How many microfiber towels does it take to coat a car?

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How many microfiber towels does it take to coat a car?


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Question: How many microfiber towels does it take to apply a ceramic or quartz paint coating to a car?

Answer: Lots of towels.



In my opinion and experience, you really need a lot of high quality microfiber towels to chemically strip paint in order to properly prep it for the application of any paint coating.

Why?

Because as you're wiping a polished surface off, (assuming there are polishing oils to be removed), if they are coming off the paint and onto your microfiber towel then you need to be switching out to fresh towels often. This means a LOT of fresh towels.

Each panel should be wiped two times and each time using a clean towel. A 2-door car with 9 panels would require 18 towels just for chemically stripping the paint.

A 4 door car has roughly 11 defined panels. There's also painted portions in the front and rear of the car that need to be chemically stripped if they are to be coated. Here's a list of the defined or independent panels for an average 4 door passenger car.

  1. Roof
  2. Hood
  3. Trunk lid
  4. Driver's side front fender
  5. Driver's side front door
  6. Driver's side rear door
  7. Driver's side rear fender
  8. Back of car (not the trunk lid)
  9. Passenger side rear fender
  10. Passenger side rear door
  11. Passenger side front door
  12. Passenger side front fender
  13. Front of car that's not the hood


If you were coating a vehicle with less panels you would need less towels but if you were coating a large vehicle like a truck, it may have fewer defined or independent panels but some of the panels will be very large and for these you should use more towels. For example a Ford F150, Chevy Silverado, Dodge Ram or Toyota Tundra etc.

If you compound and polish the car before coating it then you'll need microfiber towels for these two steps and you'll need microfiber towels for wiping off the high spots after applying the coating.

Compounding step
Figure a minimum of 5-6 microfiber towels to wipe compound off the entire vehicle.

Polishing step
Figure a minimum of 5-6 towels to wipe polish off the entire vehicle.

These are minimum numbers for the compounding and polishing step. Of course you can use more depending upon your preferences and skill level.

Final wipe after coating application
For wiping the coating off you need a minimum of 1 to 3 towels. Technically you could get away with just a single towel as all you need to do is give each panel a gentle buff as well as wipe off any high spots or more specifically, wipe off any excess coating residue.


Note: The term high spots means excess coating residue.


Before you start your detailing project take inventory of your microfiber towel collection and make sure you have plenty of microfiber towels for each of your step.


Just thought I would share this for anyone new to applying paint coatings.



On Autogeek.com

Microfiber towel options



:)
 
Great information here Mike, as I plan on using Wolfgang's Uber Ceramic Paint Coating on a project later this year. Thanks for sharing.:dblthumb2:
 
Wendell Jarvis said:
great reminder for Seasoned detailers and Newbies
Click to expand...

Thanks Wendell...


Craig Parker said:
Great information here Mike, as I plan on using Wolfgang's Uber Ceramic Paint Coating on a project later this year.

Thanks for sharing.

:dblthumb2:
Click to expand...

Thanks Craig...


I have another tip to share in this thread pertaining to mf towels tomorrow.



:)
 
Thanks Mike.

Are the towels for washing and drying, Iron-X and claybar included?
 
spazzz said:
Are the towels for washing and drying, Iron-X and claybar included?
Click to expand...


Umm... "no".


If fact if you re-read what I wrote I thought I made it pretty clear what the microfiber towels are for. Here's a portion from the first post...


Mike Phillips [B said:
Question:[/B] How many microfiber towels does it take to apply a ceramic or quartz paint coating to a car?

Answer: Lots of towels.



In my opinion and experience, you really need a lot of high quality microfiber towels to chemically strip paint in order to properly prep it for the application of any paint coating.

Why?

Because as you're wiping a polished surface off, (assuming there are polishing oils to be removed), if they are coming off the paint and onto your microfiber towel then you need to be switching out to fresh towels often. This means a LOT of fresh towels.

