There are a lot of car drying towels on the market but how can you really tell which one is the bestir drying towel? How can you tell if it is of high quality and will performs extremely well? What will be safe for your vehicle’s paint finish? Here we will go through the key elements that will allow you to quickly identify the best car drying towel for your needs. You will see a specific type and blend of microfiber is the only way to go!
Where The Microfiber Comes From
Where the microfiber comes from is a key element in the quality of any car drying towel. The best microfiber in the world comes from South Korea. Why is that? It comes down to the quality of the raw material, only available in South Korea, the processes they use, and the quality control in place.
The Microfiber Car Drying Towel Blend
The microfiber blend refers to the ratio of Polyester to Polyamide. The Polyester provides the structure to the microfiber car drying towel while the Polyamide has the water absorbing characteristics. What is the typical blend? 80/20 or 70/30. The best microfiber car drying towels use a 70/30 blend because it has highest water absorbing ability. After all, the goal is to wick away water on your vehicle as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Here at Redline Finish our premium microfiber car drying towel The “One” Ultimate Drying Towel uses a 70/30 blend.
Microfiber Grams Per Square Meter (GSM)
The density of the microfiber car drying towel (typically referred to as weight) is measured in Grams Per Square Meter (GSM). Lower GSMs have a lower pile, while a higher GSM has a higher pile and is softer and thicker. The benefit of a higher GSM microfiber drying towel is it will absorb more water when coupled with a high concentration of Polyamide (water absorbing properties). In addition, it has the ability to pull away the dust and other fine particles that may land on the paint surface as you’re drying. These particles get kicked up in the fibers of the towel instead of staying on the surface which can scratch. One other benefit is the higher GSM towels typically last longer.
What GSM is appropriate for drying? A minimum of 480GSM. The higher quality microfiber car drying towels are typically in the 500-plus GSM range. The “One” Ultimate Drying Towel comes in at 550GSM.
Microfiber Car Drying Towel Edging
The edging is usually a quick way to tell if the microfiber car drying towel is of high quality. There are typically three types of edging used: nylon, silk, or microfiber.
- Nylon – By far the cheapest and is a quick identifier in a cheap microfiber car drying towel. It can do the most damage to your paint surface because it can scratch.
- Silk – Middle of the road grade for edging. Yes, silk edging is very soft to the touch so it must be safe on your paint finish, right? Wrong! Truth is, if a piece of dirt or other particle is on your paint surface the silk edging will very softly drag it and likely scratch because silk has no nap to it so it can’t pick it up. In addition, silk does not absorb water, so it will streak.
- Microfiber – This is the cream of the crop because it’s ultra soft, has a little nap to it and can grab and pull up fine dirt or dust particles. No risk of scratching! It also absorbs water which helps with preventing streaking.
The Best Microfiber Cary Drying Towel Performance Is In The Twist
How the microfiber strands are put together is where the magic is when it comes to the best car drying towel. The twist technology used in a high quality microfiber car drying towel wicks away the water quickly and efficiently. Why is this? It has to do with what is known as capillary action which in our case is the ability to pull liquid through the fibers of the towel. This is by far the best of best when it comes to drying quickly and avoiding streaking.
Final Thoughts On Finding the Best Microfiber Car Drying Towel
Why would companies go with low quality combinations of these key elements? It all boils down to per unit cost and their profit margin. Lower cost typically means lower quality. The truth is, the unit cost goes up quite a bit when you combine all the key elements that make up a high quality microfiber car drying towel. Another reason, unfortunately, is some companies selling microfiber car drying towels don’t really understand microfiber and how it works so they just grab something off of a suppliers shelf and put their name on it. Here at Redline Finish our premium microfiber car drying towel The “One” Ultimate Drying Towel focuses on two things, top shelf quality and performance. In the end, our goal is to create an amazing detailing experience for you. We believe that can only happen with products where the quality is top shelf and performance is extremely high. If you would like to learn a little bit about microfiber basics read our article on Understanding Microfiber.
We hope this guide adds value to you and has educated you so you know what to look for the next time you look to purchase a microfiber car drying towel for your vehicle. If you are in the market for the best car drying towel on the market, we believe we have it in The “One” Ultimate Car Drying Towel. We’re confident you won’t be disappointed!
You can check out all of our premium microfiber car detailing products here.
