If you have bought some towels you believe are 100% cotton, you may be in for a surprise. Many of these towels are not 100% cotton according to the car care experts. If you want to be sure you can do follow these instructions taken from http://www.carcareonline.com:
"Check any towels carefully as most towels contain polymer fibers that scratch like hundreds of hypodermic needles. Do not assume that the 100% cotton label on the towel is telling the truth. The only way to check is to actually set fire to a rolled up corner of the towel. If you get a clean flame like a candlewick then it is 100% cotton. If you see black smoke and melted fibers, then you got one of the non 100%, anxiously waiting to scratch your paint type of towels. One person checked 130 towels all marked 100% cotton and discovered that 12 actually were. I love truth in advertising."
I bought a bunch of fieldcrest towels from Walmart. I have heard that these have polyester in them. Time to test. :rolleyes:
Cannon & Fieldcrest make a lower quality version of their towels for
K-Mart, Walmart and other big discount chains.
These towels say 100% Cotton but that is not, totally true. The nap is
100% cotton but the backing material has polyester blend in it.
So if you press a little to hard on the towel you can get some fine
scratches or swirls.
The point I'm trying to make is if a Cannon or Fieldcrest towel is
selling in a discount store for $6.00 or less (approximately) it is not
the good stuff.
I buy all my Cannon & Fieldcrest towels in the Bath & Linen shops in
the bigger stores in the mall. I pay anywhere from $10 to $20 per towel.
These are the real deal. I buy about 3 or 4 towels and they usually last
me about a year.
Now for you guys that may have already purchased the lower price towels.
Look carefully at your paint finish when you are using your towels. If
you are not getting any swirls or fine scratches, then you are okay.
Remember it's better to be safe than swirly.
Another problem I'm seeing is some of you guys are using powdered
detergent to wash your towels. Powdered detergents contain granules that
do not fully dissolve in the wash cycle and get trapped in the nap of
the towels, these granules will scratch your paint finish.... Only use
Liquid detergents like All or Tide. Also do not use Bleach or any kind
of fabric softner.
You must use only white. Not colored towels.....Colored towels are not
to be used because the dye leaves a chemical residue on the paint
finish. Always wash your towels first before using. Use Liquid detergent
and rinse twice.
You should cut the selvages(borders) off the perimeter of the towels.
This selvage contains nylon and polyester stitching that could possibly
scratch your paint finish. The towels will fray a little once this is
done. But it's better to play it safe.
Drying the towels on high heat will make them hold a static charge. I
use the regular heat setting and remove them a little damp and let them
air dry. You can fluff the towel real good when it's dry to make it
softer.
As the towels get older they will lose there nap and absorbency and will
have to be replaced.
When you cut off the edges, burn some of the standard nap of the towel. If it burns clean, you have good towels. If you get black smoke, they contain polyester.
Corvette Store
Test your towels
