Rmd
New member
- Dec 27, 2012
- 713
- 0
The subject of this review is Wolfgang Microfiber Cleaner and Rejuvenator. (Referred to hereafter as WGMF Cleaner). Rather than recite the label information and instructions, the link to the product is below. As you can see from the site description, WGMF Cleaner is advertised as being specifically formulated for HE machines. Although there are a couple of other reviews of this new product already posted, the purpose of this review is to evaluate the product as used in an HE washer. This is my first attempt at a review, so bear with me.
At the outset, huge thanks to Dhaval for sending me a sample to review. While I didn’t buy it myself, it was not a comp from AG.
Part One: Towels - I used three Costco gold towels, and one common yellow 360gsm towel with black silk borders that was short nap on one side and long on the other.
The top two towels were dirtied by misting with diluted micro boost eco cleaner and then I spot cleaned the tile floors in the house. Wet driveway and eight dog paws provided a ready supply of floor dirt. The non-Costco towel was used for waterless wash with Pinnacle. The car had road grime from a recent rain and i wiped the rear bumper behind each wheel. Normally I hose and bucket wash if the car is this dirty, nor do I use this type of towel for waterless but it was an extreme example for this test. The lower left Costco towel was used to waterless wash each of the front wheels that had about 4 days of BMW brake dust on them. I generally waterless wash wheels midweek to cut down on buildup. I use a Costco towel folded in quarters, using one quarter per wheel. The next week I use the four quarters of the other side of the same towel, and then throw the towel in the trash when done. I haven’t yet tried to wash towels that have been used for this purpose, since the towels are cheap enough that its not worth it to me to get all that brake dust and grime in my washer. For this test, I used only two quarters of one towel, and then let the towel sit for a couple of weeks before this test. I did not pre-soak the towel; just let the brake dust dry and contaminate the towel in order to really push the WGMF Cleaner to its limits.
Part Two: Washer - the washer is a HE model, which are becoming increasingly more popular due to energy savings and efficiency. Traditional washers fill a tub with about 5 gals or so of water, and you put the soap directly into the tub. There is an agitator in the tub which spins and this action swishes the clothes around. To rinse, the soapy water is replaced with another full tub of clean water. Clothes are always moving around full immersed in water.
My HE machine loads from the front and only uses a small amount of water at the bottom of the tub. There is no agitator, the tub itself spins and drags the clothes through the small puddle of water at the bottom. This is the common process I believe. In mine, the soapy water drains and refills many times during the cycle, possibly because there isn’t so much water solution to hold all the dirt like in the full tub on a traditional. Rinsing is a similar process. Clothes are dragged through clean water, then spun to remove most of the water, then the machine refills and drags clothes through new clean water. This happens repeatedly, the regular cycle takes a little over a hour to complete.
Washer settings for this test were hot wash, cold rinse, medium spin, normal soil, extra rinse.
One ounce of WGMF Cleaner was used. For rinse, I added a squirt of white vinegar, which really helps the towels rinse clean in the very hard water I have here. I marked the four test towels with a sharpie and washed them with about 4 other MF towels that were not very dirty. I didn’t want to test with a load of only 4 towels since I normally wash more than that at a time.
During the wash cycle the water in the bottom was slightly clouded enough that it was evident that the WGMF Cleaner was working. There was only light suds, which is important with an HE machine. Too much suds hurts the cleaning ability and prevents the soap from rinsing out completely. This is why HE machines require a different detergent formulation than regular machines.
After washing and before drying, I took out one damp towel and put in into a bucket of clean water and swished it around. There was absolutely no suds or soap in the water after the towel was put in there. This in and of itself was a huge factor for me. My go to cleaner was CG MF Wash, and I almost always had some soap in the bucket when doing this test with that product, even using extra rinse cycle and vinegar. At this point, very impressed.
Part Three: Dryer. Normal dry setting, gas dryer. 40 minutes medium heat. Towels come out 95% dry. Do not dry MF’s on high.
Part Four: The results. Impressive.
