In the first installment of articles on ‘Slick Details’ I thought I would introduce you to different tools that one needs in their detailing arsenal.  Today I will be informing you about “microfiber” technology and what it means to you and your vehicle.

I’m a relatively young individual and enjoy maintaining our vehicle’s with my father.  You see my father is an old school type of person and it’s great to observe and reflect on how he’s maintained them over the years because it allows me to see the ways in which were done incorrectly. 

For drying a vehicle or buffing out wax, my father likes to keep a bin of old clothing.  He’s always kept what feels soft to the touch, mostly clothing made from cotton.  I think he’s done it that way for years because he didn’t know any better (plus no additional cost involved).  There was no Internet, very little easily obtainable resources a while back to tell us that this was wrong.

A couple of years ago microfiber technology became popular.  It is an alternative to what we’ve been accustomed to; cotton and has taken the cleaning world by storm. 

Microfiber is a man made material made from polyester (normally making up 80%) and polyamide (normally 20%).  Together these two materials are split apart into millions of smaller strands (100 times smaller than a human hair) from the factory and are woven together to make threads consisting of very tiny pockets that help store and clean everything from dirt, dust, oil, and bacteria.  These things just literally stick to the microfiber.  So you can imagine how much surface area you are given when working with microfiber towels.

Polyester and polyamide contain different characteristics that allow these two materials to work effectively as one.  Polyester in microfiber is known to be attracted to grease and oil, so these items will cling onto the polyester.  On the other hand, polyamide is known to have an attraction to water thus water will cling onto the polyamide side of the microfiber.  What you end up with is a cleaning tool that traps dirt, dust, oil and liquid in its tiny pockets leaving the surface clean and streak free, even without using any chemical solution. 

One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is streaking.  I now know the reason why this occurs.  Cotton is prone to streaking.  This happens because when cleaning with cotton, all you are doing is moving particles around the surface whereas microfiber traps these particles inside its pockets.  Cotton is particularly dangerous because you are instilling scratches onto the paint of your vehicle.

The other attributes of microfiber…

1. Microfiber is very absorbent holding anywhere between five to seven times its weight in water.
2. Microfiber is lint-free.
3. Microfiber grabs onto dust easily; it sticks to the microfibers.
4. Microfiber is durable meaning it can be washed in liquid detergent and re-used hundreds of times.  It’s advised not to wash microfiber with bleach or fabric softener and always allow time to air dry.

Currently there are many different types of microfiber products on the market, each made for specific parts of detailing a vehicle.  There are cloths, applicators, and even random orbital bonnets.  Some microfiber cloths contain long strands while others have short strands.  Generally speaking the longer the strand, the softer and the shorter the strand the less soft they are.  You want the microfiber cloths that have long strands to be the ones touching your paint while the shorter ones can be regulated to other parts such as glass and rims.  There are also different types of microfiber such as waffle weave (for drying) and vary from their composition of material (the ratio between polyester and polyamide).

Just to show you a couple of microfiber products here are the ones which I use on paint surfaces and the ones where that can be used as general-purpose.  As time goes by, I’ll update this article with photos of the different types of microfiber.

Usable for paint

General Purpose Microfiber

I hope you’ve learned something from this article and are reminded that microfiber is the best type of cleaning tool that you should own in your detailing arsenal.  I know for a fact that we’ll be switching away from old clothes and rags to the new microfiber from now on.