getting mulch out of microfiber towels?

Rhuarc3

Rhuarc3

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i have a bunch of MF towels that got dropped into the mulch in my yard. how do i get it out with out destroying the towel? tried soaking them for a while but that seemed to make it harder to remove. the big problem is the fibers seem to hook on to the mulch and make it really hard to get out. tried using stiff bristled brush to remove them but that just seemed to wreck the rag. is it a lost cause? i already ordered a bunch to replace these but i hate wasting things. so before i turn them into rags i figured i'd see what y'all have to say.

as a side question, what MF wash do you use? i have an HE machine that can do steam and tried chemical guys but it didn't seem to get the wax residue off the towels and actually made them smell funny. regular tide seems to be working best for now.

thanks.
 
Rhuarc3 said:
i have a bunch of MF towels that got dropped into the mulch in my yard. how do i get it out with out destroying the towel? tried soaking them for a while but that seemed to make it harder to remove. the big problem is the fibers seem to hook on to the mulch and make it really hard to get out. tried using stiff bristled brush to remove them but that just seemed to wreck the rag. is it a lost cause? i already ordered a bunch to replace these but i hate wasting things. so before i turn them into rags i figured i'd see what y'all have to say.

as a side question, what MF wash do you use? i have an HE machine that can do steam and tried chemical guys but it didn't seem to get the wax residue off the towels and actually made them smell funny. regular tide seems to be working best for now.

thanks.
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Don't know how to get the mulch out or your towels

But

I use pinnacle brand microfiber wash that I purchased from auto geek and I think it's very good and cleans my towels really well

Read the write up on it on this site under the microfiber towels link
 
You're right, the MF fibers hold onto the pieces. This happened to me with some dried grasses, & unless you want to spend the day getting each piece out by hand, I'd dump them.
 
Relegate them for the engine bay/engine and tires. They may be toast on paint but not for other areas. They won't go to waste that way. So it's not a total loss. I had bad luck like mulch once, they became fancy tire wipe down towels :)
 
i hope your Tide doesn't have fabric softeners in it because that makes MF way less effective. it ruins them, actually.

use any detergent that is free of fab softeners/dyes/perfumes. i use Micro-Restore because i got a crazy deal on a lot of it a while back...and it works well. but it's not necessary imo.

my washer is an older piece that has a center agitator and works phenomenally to get stuff out of towels. i have regular BUT deep pile towels that i lay out for my dog on the grass and if i just mowed, there is often tons of grass pieces stuck in them. it always comes out.

anyway, if i was in your position, i'd throw the towels in the washer with a small load amount of water, warm, and 2 oz of what i use for detergent. i'd let it agitate on high then stop it mid-cycle and let is soak. then continue on high for the longest cycle time and use two rinse cycles.

that's what i'd try and i just have a feeling that it would work. however, i am using a different washer style than you.
 
Well I would retire them to general purpose towels but before I do I would lightly agitate them under running water with a medium stiff nail brush and apc or tide clear to remove as much dirt as I can
 
If its just a few small pieces... i take them out by hand. More than a few... use for non-painted surfaces.
 
use em for door jams, undercarriage, wheel wells etc. Or toss em. Its not worth it if they are engulfed in pieces of mulch.
 
If you already washed them the leftover debris is likely embedded, and nothing but tweezers and a whole lot of cursing will get it out. Best to relegate them to some other task.

Sorry for your loss.
 
Thats kinda why I dont like the supreme extra plush type towels. Sometimes they will hide something in the nap that you cant see.

Ive been using CG workhorse towels and they are great. Plus its easy to remove anything that gets stuck to it. Now if they were tagless they would be perfect.

Watch Larry @ ammo and he uses pretty much any ole rag tag microfiber with short nap and we all know the cars he works on.

The whole specialty microfiber thing is highly overrated. If you are working clean it wont scratch your paint.
 
d33p said:
The whole specialty microfiber thing is highly overrated.
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disagree. because to me, scratching paint or not isn't the only variable. i am using MFM towels and they are infinitely better than any other towel i've used over the past six plus years mainly because they don't lint and are built so tough.

quality of construction, consistency and the fact that they DO NOT LINT WHATSOEVER makes them among the best detailing tools i've ever used.

some people say they don't have linting with their towels, that's fine, but i've had all sorts of towels over the years and they've all linted in some capacity and IT SUCKS. these don't - therefore i have to admit that these are much different than anything else i've used and all towels are not the same.

and Larry at AMMO does a lot of things that we can be critical about. just because he does it, doesn't mean it's right. nice guy? possibly. nice marketer? yes. embedded in the industry? yes...but i wouldn't say he's necessarily the guy to use as an example.
 
