Quote:
Originally Posted by WhipE350
Great post. The distilled water won't spot, good idea. I tend to stay way from mitts, they collect particles. Believe it or not I just use a high quality microfiber 16x16 towel, cut the edges off and make sure when it touches the car it has plenty of surfactants. I move in one direction to pick up all particles. Rinse them off and then with the towel rinsed make another pass in any direction since all particles that could scratch are removed. The nice thing about a flat towel and not the mitt is you can see what it has taken off and you can make sure it rinses off the towel before touching the car again. I always use white.
Or you can just do this...but only in a bind 
Spray-On Car Wash Kit - Cleaners - Car Washing - Car Care - Griot's Garage |
Those chenille mitts are so cheap that I rarely use one for more than a couple of washes. I no longer use standard microfiber towels for cleaning because the hooked ends are overkill for a well-maintainted surfaced. The only exception is if you have constant tree sap (which gets onto my refridgerator door during summer!) or bird bombs. But even then I'll opt for clay bar and pressure washing before I go to the invasive towesls. In most other instances it's really just light soil that can be easily guided away with any soft touch cloth or mitt -- so as long as you are using some kind of lubrication like the rinseless wash or a foam gun.
Come to think of I think going forward when doing the rinseless washing I'm going to use Griot's
disposable paint towels for washing. My friend, who is not really an enthusiast, uses similar ones on his black Merc SUV and I can barely see a single swirl on that car on a sunny day. An impressive feat for a black car.
"
have tiny holes allowing contaminants to be carried inside the cloth and away from your paint surface. They are also great for removing polish and for clean up."
And the big downside of standard microfiber auto towels is that they are stubborn at letting go of what the little hooks get into. I used to have to constantly wash them 2 or 3 times in a row until they were like new clean.
I've since gone towards only using the long nap green and blue towels from Griot's for paint work. But your point about the pre-soak to clear abrasives like road sediment is very true. But unfortunately getting out a hose or pressure washer is not always possible. I even have a hard time finding the coin operated car washes just to rinse down the top before doing a Raggtopp cleaning.