Is it right when they say men (and ladies) love cars because they’re right at the top of the status symbol checklist? Hold that thought for a second. Because one thing that will tarnish the image you now have in your mind is a filthy, dirty car.
So you must take special care of it. Not just for some imaginary checklist either, but because it makes financial sense to keep your car in pristine condition.
And while you can use any old cloth or towel, is that the kind of material you want to use on your shiny, expensive paintwork? We didn’t think so.
So what is the best cloth for waxing a car?
There’s no point in buying expensive wash and wax products if you’re going to use a cheap towel your wife threw out to dry your car and risk scratching the bodywork. But you can prevent all this by using microfiber cloths for cars.
Below we’ve listed our choice of best microfiber cloths for auto detailing. Be it for washing, polishing, waxing on and off; this list will help you find the one and more perfect for your use.
Best Cloth For Waxing A Car
If you’re looking for a smooth and even wax application for your car’s paintwork, these are what you need. They’re perfect for spreading the wax around nice and evenly.
The pad size fits well in hand and applies without leaving behind any scratch marks. Using an applicator like this also reduces the amount of wax you need to use.
Don’t let them stand around with dried wax on them; wash out immediately. The wax applicator pads will easily last for a few waxings.
Suitable for both natural and synthetic waxes.
Overview Of The Main Features
- Excellent price point.
- Includes six 5-inch diameter microfiber wax applicator pads.
- Machine washable and reusable.
- Five-inch diameter.
- Microfiber covered foam design.
- Lint-free, clear-coat safe.
The Hotor thick microfiber is the best automotive polishing cloth at this price. It’s essential to understand the distinction between waxing and polishing. These days both terms are interchangeable.
But this shouldn’t be the case because they are not the same, confusing car owners. They each perform a different task on your car’s bodywork.
Wax leaves a layer of protecting material on your car. It helps your vehicle’s paint look good and protects it from the environment. Most quality car waxes will protect your car’s paint from UV rays.
Many people see polish as another word for wax. But it performs the opposite function of wax. Polish is abrasive and removes the top layers of protection on your vehicle. It won’t damage your car’s paintwork because it’s extremely fine. Newer polishes contrive to make abrasives smaller as you work, making the abrasive even finer.
Overview Of The Main Features
- The price is for a six-pack of 16-inch x 16-inch with three different colors.
- Top-quality microfiber.
- Will not scratch a vehicle’s paintwork.
- Highly absorbent.
- Ultra-thick microfiber.
- Durable & Non-Scratching.
- Washable and reusable.
The Kirkland Signature microfiber towels are fantastic value. You get a pack of 36 microfiber cloths that will last you for a very long time, for the price. Plus, the quality is also exceptional.
Each microfiber towel is made from 80 percent polyester and 20 percent polyamide and is 16′ by 16,” which is a pretty good size. The density of the high-quality microfiber is 365 gsm per towel.
The towels are machine washable and reusable; wash before use for best results.
They are an excellent microfiber cloth for auto-detailing but are equally useful on the interior of your vehicle. Being a medium-level thickness and not over plush, it makes a helpful auto polishing cloth.
Overview Of The Main Features
- Excellent value for the price point.
- Medium thickness.
- Suitable for auto-detailing.
- Highly absorbent.
- Will not scratch the paintwork, however not advisable to use on a dry, dirty surface.
- Usable on all surfaces, paintwork, windows, mirrors, and chrome.
The towels are plush double-sided microfiber. Each towel is 16″ by 24″ and highly absorbent.
The microfiber towels are usable on paintwork, glass, chrome, and vehicle interiors. If you’re looking for a real multipurpose cloth for all-around auto detailing, this is the right choice.
Being absorbent towels, they work very well for drying your vehicle after a wash—Will dry mirror and windows without smearing. Unlike many towels, you can use these with chemicals.
Meguiar’s X2020 comes in a pack of three, and you might find you’ll need all three towels to finish detailing and hope for a streak-free finish.
Meguiar’s microfiber towels are very well-made and affordable; they are reusable and can be machine washed numerous times.
Using all three towels in the pack means you probably need to work hard to detail your car how you want, but they still represent excellent value.
Overview Of The Main Features
- Plush double-sided design.
- Suitable for use with chemical products.
- Highly absorbent microfiber.
- Using more than one towel will eliminate all streaks.
- Affordable pricing.
- Will work on all surfaces, paintwork, glass, mirrors, and car interiors.
Buff Pro towels are a great range of microfiber towels for cars. Capable of washing, buffing, polishing, and even scrubbing. Incredibly thick and highly absorbent, decently sized at 16 inches by 16 inches. But still, an adequate size to get into small spaces inside the car, where very plush towels can’t reach.
Utilizing intra-weave technology means the looped terry microfiber can lift and hold dust and grime. And with 13 stitches per inch of overlock stitching, the edges will not unravel.
Buff towels are a polyester blend, with 100% split microfiber fibers and a 325 GSM.
