Polishing my car

[geraintthomas]

I had the same thoughts a few years back bud. Basically, a chamois is incredibly smooth and it's great at absorbing water, which sounds perfect. Trouble is with them is that they're not good at trapping minor bits of dust and dirt that are naturally on the paint while the water is drying, so the chamois will push them around, swirling the paint over time. Believe it or not, this makes drying a car almost as harmful as washing it incorrectly.

A damp microfibre drying towel is designed to trap the tiny bits of dirt inside of the fibres safely, so that you're not pushing them around, while still absorbing water

So while a chamois is lovely and soft and absorbs water, it can't trap dirt inside of it. And if you think "well there shouldn't be any dirt on the car", there's tiny quantities of grit within the pours of the paint (which is what a clay bar removes) that'll still get picked up and pushed around by a chamois. This is why myself and other detailers use drying towels as opposed to a chamois. I only use a chamois for engine bays and boot shuts.

If you lay a damp and wrung out microfibre drying towel out flat on the bonnet of a wet car, then gently pull it off by the corners so that the towel is being lightly dragged on the surface, that's the best way to dry a car with a spotless finish. With the sides of the car, just fold the microfibre and brush lightly, re-folding it as you go. It's a much, much better way of drying a car, and you'll get a better result. The other added benefit of using a drying towel is that, if required, you can further lubricate the damp microfibre towel with a detailing spray (or spray wax), which will top up any wax on the car.

Hope that helps!

[Frodo]

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.