Having problems with my microfiber towels just pushing water around instead of soaking it up. Any thoughts or experiences with this phenomenon?
You have to wash and dry them 3-4 times for them to really absorb
I made sure to do that when I got them, but just washed with vinegar instead of regular detergent. Could that be it?
i got microfibres from costo but they are useless even after multi washings but our dog loves to rip them apart.
Mine came from the microfiber wholesale website. I’m washing them right now with regular detergent and will give them 3 more cycles to get their act together. Otherwise they will get fed to my dog as well.
you just bought the wrong ones.
you have to get the right kind of microfiber towel if you want to use them for detailing. the kind you get at home depot or walmart are the wrong weave. they are good for cleaning but not detailing.
you want something like this for detailing.
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Make sure wash only w other micro fibers and detergent doesn’t have any fabric softener
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No fabric softener and don’t use dryer sheets.
These are what I got. 16” x 16” Buff™ Multi-Surface Microfiber Cleaning Towel (16 Colors) — Microfiber Wholesale
I’ve just come back to window cleaning after 12 years so microfiber is kind of new to me. Those towels you linked to seem a tad pricey but I guess I’d rather pay more for towels that actually work.
Wash micro fibers with very little soap then wash without any soap, no fabric softeners, no heat drying only cool air dry, heat breaks down the fiber.
They cost more but you can go all day with just a couple. I would look at trying scrims too if I were you.
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Another thing to take into consideration is if you use dryer sheets at all, it will coat the drum of the dryer and you can continue to get that crap on your towels even if you arent putting a dryer sheet in when you do that particular load.
We don’t believe in dryer sheets in this house. But I have used vinegar on the towels in place of detergent, which, from what I now understand, can act like a fabric softener and may have something to do with why they don’t like to hold liquid.
Coming back to window cleaning after 12 years I guess I should have expected a bit of a learning curve since my recycled surgical towel, Dawn dish soap and brass squeegee days.
All three of those things still work today. 
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We still rock the surgical towel for detailing.
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I’m beginning to wish I had stuck with the old ways before I spent all this money on new crap I don’t understand lol.
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the wisdom of this response! that’s straight mr. miyagi action right there.
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Seriously? Wife ain’t gonna be happy to hear this… 
lolz
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LOL she really doesn’t. We never used dryer sheets anyway cause of the chemical content.
As an update: I ran all those microfiber towels through the wash a few times more, but with regular liquid detergent instead of vinegar. Then I cycled them a few more times with nothing but water. Dried them off in the dryer. Now they work the way they are supposed to and I’m a happy camper.
Lesson learned: Vinegar is not an adequate substitute for regular detergent when washing new towels. Would have been nice to know that before trying to work my first window jobs in 10 years, but hey. Live and learn.
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