I appreciate your well-reasoned response, and I understand what you’re saying. OTOH, as they say, the proof is in the pudding. As I mentioned, I did a lot of detailing (to include the chamois) and close inspection of the results for many years before seeing any hint of swirls. I strongly suspect my car would have as many (or possibly more) swirls had I used an alternative drying method. Part of my success may be due to the fact that often, prior to use of the chamois, I’d clay bar. I’d be the first to agree with the benefits of that process.
Additional evidence: the few swirls I now see are, in fact, just that: they “swirl”. When I use the chamois I: (1) wet it thoroughly in a bucket of water as mentioned above; (2) grab it by the two corners and pull it gently across the surface of the car (ie, basically exactly what you describe doing with the MF towel); and to finish the process, (3) I then gently dry with back and forth motions of a folded up chamois. I emphasize “back and forth”. The chamois is moved front to back, the same way air moves over the car when driven. I don’t “swirl” it in circles. That being the case, I just don’t see how the few swirls I now see can be blamed on the chamois. (Maybe I need to concentrate on washing in that manner, but that always seems like a lot of work, especially if the car is dirtier than usual when I wash it.)
I like MFs to wash because they provide a little “gentle friction” (I’ll call it) to help remove stubborn dirt. I know this goes against the commonly accepted principles of auto detailing, but I’ve always taken the “trapping of the particles” via a MF towel with a grain of salt. Personally, I think dragging a MF across the newly cleaned finish to dry it drags any remaining particles just as surely as a chamois does. I’ve certainly conducted no double-blind studies on the matter---I’d be the first to admit I could be wrong on this
Again, thanks for your input. As is usually the case, we all do what seems to work for us.