Tire Shine Contaminated Drying Towels

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So I used a drying towel to apply tire shine then washed all of my towels together, some used just to dry, others to wax, and 2 for tire shine. Now they all pretty much repel water even though I have washed them a few times.

Am I out of luck or can anything be done to save them?
 
Originally Posted By: Barnaclebob
So I used a drying towel to apply tire shine then washed all of my towels together, some used just to dry, others to wax, and 2 for tire shine. Now they all pretty much repel water even though I have washed them a few times.

Am I out of luck or can anything be done to save them?

Once silicone gets into things it's tough to get out.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Or buy some replacements and save time and money.

+1. Now make sure you keep two separate piles of towels. The good towels and the not so good towels.
 
Try boiling them on the stove with a bit of vinegar in the pot. Brought a bunch of mine back to life when I was ready to throw them all away. I also soak mine in a bucket with some degreaser before washing them on hot cycle with only microfibers. Then dry on hot cycle no fabric softener sheet.
 
I finally got around to washing some yesterday. Soaked them in a 5 gallon bucket with hot water and about 16oz degreaser for a few hours before wringing them out by hand and rinsing. Then washed them on hot cycle with some oxi clean and detergent with no fragrance or dye. Dry on hot with no fabric sheet or anything. They're looking pretty good again.
 
My first question - Why on earth are you using 'drying towels' for applying tire shine? Drying towels are for drying.

.. unless, as RTexasF pointed out, they get old and grungy, the relegate them to dirty tasks, like tire shine, wheel cleanup, etc..

IMHO - For anyone who wants to seriously approach maintaining their car's appearance, you buy towels for specific tasks, and only use them for those tasks.

- High-quality MF towels for polish removal
- High-quality drying towels to dry the car
- Glass-specific MF towels for cleaning glass
- Decent-quality MF towels for maintaining the interior

When it comes to other stuff, that is more.. grungy.. I tend to buy bulk packs of terry cloth towels, or big packs of the cheaper MF towels (the ones from Sam's Club are great for this).

Also, if any of my nicer towels get to the point where I feel they are no longer suitable for 'finer' use, such as if I feel a high-quality polish removal towel might be at risk of scratching my paint, I relegate it to the lower tasks..

.. Higher-end polish-removal towels get moved to interior or chrome wheel cleanup
.. Interior towels get moved to wheels, doorjambs, etc..

THIS VIDEO HERE is one of the best videos about MF towels, and offers a very good approach to 'rating' your detailing towels, when to stop using them, etc..

... Skip forward to 18:00 in the video to see where he talks about the "rating" system.


Yes, he's really OCD about this sort of thing, but it's his job, and he really knows what he's doing.. and honestly, towels are fairly cheap and paint can get expensive, so I think he's right on point.


--- Bottom line on your towel - If it's a drying towel, but you got tire shine in it, then it's now a 'Tire shine towel.' If it were mine, I would never even think about using it to dry my car any more.
 
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Yeah it was a noob mistake. The contaminated towels are in the rag bag and destined to wipe up grease and oil.

Got new towels and life is good again.
 
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