Looks like what they use to dry cattle before the cattle shows.
http://www.jefferslivestock.com/ssc/...le&dept_id=134
lol

 

First and foremost, many here in this forum like to put out factual information and will question and rebut bad products, info and techniques.

Calling Autozone, Walmart, Pep boys or any other general consumer store towels the best you ever used in a detailing forum....well you dont really know towels. It's like someone saying K-Mart (500-750 thread count) has some of the best sheets you ever used when the best sheets thread count are in the thousands...and there is a major difference. Someone already used a t-shirt comparison.

As has been already said...learning can be painful, even embarrassing sometimes but when any of us is too old to learn new things...we are just too old. Another saying I find to be true is that doing something wrong a long time starts to feel right but it is still wrong. I was also washing cars in the 60's & 70's but I didnt really know proper detailing until 2009 and im still learning. When I first started visiting this site I fought to defend my bad habits also.

Now to your comments about black vehicles. Black is only a bad vehicle color because it tells the truth. Other vehicles have the same amount and type of defects, dirt and dust but they are just harder to see or easier to hide. I find nothing more beautiful than a clean properly maintained black vehicle. I dont hate on other vehicles as lazy man colors so please dont hate on Black.

Lastly, when you polish you vehicle, unless you are dealing with single stage paint you are polishing clearcoat. It is a form of paint but it's more like the window you look thru to see the color coat. Only a microscopic amount is removed if done properly Once it's properly polished and properly maintained it does not easily "pick up" anything. Marring and scratches are induced by improper products (towels) and techniques.
The better the techniques the longer paint looks near perfect...even black.
Good luck.

 

Aight, so what's the best drying towel out there then??

 

Don't feel bad - most of the real OCD detailers here have moved on to another site where they can share their OCD with others that think the same way. This has become a more general type of detailing forum where consumer grade materials and techniques are discussed just as much as true professional products and techniques. The pros do pop in from time to time, and when they do, you see the results like you see in this thread. An OCD pro wouldn't touch an Autozone towel if it was the last towel in the city. Me? Heck yes, when I need a new towel I just might get one. I get my truck professionally done once a year, and last year there wasn't much correction needed.

 

I just posted my experience, it remains. It is a thirsty towel.

.

Well, I learned I didn't know towels. Painful, embarassing? I don't feel it.

I still don't know what it is about a clean WWMF towel that will scratch ... that a MF polishing rag used to buff your wax or sealant doesn't have.

Wait there ... ... I didn't "hate on black". I love the look of a shiney black vehicle. Always have loved them when clean and shiney. But I never felt they were prettier than my favorite blues or reds or white.

I'll probably never own a black vehicle in the future .... but it's not because I hate them.

Hell, I u-turned to go back and look at one as a prospect in spite of knowing how much effort they require. I won't own one because I'm not going to put the effort into it to keep it looking like black has to be kept to look good. Black is also the worst just for showing the lightest dust. Especially for the next two years until that interstate is done ....

4 cars and 2 trucks and the bikes don't allow me the time to obsess over black. Now you take blue or red or green or plum .... I can keep them looking pretty good.

Black? I'ld just never be satisfied.

I used to have a white '65 GTO, one of the prettiest cars I had back in the day, it was easy to keep looking great. It was a 9.7 on it's worst day. Looked good rain or shine.

I just remembered something I had totally forgotten .... I did once own a black 1970 Chevrolet CST/10 Pickup / 402 / T-400 .... for a year or two. Cold air, every option, but a job even back then to keep looking good.

I'll have to go back and edit that post I guess.

 

I wouldn't own a black vehicle simply due to the heat. I have a beige truck with a beige interior and that gets hot enough, and beige is also a lot easier to keep looking decent - as one of the members here says, it's great owning a truck the same color as the dirt.

 

You are correct many here want just good enough...Me, I want the best I can afford with the least work and best result. I am sure others will migrate over with the "OCD"ers to the other site to learn and know more....however,
Even in a general detailing forum good and the best info should always prevail should it not? Products consumer or professional can be misused and give poor and or even damaging results. More good info and cautions never hurt.
I used to think my paint looked good...Now I know it does. If there is a better way to do something better F-150 or detail related, I want to know.
Thats why I came to this forum.

Oh dam! I thought I was an OCD'er...I gotta try harder.
Would I use the autozone towel to dry my black truck? Sure I would but with the proper technique. Would I encourage novices and beginners to use it? No, not without discussion of the pros and cons.
I wasnt speaking about your experience specifically. Just a general comment about how hard for many bad habits and bad ideas are to break.
Many have read the post so im sure a few other people picked up some new info.
I read post here for a long time and learned I didn't know chit after all my past experience(speaking for myself).
Well for starters, water is not a good lubricant compared to wax. You will rub your paint drying it many more times with a WWMF and there will more likely be residual dirt in places on the surface after a wash to scratch around with bad drying technique than compared to when you wax and buff. WWMF's don't have much pile to trap and hold dirt away from your paint as you wipe so the risk of marring is much greater.
I was joking at your implications...but you did single it out as some sort of magical scratch absorber unless you keep it "locked away in a dark room".
If you purchase 2 identical cars (1 black & 1 white) and treat them the exact same the white paint will lie & hide, the black will not.
Neither cars finish is better than the other in reality.
I like the truth.
I have owned and like many colors but the most rewarding for me to clean and shine have always been black.

 

....

 

Beautiful truck ya got there!! I will definately have to pick up that towel, My truck is black and I hate lint! I haven't gotten the chance to detail my truck yet, rain every weekend it seems since I have gotten it. What type of wax did you use? Your paint has that deep look that is hard to get for red paint.

 

For sure ..... that's why I use a clean towel reguardless of type when I dry and then only after washing the vehicle.
If not waxed, I'ld want to wax it.
I wouldn't do otherwise on a vehicle whose finish I was particular about.

10-4 on the joking.
I don't believe I said black scratches any more or easier than other colors as I don't believe scratching agents care about the color. Black shows the scratches or other defects / damage much more readily though.
White doesn't lie, there is no morality involved, the scratches just don't show quite so clearly. White will look nicer, more scratch free lomger and under harsher conditions than black.
That's truth. If light acted differently or we saw it differently, perhaps the tables would turn?

Take care ......

 

ThankYou, this last time I cleaned it real well, then did the red and grey paint and the chrome with Meguiars regular Cleaner Wax in the bottle and buffed it with a MF buffing towel by hand ...
... then I went over all the plastic moldings and other dark trim with Liquid ICE polish and I buffed that as well.

I've only had the truck about a year next week, the previous owner took great care of it.

 

I agree, plus Rock knows his dodo.

 

can you throw these in the washing machine to clean them?
i dropped mine and got some dirt on it and wondered if they can be machine washed?

 

Yes, that's how you wash all towels.

 

Well I am still waiting...