Closeup of wheel towel
Closeup of waterless towel
Note on the two floor cleaning towels. Prior to washing, I marked each of the three Costco test towels with a sharpie to identify them when the load was over. To my surprise, the sharpie marks were basically gone. I could faintly see it on one of the floor towels. Because I mixed in some other Costco towels that were not dirty, this did essentially invalidate the analysis from a purely scientific point of view, but, for the real world it proved volumes. The towels came out clean enough to be indistinguishable from each other. The wheel towel was somewhat obvious because it didn’t come as fully clean as the others which was not unexpected given its condition to start. I have no doubt that the three towels would have come out almost perfectly clean if I had not deliberately cross-contaminated them with a nasty wheel towel for purposes of this test.
Part Five: Overall subjective impressions of WGMF Cleaner. The towels came out much, much cleaner than they started. They were not 100% perfect, but WGMF Cleaner cleaned better than any other product I have used, which includes Micro Restore, CG MF Wash, and All Free and Clear. The wheel towel was especially impressive; the dark black was reduced to only minor discoloration. This towel would be usable again for wheels which would be a money saver for professionals and those who go through too many towels to justify throwing them away after use.
Value is also a factor in product evaluation. WGMF Cleaner at $50 per gallon list is $15 more than a gallon of Micro Restore or DP, $5 more than Blackfire, and twice the price of the CG in gallons. Is it worth it? Based on cleaning ability alone, I’m not sure. But… cleaning ability is only part of the story here.
The unexpected surprise of WGMF Cleaner is how the towels felt after the wash. This can’t be shown in pictures, but I was blown away by how soft and plush the towels were. The “restorer” term in the product name is not hype or sales puffery. The difference from how they were after being cleaned with GC regularly was stunning. They felt like totally different towels! After this test I used WGMF Cleaner on some shaggy dog towels I had. These are long pile grey towels not sold at AG. After I one use and wash with my prior cleaner, the shaggy dogs felt more like matted dogs; the long pile was were almost grabby and I was ready to classify the towels as sub par. One wash with WGMF Cleaner and those towels felt like they were in the same league as my beloved crazy piles.
Bottom line - the combination of cleaning ability and softness after a wash with WGMF Cleaner makes this the best MF wash I have used. IMO, it is absolutely worth the added cost. It will pay for itself by preserving the life and usefulness of towels, which is especially valuable for your collection of high quality and expensive towels. I recommend this product without reservation. During the next sale, I’m picking up a gallon.
At the outset, huge thanks to Dhaval for sending me a sample to review. While I didn’t buy it myself, it was not a comp from AG.
Part One: Towels - I used three Costco gold towels, and one common yellow 360gsm towel with black silk borders that was short nap on one side and long on the other.
The top two towels were dirtied by misting with diluted micro boost eco cleaner and then I spot cleaned the tile floors in the house. Wet driveway and eight dog paws provided a ready supply of floor dirt. The non-Costco towel was used for waterless wash with Pinnacle. The car had road grime from a recent rain and i wiped the rear bumper behind each wheel. Normally I hose and bucket wash if the car is this dirty, nor do I use this type of towel for waterless but it was an extreme example for this test. The lower left Costco towel was used to waterless wash each of the front wheels that had about 4 days of BMW brake dust on them. I generally waterless wash wheels midweek to cut down on buildup. I use a Costco towel folded in quarters, using one quarter per wheel. The next week I use the four quarters of the other side of the same towel, and then throw the towel in the trash when done. I haven’t yet tried to wash towels that have been used for this purpose, since the towels are cheap enough that its not worth it to me to get all that brake dust and grime in my washer. For this test, I used only two quarters of one towel, and then let the towel sit for a couple of weeks before this test. I did not pre-soak the towel; just let the brake dust dry and contaminate the towel in order to really push the WGMF Cleaner to its limits.
Part Two: Washer - the washer is a HE model, which are becoming increasingly more popular due to energy savings and efficiency. Traditional washers fill a tub with about 5 gals or so of water, and you put the soap directly into the tub. There is an agitator in the tub which spins and this action swishes the clothes around. To rinse, the soapy water is replaced with another full tub of clean water. Clothes are always moving around full immersed in water.
