I'm looking to upgrade my washing supplies. I'm already using the two-bucket concept and a good quality soap.

When looking for a good wool wash mitt, what material should I be looking for? I found one at Wal-mart that seemed very nice. I can't remember what exactly it was made of though. It had lots of nap though and felt very good. I've been using a MF sponge and I haven't really been pleased with it.

For drying - I notice people mentioning waffle weave towels. I saw a Meg's one the other day. Are these really safe? They seem really abrasive. My biggest concern is that drying in the sun, spots seems to dry quickly and it's hard to get to them while they're really wet. Any comments/suggestions on that? I don't want to mar my surface excessively with a weird towel.

Thanks a lot.

 

That's the one I'm talkin about. It seems really abrasive, but I could be wrong. MF is MF after all. And Megs is good stuff.

 

Well, MF isn't always good MF. I've got some JUNK MF in my stash (typically used on grunge areas now)

The Magnet isn't a bad towel for the money. Launder it before using and you're only going to use this towel to BLOT dry. You'll want 'several' to get the job done on that beast of yours as they don't do fantastically well after they've been saturated.

The plus to a pretty nice WW MF towel like the Magnet is that it has some 'nap' to it. In short, if you have some gunk on your paint, it has some area within the nap of the towel to store it rather than dragging it around on your paint - or blotting it on your paint.

As for a mitt.... 100% dead sheep or 100% cotton (watch for seeds). SW Arnold makes a vEry nice wool mitt that I use almost exclusively. Search here at f150online for waxstation.com ... that post will have the model and link to buy.

-RP-

 

Thanks for the info. Do you have any advice on drying techniques or other towels to use? Would I be better off letting it air dry and then hitting it with QD?

 

Air drying on black is typicall a 'no-no'. Water spots yield an entirely new realm of problems when it comes to removing them. They can be a booger...

Go with the water magnet towels. Again, you'll need a few. Use a blotting technique to dry the remaining blobs once you've used the flow-dry method to dry the truck.

The flow-dry method involves taking the spray head off of your hose and using the gentle flow of the water to 'sheet' water off of your truck. You're not spraying the truck down but rather using a flow across the paint to sheet it dry. It'll suprise you how much water can be removed by using water.

Blot the remaining areas.

 

Ok, sounds good. I've tried that before, but with my paint being messed up as it was, it wasn't working too well.

I'm sure the water is going to flow really well with the current condition of my paint. Rain drops were beading off today on the way to Dallas - it's a beautiful thing.

 

I have been using the Meg's Water Magnet that you have pictured. Like RockPick said, you'll want to use several of them for drying. Once they are wet, they are about useless. I usually use at least 3 to dry my truck (07 Supercab).

I have found that I get much better results with the Water Magnet by using 2 at the same time. I'll use towel #1 to get the bulk of the water off and then towel #2 to get things completely dry. Once towel #1 is saturated, I stop using it and grab a third (dry) towel - you guessed it, towel #3. At that point, I'll start using towel #2 to remove the bulk of the water and #3 for a final dry-off. I keep doing this until I'm finished. Like I said, it usually takes 3 towels (and sometimes 4 or 5).

Hope this helps...and hope it makes sense.

 

Definitely. Thanks for the help.

 

I like the Meguairs Microfiber mits, I always pick them up in the 3-packs from ADS.

As far as drying, I always use the sheeting technique, a backpack blower, and than the Meguiars Water Magnet. It's the BEST way to dry your vehicle IMO. I can't stand seeing water spots and don't have any problems doing it this way.

 

Doesn't anyone use a chamois anymore? I only use one and the wetter it gets, the better it works.

 

I've tried chamois before, and I've never been happy with the result. I probably don't know how to use it, but the harder I have to work with a towel the least likely I am to wash my truck.

 

I basically treat it like a flexible squeege. It has to be wet to work correctly though. Just lay it flat across the body and drag it toward yourself. The water will be absorbed by the chamois so just wring it out well and keep going. I've had one that I've used for years.

 

I hear you, I just can't get to liking them. I've bought some pretty expensive chamois and it was a waste of money.

 

Chamois are really high absorbency items but, the thing that it lacks is that nap that I mentioned.

While some still use them -- and that's perfectly fine -- I default to not use them because I'm not perfect and I know I've left tiny bits of grit/grime behind after a wash. The ability to have a tiny bit of nap to, hopefully, keep that bit of grit from getting drug around on my paint is worth taking a little bit more time.

I know it's a long shot but, with black and other dark colors, I'm willing to go out of my way a bit...

 

Me too, just a "little" bit.