The right towel for the job
When buying a microfibre towel to use in detailing your car, you will want to get the right type of towel to fit the job. At first it may seem that all microfibre towels are one and the same, but the thickness, length of fibers, and tightness of the weave all impact their ability to perform different tasks.
A thick microfibre is best used for cleaning and dusting, while a thicker towel with a tight weave and short strands will hold a lot of water and can be used to remove a lot of water after washing and speed drying. A thin, smooth towel is better at polishing the finish after waxing or paint correction and is also a good choice for cleaning glass and mirrors because it will leave less streaking on the glass.
For cleaning sensitive surfaces like radio faces and lenses, use a loose weave, thin towel to avoid dragging grit across and scratching the surface. A 16×16 towel folded in forth gives you several cleaning surfaces and fits comfortably in your grip. While piped stitching around the edges can help the towel last longer, it is also more likely to leave scratch marks when used in paint correction and wax application. Look for towels that are 80% polyester and 20% polyamide. GSM, or grams per square meter, is a measurement of the weight of the microfibre material and helps determine the towel’s purpose.
3D has recently started selling a wider variety of microfibre towel thicknesses. We now have several at 230 GSM, 300GSM, 350 GSM and even a style at 400 GSM that has long and short Terry on the two sides. Our new microfiber towels are also edgeless, so they will leave fewer towel marks.