http://www.simplygoodstuff.com/super_shammies.htm

 

I only used shammys for a long time, thinking that was the way to go with cotton towels being the only other option. Then I was intro'd to MF a few years ago and I think it not only absorbs better, but much less likley to leave swirls. I'm sure more will chime in, but I MF has more nooks and crannies to hide the dirt and contaminants in, so its not rubbing them into your paint. With a shammy it's flat, so any micro contaminants still on your car or shammy will just get swirled around and do damage to your paint.

 

That's what I'm reading as a possible drawback. But with my cheap MF towels, I have to use one to get most of the water off and another to get the car totally dry. So I'm wiping the car twice. In the summer, the remaining water basicly evaporates so I don't dry it twice. But now, the car won't get dry unless you wipe it down twice.

 

Whats wrong with wiping down twice? I use a waffleweave towel to get off the majority of the water, and follow it up with a plush microfiber to remove the rest, its a pretty simple process IMO. All the negatives about shammies have been address above, mainly the marring possibility

 

I dunno. If I only have to wipe it down once, it would cut down the number of marring chances by 1/2. Plus whatever sealant and wax comes off every time you wipe it down.

 

This is true only if the material has the same marring characteristics. The shammy is not plush at all, so its chances of marring the surface are significantly higher in a single pass than a corresponding MF which has a plush knit surface and thus added in "cushion" and the ability to move contaminants away from the surface as you wipe. Thus I still believe 2 wipes with quality MF's is going to mar less than a single pass with a shammy. That has always been my experience with both synthetic shammies and natural chamois's before microfiber towels became popular. Almost all the detailers on autopia.org use some type of microfiber for drying, there has got to be a reason for this

 

I myself first blow water out the nooks and cranny with my air compressor and then use my Ultimate guzzler to wipe the car. Also if there was any other water. I just pat the spot, not wipe it.

 

Leaf Blower FTW. I have only done it a few times, as I don't own one, but it was great when I did. As long as you have a good product on your car it not only gets a majority of the water off, but gets it out of the random areas(side mirrors on the 07 sedan) that hold water. Then final towel to finish it up.

Otherwise I'm wiping down once to get majority of water off, second time to get the car fully dry, then dabs here and there as water starts to seep out of the random areas.

 

I think most of the points of why a chamois is not as effective as a quality microfiber towel have already been addressed.

The best thing you can do before drying your vehicle is to utilize the sheeting method (link to video). If you have a layer of protection with a sealant or wax, you can easily remove 90% or more of any water on your surface before a towel even touches your vehicle. After that, I just blot dry with a waffle weave drying towel and if there are remaining spots, I'll go over it with a plush microfiber towel and some quick detailer spray.

George

 

Big Blu waffle weave FTW

 

I thought your suppose to use a low stream (Not spray) of water to sheet the water off. In the video it look like you were spraying the car down.

 

Yes, initially to get some water on the paint.

When sheeting, use free flowing water with no pressure. The video quality isn't that great and I plan on getting a new one up sometime during the spring when I get a chance to re-shoot it.