Why my towels become "clumped" and are they still safe to use?

[MidnightNarwhal]

I noticed some of my towels, the fibers become "clumped up" so to say and I was wondering if this is normal and if the towels is still good for use? Here is an example picture of one side of the towel VS the other. You can see how one side the fibers are more thin and they feel more soft VS the other side where is feels different and looks different.

I clean them with Rags 2 riches and don't use fabric softener. Is this just normal?

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Did you wash them in hot water? Do you have a fancy washer that does that really high speed spin? I'm asking because I had some long fiber towels from MFT (they don't sell them anymore, I don't remember what they were called) that I washed along with a bunch of other towels on the super-hot sanitize cycle and then of course with the high speed spin--and they "clumped" worse than that. I'm not really sure what the culprit was, the other towels seemed unaffected.

 

[MidnightNarwhal]

Did you wash them in hot water? Do you have a fancy washer that does that really high speed spin? I'm asking because I had some long fiber towels from MFT (they don't sell them anymore, I don't remember what they were called) that I washed along with a bunch of other towels on the super-hot sanitize cycle and then of course with the high speed spin--and they "clumped" worse than that. I'm not really sure what the culprit was, the other towels seemed unaffected.

Oh ok, I don't clean them on hot I just do warm water and low heat drying. I have a old Kenmore 80 series so I don't think I have high speed spinning.

I thought this was something everyone had with their towels. Maybe something is up with my process.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Or maybe something is up with your towels. Is it only some of them? I mean do you have a bunch of the pictured ones and only some of them are like that? Do you always wash them all together? I'm trying to remember with that problem I had, I think I had washed the towels before and not had a problem, and then I washed some of them in that load on the sanitize setting. It was a while ago so I'm a little hazy on the details, it came up in a thread on Autopia.

Before that I always washed hot and dried hot, and never had any problems. Now I tend to dry on medium, but I still wash with hot, although I have been afraid to try that super-hot sanitize cycle again. I think I used that to try to get some stains (probably black from rubber window trim) out of some different towels in the load.

 

[MidnightNarwhal]

Or maybe something is up with your towels. Is it only some of them? I mean do you have a bunch of the pictured ones and only some of them are like that? Do you always wash them all together? I'm trying to remember with that problem I had, I think I had washed the towels before and not had a problem, and then I washed some of them in that load on the sanitize setting. It was a while ago so I'm a little hazy on the details, it came up in a thread on Autopia.

Before that I always washed hot and dried hot, and never had any problems. Now I tend to dry on medium, but I still wash with hot, although I have been afraid to try that super-hot sanitize cycle again. I think I used that to try to get some stains (probably black from rubber window trim) out of some different towels in the load.

Here's another example which is very noticeable. These purple ones are eagle edgeless 350gsm instead of 500gsm, and I use these for rinseless washing when my UBS can't be used and in this pic you can see from one side and the other similar problem.

Yeah it just happens to these eagle edgeless towels it seems like. But most of the other eagle edgeless are not clumped yet. And weirdly enough those that are clumped, it's always on one side. I have some all purpose towels to for interior and dirty work (edgeless 365) and while it doesn't clump on those, I do notice you know the plushness also has a different feel VS a new towel but that to me is normal.

Maybe the clumping in my case is also just normal towel usage? It's why I made this thread, I couldn't find other information about this and maybe I am thinking to much LOL. I dry on low. Stain don't bother me much if I don't feel anything with my fingers once cleaned. But before cleaning I always have them sitting in a 5 gal bucket with ~ 1oz of rags to riches so I think that helps to keep stains down to. And yes I do wash them altogether I can't waste time and water to separate makes no sense to me. In the end it all cleans especially with a presoak.

 

[SNP209]

I have experienced the same phenomenon and like your case it is only one side. I would like to know the culprit as well.

 

[Coatingsarecrack]

Why my towels become "clumped" and are they still safe to use?

