I've used up half a bottle of Z5 and almost a whole bottle of Z2 and Z6 between our two camaro's last year, and so far am fairly impressed with the zaino system. OK, so the Z5 wasn't all I thought it was cracked up to be... but hey, maybe I'm just hard to please.

ANYWAY, been using my regular old dollar general store bath towels to remove this stuff with. Seems to work fine. <shrug> Well, my buddy heard what I was doing and about came unglued. Said I need to use special, seven dollar towels. Also claimed that I shouldn't be washing the applicaters and car towels with my other laundry. Can you honestly see a differece between a car that's been wiped down with a pricy rag vs a cheap one? Does it REALLY matter?

 

I doubt that you will get that zaino shine on your clothes washing them with the dirty towels. But I bet your clothes are as cheap as your towels. I would never wash my dirty car towels with my regular laundry. Those white towels might pick up some color from your clothes washing them together. I bet the 6 bucks you saved on the towels is not worth the risk of getting swirl marks on your baby. I use zaino too and only follow the instructions to a T, 100% made in the USA cotten towels. HELLO

 

I keep all my towels, mitts, everything seperate and are ONLY washed by themselves, since you do NOT want to use granular soap, bleaches or softeners on your car towels. The best towels to use are 100% cotton towels that have the cotton logo on them. That cotton logo means alot. You won't find these towels for $7 nor will you find them in an auto store or a discount store. I've been buying the Fieldcrest Charismas from KevinSS and I get them from him for less than what they sell locally in bed and bath type stores.

 

A poor quality towel can be rough or have 'hard' fibers in it, which, over time, can put tiny scratches throughout your paint... what is generally where the little 'spiderweb' or 'swirl' lines come from...

Same with a dirty towel... you are rubbing whatever that towel has collected against the surface of your car.

I used to use just about anything to wipe down/buff my car... now I use high-quality USA cotton towels. I've noticed a difference.

 

Another vote for pure 100% cotton. Cheap towels are just that...cheap...and WILL cause fine scratches. You get what you pay for (in most cases)

 

I'm also going to chime in and say towels do make a difference.

100% cotton or Microfiber only! No polyester on the paint (interior towels can have polyester in them. Mine do simply because they last longer)

I have towels for detailing and then have them divided up into different towels. I have towels just for interior work, ones for grunge work (tires, engines, underbody), and ones for paint.

I also use Microfiber towels and have ones just for paint work and ones just for windows. Microfiber towels are awesome for streak free windows!

 

Pain all white towels, 100% will work fine.

The controversey over using any towel that might be slightly abrassive, like using a blue towel and the dye in it might harm the finish, applies more to people that have real expensive paint jobs with 7 clear coats than it does to the average person cleaning the car.

 

The proper toweling most definitely makes a difference if you're looking to keep a perfect swirl/marr-free finish. If you can/want to live with some swirls use whatever towels you want. I can remember the days of using T-shirts and AutoZone rags to buff the cars. This was also way back when I thought Rain Dance was a pretty good wax hehehe. Needless to say, I had a shiny car, but not perfect. As my knowledge and experience grew over time, I "saw the light" and began using high quality cotton mostly. Also, my standards and expectations increased as time passed. Things improved after making that switch, but still not total perfection for me. In the past few years I've used mainly ultra-premium 100% cotton toweling and though that was about as good as it gets. Well, after using premium microfiber presently, I think I can say that I'll likely never use 100% cotton again for waxing or polishing. The MF is so much better than even the best cotton IMO.

So, it depends on what your standards are really. I personally require perfection and absolutely will not tolerate any towels that leave scratches or marring. Yes, even some of the best cotton that I used still left fine scratch lines every now and then that were visible in bright light. I have seen no effects of even the slightest hint of marring from using the highest quality Microfiber. It has met or exceeded my expectations thus far and I will continue to use it as long as it's available. I think I've come a long way since my beginnings in detailing. Just like we start out using pretty crappy waxes in our early years and progress to some of the best available, the same applies to toweling. If you can settle for less, that's your preference.

It's pretty tough trying to keep a daily driver in perfect condtion. The right tools and techniques greatly help towards keeping it in the condition I require. To me, it seems like a natural progression to constantly raise the bar, increase expectations and standards. What I thought worked great a year ago, now pails in comparison. I can only imagine what may come in the future.....

 

Alright, I'm sold.
Thank you all so much for taking the time to explain WHY to me. Much appreciated! Other than Steve being a snotty little bitch in the first post, this thread has been a great help to me. I honestly (clearly) had no clue that I could be doing damage. Might explain why I was so unimpressed every time I wiped off the Z5, eh?

Anyway, I'd like to go ahead and purchase some good quality microfiber towels. Anyone have any links where I can order them online? Thanks!

 

KevinSS, a moderator, sells them.

 

Bought a bunch of the Fieldcrest on vacation in Tenn. a few weeks ago. Got them on sale for $4.25(Fieldcrest outlet mall) each and there is a world of difference in the way the work and feel. Was using the cheap SAM's white towels previously.