Polyester or cotton

[johnny utah]

Is one better than the other

[Blueline]

Re: Polyester or cotton

I prefer cotton, to polyester. Cotton just breaths better on my body, and polyester shirts make my neck itch.

(Maybe add a little more to your question)

[Murr1525]

Re: Polyester or cotton

They call me the velour fog...

[wifpd4]

Re: Polyester or cotton

They call me the velour fog...

I just spent 30 minutes trying to think of a humous follow up...I can't.

Murr's comment stands on it's own merits.

[Murr1525]

Re: Polyester or cotton

I just spent 30 minutes trying to think of a humous follow up...I can't.

"Kif, we have a conundrum"...

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Polyester or cotton

I just spent 30 minutes trying to think of a humous follow up...I can't.

Murr's comment stands on it's own merits.

It sort of puts him in a whole new light for us as well, doesn't it?



One can only imagine, this being a detailing forum, that the OP was asking this question in the context of towels and/or applicators.

But the question isn't as simple as "poly or cotton". While it is true that microfiber towels are made up of synthetic material as opposed to 100% cotton terry cloth towels, that's only a tiny bit of the story. As soon as you start telling people that using a cotton towel is fine, they start grabbing old beach towels thinking "well, it's 100% cotton so it's fine, right?" Some people like using old cotton diapers or T-shirts. The problem with diapers and T-shirts is that they're essentially flat so there's no place for any errant bit of whatever to go except to get dragged across the paint. Not good. Cotton towels are fine if you don't mind spending a lot of money on them - really high quality cotton towels can make good microfibers look inexpensive. And cotton towels are harder to maintain to a high standard, too. As with most anything, all 100% cotton terry cloth towels are not created equal. Towels provided by the Ritz Carlton are far, far nicer than those found at the No-Tell Motel down in the seedy part of town. But even those at the Ritz are still made up of little loops of thread that can give some "bite" of their own when working on paint. In some cases this might be a good thing - like working by hand on badly oxidized single stage paint. But when it comes to wiping off compounds, cleaners, polishes and waxes from a newly pristine clear coat, microfiber is the way to go.

Being all man made fibers there is a much higher level of control in the manufacturing of microfibers. The threads are much finer than those found in natural cotton towels and they're usually shaped in such a way that they actually grab small particles and pull them up into the towel and away from the paint. There's a big safety factor there, and the fineness of the material means much less change of marring the surface in the process.

People tend to think of these two in the oversimplified terms of "polyester" and "cotton". But just as cotton has very broad applications - you might consider drying your car with a nice cotton towel, but would you ever consider doing so with a brand new pair of stiff Levi's jeans? They're 100% cotton, so why not? By the same token, you'll do well to use quality microfiber towels (essentially a polyester blend) on your paint, but you wouldn't necessarily use the polyester pants John Travolta wore in Saturday Night Fever to do the same. And not just because they're now 35 or so years old.... you get the point. (geez, I'm just setting you guys up now, aren't I? )

So, poly or cotton?

Microfiber or terry cloth?

Microfiber.

[wifpd4]

Re: Polyester or cotton

"Kif, we have a conundrum"...

Finally, after hanging around here for a year, I'm seeing into the "Mind of Murr".

And yes, it's frightening...



http://s374.photobucket.com/albums/o...g%26newest%3D1

[Selectchoice]

Re: Polyester or cotton

Towels provided by the Ritz Carlton are far, far nicer than those found at the No-Tell Motel down in the seedy part of town.

Okay Mike, asking no questions as to how you did your research.....