars for money I had bought some microfiber towels from "Family Dollar" and found that they were pretty nice towels. They didn't and still don't lint or scratch. After 3 years of machine washing they are still in great shape. They work exactly the same as the green cobra towels that I got from AG with some of my orders.

At $1 each, every payday I would go and buy out all of their stock in microfiber towels. I have a few hundred of these towels and use them for anything on the paint. I do have about 50 or so DMTs from Poorboys which are much more plush and have a thicker nap on one side. I really like the DMTs but I really wouldn't "need" them to do the work that I do.

In the past few years I have run across some really crummy microfiber towels such as the yellow "Proforce" towels from Sam's club that just get used for engine bays, door jams and wheels so the answer to the thread question is NO they are not all created equal but sometimes you get lucky. For the record, Family dollar has moved onto another style and manufacturer of microfiber towels which I haven't tried yet.
 
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