You can try running them in your dryer on a cool fluff cycle. This might help to separate out the mulch from the fabric. I know it gets the dog hair out of my futon cover.
If this does not work you may be out of luck.
If you have young children you can try to make a game of it by giving them one each day as a project. Might be worth an ice cream cone or something as a treat
 
why take the risk and have to polish the paint if it scratches? demote them to wheel wells, engine, etc. we've all done it, it's a lesson learned...
 
Though it might have worked better before they were washed, have you tried vacuuming the towels to see if the mulch would come out?
 
builthatch said:
disagree. because to me, scratching paint or not isn't the only variable. i am using MFM towels and they are infinitely better than any other towel i've used over the past six plus years mainly because they don't lint and are built so tough.

quality of construction, consistency and the fact that they DO NOT LINT WHATSOEVER makes them among the best detailing tools i've ever used.

some people say they don't have linting with their towels, that's fine, but i've had all sorts of towels over the years and they've all linted in some capacity and IT SUCKS. these don't - therefore i have to admit that these are much different than anything else i've used and all towels are not the same.

and Larry at AMMO does a lot of things that we can be critical about. just because he does it, doesn't mean it's right. nice guy? possibly. nice marketer? yes. embedded in the industry? yes...but i wouldn't say he's necessarily the guy to use as an example.
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As long as you get a good quality microfiber you will be fine. The CG ones are 12 for ~$18 and they dont lint, they dont scratch and if one gets super filthy I can just throw it away. The expensive towels are taken care of like they are made of gold. Im the MAN

Reason I brought up Larry is cause hes not in your face about any microfiber from all the videos Ive seen....he pulls out anything from that bag and uses it. Hes not mentioning it in any way so hes got nothing to gain. Im sure he isnt scratching up Ferraris with them towels.

Now if we are talking gary dean thats a different story entirely. I dont think he can go 2 minutes without pimping something of his. :D
 
Thanks for all the advice. I've relegated the ones with mulch to the rag pile. They will no longer be going near paint.

I don't think the tide has fabric softener, but I'm not going to use it to wash the good MF towels. Just the cheap ones. I'm looking in to some of the other MF washes since I wasn't happy with the CG one.


- Todd
 
Soak them in a bucket 2 gallons of water and a cup of white vinegar. The vinegar and water might be able to break up the mulch then wash it several times with MF wash and put 2 teaspoons of white vinegar in the fabric softener cup for each towel.

CG MF wash is actually my favorite. Put a little vinegar in the softener cup it makes cleaning MF much easier.

Good luck.
 
When coating / working with picky paints having the really nice Korean towels make a huge difference. Most general paints that are harder and less prone to marring you can use mid tier towels. Microfiber care is even more important! Why waste one of the few reusable tools in your inventory that touches 100% of a vehicle?
 
builthatch said:
disagree. because to me, scratching paint or not isn't the only variable. i am using MFM towels and they are infinitely better than any other towel i've used over the past six plus years mainly because they don't lint and are built so tough.

quality of construction, consistency and the fact that they DO NOT LINT WHATSOEVER makes them among the best detailing tools i've ever used.

some people say they don't have linting with their towels, that's fine, but i've had all sorts of towels over the years and they've all linted in some capacity and IT SUCKS. these don't - therefore i have to admit that these are much different than anything else i've used and all towels are not the same.

and Larry at AMMO does a lot of things that we can be critical about. just because he does it, doesn't mean it's right. nice guy? possibly. nice marketer? yes. embedded in the industry? yes...but i wouldn't say he's necessarily the guy to use as an example.
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A few years back, when I got back into detailing, I had some of the "nicer" TW Ice MF towels. They were blue on one side, Grey on the other, and silk lined. I believe they were actually manufactured by carrand... Anyways, those towels linted like crazy, which drove me nuts! I'll have that happen on occasion, but nothing that can't be worked out by the next wash cycle, and nothing like those TW towels linted. Total nightmare.
 
d33p said:
I dont think he can go 2 minutes without pimping something of his. :D
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haha, so true. brutal!

Woob said:
When coating / working with picky paints having the really nice Korean towels make a huge difference.
Click to expand...

agreed.

dlc95 said:
A few years back, when I got back into detailing, I had some of the "nicer" TW Ice MF towels. They were blue on one side, Grey on the other, and silk lined. I believe they were actually manufactured by carrand... Anyways, those towels linted like crazy, which drove me nuts! I'll have that happen on occasion, but nothing that can't be worked out by the next wash cycle, and nothing like those TW towels linted. Total nightmare.
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yep, i tried all sorts of Cobra towels, DI stuff, Optimum's basic blue...all types over the past few years and they all lint in terms of the little silvery pieces. some more than others, but either way - it would happen. i would do exactly what you're supposed to with washing and care and it just didn't matter.

these MFM towels are the first ones i've where not one of any type has linted. i have four different styles from them and they're all perfect. they are stupid expensive but i actually enjoy using towels FOR ONCE so i'll go with it.
 
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