How OCD are you about MF towels?

I keep my towels that have been relegated to wheel, tire well and engine bay use separate from my good towels but beyond that I tend to mix them. I have, however, run across people that segregate conventional wash drying towels from those used for rinse-less and waterless washes, polish removal towels separate from all other applications and specific towels for each different LSP they use. They also don't mix them in the wash cycle. How far do your OCD tendencies go when it comes to towels? I'm starting to worry that I may be insufficiently crazy.

 

My towels are kept seggregated in the following categories. Bin #1 is Drying and glass towels - waffle weave and plush drying towels on one side and waffle weave drying towels on the other. Drying towels are two colours are are not mixed. They are always kept in separate piles. Bin #2 is General use - superball types for interior work and older towels for really dirty stuff, polishing exhaust tips etc. they are kept in seperate piles. Bin #3 is Polish/ wax towels - Werkstat plush towels, poorboys towels and some 500 gsm blue ones from stocktowelsnow. All are kept in separate piles. Bin # 4 is Pakshak towels. You have to keep them separate because they are divas and will get beat up in the general population. All towels are in each bin are color coordinated as well. I don't have any singles as different colours will cause me to get irritated. Seriously. I can't deal with it. All towels are washed within their respective family groups. Drying and glass towels, general use towels and wax towels. Don't get me started on how to fold towels!

 

Any MF that touches paint I consider sacred. They don't get washed with any other towels, sorted separately and put in different bins that those used for other parts of the car.

I use light/bright colored dd mf towels because I can easily pick out any debris I see in the fibers. Using a darker color towel or something thicker makes this very difficult.

 

Yup, you are insufficiently crazy/OCD. I have some black microfibers that are supposed to be for tires, and I don't even use them for that anymore. All they get used for now is wheel wells and trim... And of course towels should be segregated as you've described... Why would a buffing/polish cloth want to hang out with a QD cloth?

My drying towels are only divided into two sections in a box with a cardboard divider I store them separately - plush on one side and waffle weave on the next. All the plush ones are light gray (CG) and grey (DD). The waffles are light green and light blue. I tend not to use them much except on glass anymore, as I prefer the feel of the plush towels on my paint. I know this doesn't make sense, but that's how I feel. Poorboys/UltraFinish Microfiber has some excellent glass-cleaning cloths called Opti-Cloths that I keep in my drying box too, as well as six Woven Glass Cleaning Cloths from Showroom FX.​

I second these sentiments...

 

Wasn't good about it but have become much better. Used to not care but quickly realized mf care is an overlooked part of detailing. I separate towels into a few categories and store/wash them in groups.

DI Drying waffle weaves
all purpose for interior
All purpose for exhaust, wheels, door jambs
Polish removal towels
Wax/lsp towels

Keep them seperate and take care of them and they'll last much longer. Also use CG microfIber wash rather than tide.

 

No one on detailing forums suffer from OCD...

We just like immaculate vehicles

 

my drying towels are hung up on hangers from a wire shelf .....the rest divided into plastic sealed storage bins....interior towels ...polish removal ....lsp......glass.. spray wax quick detail

 

I keep mine sorted and folded in sealed plastic containers.

Top shelf: Top are Chemical Guys Fluffer towels (blue and red)

Second from top: Top bin contains my three Uber Super Drying Towels. Bottom bin contains Griot's Garage, Sonus, and Uber WW drying towels.

Third shelf: Top bin contains all purpose towels, primarily some cheapos from Costco. Depending on how soiled they become after use I either wash them or simply throw them away. I also have some Uber Hi Tech Glass towels in there. Bottom bin are more plush towels that I usually use on the interior.

Bottom shelf: Bin contains my pad collection.



I'm not too careful when I wash them because I throw away the super-dirty ones. But generally I try and wash like ones together. I've washed and dried (low heat cycles) the WW collection a ton, and they still hold up super well. Any towel that touches the paint I inspect and pull out any suspicious pieces of stuff.

 

I keep drying towels separate from all others. The drying towels are separated into two groups: waffle weave paint towels & wheel drying towels.

Almost all my other towels are kept together in separate bins depending on type, thickness & size

Then I have my wash mitts which are separated into groups based on what they are for (paint or wheels). These are also color coordinated to make it easier.

I wash all wheel wash and dry items together and the others are washed together.

I'm not real OCD about my towels but I do try to use good judgement and common sense.

 

I keep every towel in it's own tube labeled by what their used for. Yes I do have OCD about my towels and everything in my shop.

 

I keep them sealed and nobody touches them, not even the wife or the house cleaner........ I wash them, fold them and then put them back in the container. the demoted ones I could care less because they are used on interior surfaces etc, but if the car has wood trim, or any type of smooth scratch-able surface they get an exterior towel. I think im more into towels then LSPs.

 

That why I like detailing so much it calls to the perfectionism in me.

 

I usually use the brand / color to segregate towels (polish removal, glass clean, lsp removal, general qd duty, drying, rinseless) but I tend to wash together.

For example, I use PS Silver Surfer on glass, ancient ubers for general use, PS ww for glass along with some Viking plus some new MFT, PS ultraplush/Viking for QD, PB DMT for LSP (have used silver surfers too). I have some older target grey for doing jambs and target orange for interior surfaces,

 

hey ken i am interested in how you fold the darn towels. also i love your 530s for polish removal. what is your favorite for that?

 

I keep them sperated in different containers, however I do wash them all together. There I said it, it's in type, and I am not ashamed "I wash all my MF together in the same load."

 

I should have been a little more precise in my original post. Aside form the dirty jobs towels and those that seem to have picked exceptionally heavy soiling in the last use I do wash all my towels together (Micro-Restore) and dry them together (low temp until about 85% dry and then air cycle). I have separate storage tubs for drying towels, plush towels, interior work towels, low nap/no nap polish and wax removal towels, and utility towels. I don't, however, have specific dedicated use towels for something like ONR or UWWP drying as opposed to conventional shampoos, specific LSPs, polish removal, etc.
My towels are mostly a mixture of PakShak, Microfibertech, Autoality, CG and Detailer's Domain plus a few from other vendors.

I want to hear Ken's folding method too. When using towels with a plush side and a low nap side I always fold low nap side out but I couldn't make a very compelling argument for it doing this way. It seems like there might be an argument for rolling towels for storage as opposed to folding.

 

Well Costco towells I use as general purpose towells but rarely do they ever touch the paint, CG yellow towells for just about everything polish/lsp's/etc. then CG monster blues for ONR/spray wax/v7/etc..

 

Um..... I keep my towels in gallon size sandwich bags, sorted by the same type of towels, then they are put into bins I have in the garage, lol

 

When folding towels, you must be sure the "grain" of the towel is running the right way. Holding the towel up in front of you, the grain should run top to bottom, not side to side. Folding the towel with the grain running side to side will result in an awkward looking towel. The first fold should be along the grain resulting in an 8x16 towel. The second fold will result in an 8x8 towel. If you store your towels in a clear bin like me, the two folded sides should face the exterior of the bin as the loose sides don't look neat. As well, plush towels are folded with the plush side in. Reason being that if anything gets on the towel, it's easier to remove from he short nap side. Good thing I'm not OCD or this could get out of hand.

 

Have any pics?