Yeah weird If they feel soft still I would test on a spot to see if they mar the paint. If not I would continue to use.

I would also email TRC customer service and see what they say. Let us know what there reply is


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[Setec Astronomy]

Re: Why my towels become "clumped" and are they still safe to use?

Yeah weird If they feel soft still I would test on a spot to see if they mar the paint. If not I would continue to use.

Over on the other forum people used to do "the CD test", to see if it marred a blank CD-R before trying it on their paint.

 

[Bill D]

The CD test saved me in the past

 

[Coatingsarecrack]

Re: Why my towels become "clumped" and are they still safe to use?

Over on the other forum people used to do "the CD test", to see if it marred a blank CD-R before trying it on their paint.

I get that but two things…. I would think cd’s would be softer than CC…. Secondly not two many peeps have CD’s nowadays


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[Bill D]

If it scratches the surface of a CD or similar plastic surface, I’m not comfortable with it touching my paint. With the thousands of recordable CDs I’ve owned over the years, I saved a few just for testing MFs

 

[MidnightNarwhal]

Alright well intersting to see some of you have the same thing. I just sent an email to rag company will see what they say.

As for testing it on a Cd, does it need to be a blank one? I found some old game CDs and wiped my shirt pretty hard in circles on a section and could not see any marring at all, I would've expected my shirt to do something (was testing to see how well it marrs to give me an idea).

 

[Bill D]

No need for the CD to be blank. Just make sure it isn't scratched. CD testing has saved me more than once over the years.

 

[chefwong]

Be curious what the OP concludes - bearings it's only one 1 side
If it was the whole towel, ob both sides, we could blame it on the laundry washer or dryer....

I've never seen this
I'm still scratching my head on why my Uber $$ MFM towels which are hardly used are lint monsters that have been regulated to just wiping door jambs.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Re: Why my towels become "clumped" and are they still safe to use?

I get that but two things…. I would think cd’s would be softer than CC

Exactly, if it doesn't scratch a CD, it won't scratch your car.

Secondly not two many peeps have CD’s nowadays

Everything is a problem with you kids...ok, rub the towel on your streaming device. I checked before I posted the first time, you can still "stream" CD-R's from Amazon to test your towels.

 

[MidnightNarwhal]

Re: Why my towels become "clumped" and are they still safe to use?

Exactly, if it doesn't scratch a CD, it won't scratch your car.



Everything is a problem with you kids...ok, rub the towel on your streaming device. I checked before I posted the first time, you can still "stream" CD-R's from Amazon to test your towels.

I think their point is that people don't want to go out and buy something just to use a test, like I rather use something I already have, like a spot on my car. I'm not a professional detailer I just work on my own stuff you know.

But are game CDs somehow coated maybe? I tried it on my old Call of duty Black Ops 2 CD with my shirt and rubbed pretty hard and no marring at all. I would've expected something and now I'm not so sure how accurate the CD test really is. Seems like my CD is stronger than clearcoat lmao...

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Re: Why my towels become "clumped" and are they still safe to use?

I think their point is that people don't want to go out and buy something just to use a test

Yeah, I got that. Some of us old-timers are just trying to give you whipper-snappers some advice from the old days, when we had to walk to school, uphill, both ways.

 

[Bill D]

The CD Test works plenty fine for me. I trust it to save my paint.

 

[MidnightNarwhal]

I have experienced the same phenomenon and like your case it is only one side. I would like to know the culprit as well.

What products and what purpose do you use with your towels that this happened?

Also, did this only happen to your Rag Company Eagle Edgeless or are they another model?

 

[MidnightNarwhal]

Alright so after few emails with The Rag Company, basically we still have no idea. At first they claimed the CarPro Elixir as likely culprit but they didn't understand that this also happens to my 350gsm eagle edgeless that never touches Elixir, just use them with my rinseless wash. After clarifying that they didn't really know what else it could be.

If there's anything I could theorise, is maybe the way my washer spins or dryer whatever, makes it push on one side and it matts like that.