Each panel should be wiped two times and each time using a clean towel. A 2-door car with 9 panels would require 18 towels just for chemically stripping the paint.
Click to expand...


The microfiber towels I'm talking about as it relates to the title of this thread has to do with prepping the paint surface AFTER any correction and polishing work is over.

It's about spraying the chemical used to dissolve polishing oils (and any other residues) that are on the paint surface so when you go to apply the coating the paint is bare naked clean.


spazzz said:
Are the towels for washing and drying, Iron-X and claybar included?
Click to expand...



For washing I like to use the Microfiber Chenille Wash Mitts.

For drying I use Guzzler Waffle Weave drying towels.

Iron X is used during the washing process so NO microfiber towels are needed to apply and remove Iron X.

If a person uses detailing clay to clay the paint AFTER the car has been washed and dried and thus a LIQUID clay lube is sprayed onto the car to act as a lubricant for the detailing clay and the claying action - then "yes" a person would then need some microfiber towels to wipe off and remove any clay lube residue.


Hope that clears things up about what the microfiber towels referred to in this article are for and why you need a lot of them to properly apply a paint coating.


:)
 
Thanks again Mike
I didn't seperate the chemical strip 18 towel part from the, if you are going to compound/polish part.
I was confused because I didn't see a product name for the chemical stripping.

18 towels, wow.
I thought it was more along the lines of 4-6
Is the chemical strip, as in using Eraser, Optimum paint prep?
 
spazzz said:
Thanks again Mike

I didn't separate the chemical strip 18 towel part from the, if you are going to compound/polish part.
I was confused because I didn't see a product name for the chemical stripping.
Click to expand...

I didn't include a specific product name because the focus was on what I think is important if you're going to apply coatings and that's to have a lot of microfiber towels. So didn't mention a specific chemical stripper.

Fact is - doesn't matter which chemical stripper you use because the issue remains the same it's called,

Cross Contamination


That is, if you don't switch to a clean, dry microfiber towel often then you risk simply removing polishing oils from one panel or section of a panel and redistributing them to another panel or section of a panel.

And the bigger point would be

How do you know if your cross contaminating?

The answer is you don't. That's why you want to switch to a fresh, clean microfiber towel often.


spazzz said:
18 towels, wow.

I thought it was more along the lines of 4-6
Click to expand...

Everyone can create their own method to the madness I'm just sharing my observations after coating to black vehicles back-to-back. The goal was to do professional quality work and by this I mean the coating I applied needs to form the proper bond or ALL THE PREVIOUS STEPS were wasted time and energy.

If polishing oils hinder a coatings ability to fully and effectively make a proper bond to a surface then the surface needs to be surgically clean.



spazzz said:
Is the chemical strip, as in using Eraser, Optimum paint prep?
Click to expand...

Yes - these are both chemical strippers. The product I was using is the same product I showing in my London detailing class at Waxstock in a few weeks and that's the Wolfgang Perfect Finish Paint Prep


Great questions - questions like these force me to re-read what I write and do my best to explain what I mean clearly and that keeps my writing sharp.


:dblthumb2:
 
@mike Would you recommend specific type of MF towels for each step in the process? In other words, would you use a different type of towel for the removing of polish than you would for the final wipe after coating application? I need to buy towels for both steps for a McKee's 37 paint, wheel and glass coating application I am going to do, and it appears that coating only requires a their cleaning polish prior to application, and doesn't need/benefit from a IPA treatment prior to application of the coating.
 
Oh my...I had no idea! Thanks for this information!

Tom
 
This is a great article to show a customer why it costs so much to coat their car. I use CarPro suede microfibers for coating removal and then throw them away because of the remaining coating chrystals that could put scratches into the next car I coat. That adds to the cost of coating a car. Towels are an expensive part of detailing. You can never have too many microfiber towels. I prefer to buy them by the case.
 
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