My HE machine loads from the front and only uses a small amount of water at the bottom of the tub. There is no agitator, the tub itself spins and drags the clothes through the small puddle of water at the bottom. This is the common process I believe. In mine, the soapy water drains and refills many times during the cycle, possibly because there isn’t so much water solution to hold all the dirt like in the full tub on a traditional. Rinsing is a similar process. Clothes are dragged through clean water, then spun to remove most of the water, then the machine refills and drags clothes through new clean water. This happens repeatedly, the regular cycle takes a little over a hour to complete.
Washer settings for this test were hot wash, cold rinse, medium spin, normal soil, extra rinse.
One ounce of WGMF Cleaner was used. For rinse, I added a squirt of white vinegar, which really helps the towels rinse clean in the very hard water I have here. I marked the four test towels with a sharpie and washed them with about 4 other MF towels that were not very dirty. I didn’t want to test with a load of only 4 towels since I normally wash more than that at a time.
During the wash cycle the water in the bottom was slightly clouded enough that it was evident that the WGMF Cleaner was working. There was only light suds, which is important with an HE machine. Too much suds hurts the cleaning ability and prevents the soap from rinsing out completely. This is why HE machines require a different detergent formulation than regular machines.
After washing and before drying, I took out one damp towel and put in into a bucket of clean water and swished it around. There was absolutely no suds or soap in the water after the towel was put in there. This in and of itself was a huge factor for me. My go to cleaner was CG MF Wash, and I almost always had some soap in the bucket when doing this test with that product, even using extra rinse cycle and vinegar. At this point, very impressed.
Part Three: Dryer. Normal dry setting, gas dryer. 40 minutes medium heat. Towels come out 95% dry. Do not dry MF’s on high.
Part Four: The results. Impressive.
Closeup of wheel towel
Closeup of waterless towel
Note on the two floor cleaning towels. Prior to washing, I marked each of the three Costco test towels with a sharpie to identify them when the load was over. To my surprise, the sharpie marks were basically gone. I could faintly see it on one of the floor towels. Because I mixed in some other Costco towels that were not dirty, this did essentially invalidate the analysis from a purely scientific point of view, but, for the real world it proved volumes. The towels came out clean enough to be indistinguishable from each other. The wheel towel was somewhat obvious because it didn’t come as fully clean as the others which was not unexpected given its condition to start. I have no doubt that the three towels would have come out almost perfectly clean if I had not deliberately cross-contaminated them with a nasty wheel towel for purposes of this test.
Part Five: Overall subjective impressions of WGMF Cleaner. The towels came out much, much cleaner than they started. They were not 100% perfect, but WGMF Cleaner cleaned better than any other product I have used, which includes Micro Restore, CG MF Wash, and All Free and Clear. The wheel towel was especially impressive; the dark black was reduced to only minor discoloration. This towel would be usable again for wheels which would be a money saver for professionals and those who go through too many towels to justify throwing them away after use.
Value is also a factor in product evaluation. WGMF Cleaner at $50 per gallon list is $15 more than a gallon of Micro Restore or DP, $5 more than Blackfire, and twice the price of the CG in gallons. Is it worth it? Based on cleaning ability alone, I’m not sure. But… cleaning ability is only part of the story here.
The unexpected surprise of WGMF Cleaner is how the towels felt after the wash. This can’t be shown in pictures, but I was blown away by how soft and plush the towels were. The “restorer” term in the product name is not hype or sales puffery. The difference from how they were after being cleaned with GC regularly was stunning. They felt like totally different towels! After this test I used WGMF Cleaner on some shaggy dog towels I had. These are long pile grey towels not sold at AG. After I one use and wash with my prior cleaner, the shaggy dogs felt more like matted dogs; the long pile was were almost grabby and I was ready to classify the towels as sub par. One wash with WGMF Cleaner and those towels felt like they were in the same league as my beloved crazy piles.
Bottom line - the combination of cleaning ability and softness after a wash with WGMF Cleaner makes this the best MF wash I have used. IMO, it is absolutely worth the added cost. It will pay for itself by preserving the life and usefulness of towels, which is especially valuable for your collection of high quality and expensive towels. I recommend this product without reservation. During the next sale, I’m picking up a gallon.
