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- Nov 13, 2014
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As a part of routine and preventative maintenance, your car requires washing and cleaning regularly. But how many of you actually care for your microfiber cloths?
Over time, microfiber cloths lose their softness and absorption abilities. Two of the things that I've known microfibers to be good at. I've recently purchased a very highly priced Meguiars X2000 Water Magnet drying towel and to my dismay, on my first dry, the cloth did not perform satisfactory at all. Prior to my second drying, I washed the cloth in a light mixture of vinegar and water. I used 1 cap full of white distilled vinegar in a small bucket that was halfway filled with water.
Upon washing this expensive but underperforming waffle weave microfiber towel, I was amazed at the results. The cloth felt a lot softer and had no absolutely no scent. I was able to dry a Toyota Rav4 in just 3 wrings of the cloth without sheeting any water off the surface. Thats a lot of water! Had I done it after using a low pressure hose to sheet water off the body of the RAV4, I could have wiped the entire thing dry without needing to wring my cloth.
I also did the same thing with my exterior wash cloths and also the cloth used in the leather care thread. The leather cleaner did not allow itself to be removed from the cloth easily by using "Breeze" and so I could not use this cloth again. However, iIsoaked this cloth in a large 5 gallon paint bucket that was 1/4 full with water and then I added 4 cap fulls of vinegar and all traces of leather cleaner were completely gone. I was amazed. There was no scent and the cloth was completely clean.
So how does vinegar work to clean microfiber? Well the key to understanding how it works lies in the acid and alkaline debate. Most laundry detergents especially soap suds are alkaline and tend to coat the fibers of the microfiber. Its not as effective as grease and dirt removal as the Vinegar which is actually acidic. The trick is not to use a lot as this can damage your microfibers if you use too much. One cap full per cloth is enough. I used 4 cap fulls as I had washed 4 cloths at once.
Once you exercise caution, it is recommended to periodically clean your microfiber cloths in vinegar to keep them as clean as possible and as soft as possible. You'll also notice that once you clean a microfiber with vinegar it has the tendency to absorb a lot more water and some of the tough to remove stains may just be gone.
I highly recommend the Vinegar for cleaning microfiber but with care. I have used this method once so far and my wash cloths now retain a lot more water thus giving more a better quality wash of my vehicle as it lubricates the surface much better than before.
Over time, microfiber cloths lose their softness and absorption abilities. Two of the things that I've known microfibers to be good at. I've recently purchased a very highly priced Meguiars X2000 Water Magnet drying towel and to my dismay, on my first dry, the cloth did not perform satisfactory at all. Prior to my second drying, I washed the cloth in a light mixture of vinegar and water. I used 1 cap full of white distilled vinegar in a small bucket that was halfway filled with water.
Upon washing this expensive but underperforming waffle weave microfiber towel, I was amazed at the results. The cloth felt a lot softer and had no absolutely no scent. I was able to dry a Toyota Rav4 in just 3 wrings of the cloth without sheeting any water off the surface. Thats a lot of water! Had I done it after using a low pressure hose to sheet water off the body of the RAV4, I could have wiped the entire thing dry without needing to wring my cloth.
I also did the same thing with my exterior wash cloths and also the cloth used in the leather care thread. The leather cleaner did not allow itself to be removed from the cloth easily by using "Breeze" and so I could not use this cloth again. However, iIsoaked this cloth in a large 5 gallon paint bucket that was 1/4 full with water and then I added 4 cap fulls of vinegar and all traces of leather cleaner were completely gone. I was amazed. There was no scent and the cloth was completely clean.
So how does vinegar work to clean microfiber? Well the key to understanding how it works lies in the acid and alkaline debate. Most laundry detergents especially soap suds are alkaline and tend to coat the fibers of the microfiber. Its not as effective as grease and dirt removal as the Vinegar which is actually acidic. The trick is not to use a lot as this can damage your microfibers if you use too much. One cap full per cloth is enough. I used 4 cap fulls as I had washed 4 cloths at once.
Once you exercise caution, it is recommended to periodically clean your microfiber cloths in vinegar to keep them as clean as possible and as soft as possible. You'll also notice that once you clean a microfiber with vinegar it has the tendency to absorb a lot more water and some of the tough to remove stains may just be gone.
I highly recommend the Vinegar for cleaning microfiber but with care. I have used this method once so far and my wash cloths now retain a lot more water thus giving more a better quality wash of my vehicle as it lubricates the surface much better than before.