Buff claims their microfiber towels are thicker, softer, and more absorbent than similarly priced fabrics. They also maintain their towels are still useful after 500 launderings.
We’ve classified them as multipurpose because they work equally as well on paintwork, windows, mirrors, all types of vinyl, and plastics.
Make sure to order your towels with detachable tags.
Overview Of The Main Features
- 100% micro-fiber, 80% polyester, 20% polyamide.
- No lint & residue left behind when cleaning.
- The towels are thick and have a four-thread overlocked stitched edging.
- The towels are 16 inches by 16 inches.
- They are Made with intra-weave technology.
- 100% split microfiber fibers and a 325 GSM.
- Multipurpose microfiber cloth for cars.
The Chemical Guys car detailing towels are 70/30 mix microfiber, and the edging on each towel is genuine silk.
The car wax towels have the right height and feel very plush. They call them gold color, but it’s a bright yellow and gives a great indication of the amount of dirt caught in the towel.
When you’re detailing your car, you need to have confidence the towels you use are not going to scratch your paintwork. Because of the plushness and silk edging, you don’t need to doubt this towel’s performance. While you can wash the car down and dry with these towels, they are much more useful for final detailing.
The color is an excellent contrast to the grit and grime you’re going to clean off your car, so you always know when it’s time to flip over to the other side of your towels.
Overview Of The Main Features
- High-end plush design.
- Pure silk edging.
- Scratch-resistant.
- High absorbency levels.
- Perfect for the final car detailing.
- Three hundred sixty thousand strands per square inch highly refined loop woven microfiber.
- Wash the towels at 60 degrees Celsius.
- Microscopic fibers allow absorption to 10 times their weight in liquid.
- Lint-free.
The VIKING 912401 Waffle Weave is perfect for drying your car before you put on the wax. At seven square feet, it won’t take long to go around the entire vehicle.
Made from 85% Polyester, 15% Polyamide, the unique capillary action draws liquid faster from the surface, will absorb three times its weight in water, and is far softer and absorbent than cotton. A specific micro-bead action will leave no water spots or streaks when drying your car’s paintwork or windows.
After using machine wash cold, do not use bleach or strong detergents. Hang them to dry or tumble dry on cold. Do not iron.
Overview Of The Main Features
- Massive size. Seven square feet.
- Perfect for drying a vehicle’s paintwork and windows.
- A unique capillary action draws water faster from the surface.
- Absorbs three times its weight in water.
- Eighty-five percent polyester and fifteen percent polyamide.
- Does not leave streaks or watermarks.
This microfiber cloth for cars from MR.SIGA is perfect for getting into all the small spaces and crevices more plush towels can’t reach.
No scratching, smaller size, and high absorbency make them excellent for drying and detailing car windows and mirrors, leaving a streak-free finish.
We don’t consider them ideal for cleaning or detailing the car’s bodywork because of their small size. Made from 85% Polyester and 15% Nylon, they are lint-free and absorbent for their size.
Here are some easy to follow care instructions:
Wash before first use.
Soak them in water before washing.
Use a small amount of mild detergent.
Do not use fabric softener.
Always wash on cold.
Wash on gentle or hand wash cycle
Dry with low heat, or no heat, Drying microfiber on high heat ruins them.
Don’t use dryer sheets.
If you care for them in the above manner, they are reusable and will last for years. The reinforced, high-quality edge stitching will not unravel.
Overview Of The Main Features
- Absorbent and lint-free.
- They are made of 85% Polyester, 15% Nylon.
- Perfect for detailing car windows and mirrors.
- Scratch-free.
- Ultra-soft.
- Size 12.6 inches x 12.6 inches.
- Easy-wash and reusable.
- Choice of Colors.
If you prefer to use a buffer rather than wax and polish by hand, then these 9 to 10-inch buffer bonnets from IOSUA are perfect for your needs. They are not expensive, and the pack comes with a nine-piece car wax kit, including a varied collection of coral fleece, woolen, and microfiber bonnets.
You are combining all three materials to clean, polish, wax, and buff your car paintwork and chrome.
Lint-free microfiber with soft fleece material is safe to use on your car’s paintwork. No cloth fibers will stick to your vehicle after you have just given her a good clean. Extra strong elastic will hold the bonnets firmly in place on your polisher.
Use the coarser material bonnet for polishing and switch to the softer bonnets when you wax and buff.
After use, wash out with mild detergent, and air dry is best. That will keep the elastic in better shape than tumble drying.
Overview Of The Main Features
- Great price point.
- Nine pieces. Two pieces of coral fleece, three pieces of woolen, and four pieces of microfiber.
- They are elasticated to fit snugly on the polisher.
- Washable and reusable.
- Will be able to polish, wax and buff your vehicle with one set.
- Lint-free microfiber.
Our all-round top choice for best cloth for waxing a car goes to The Rag Company – Dry Me A River. At over 400,000 fibers per square inch, they are, in our opinion, the best microfiber cloth for auto detailing.
The AA-grade split microfiber is super plush and 100% South Korean. Many claim they are the highest quality microfiber available on the planet. This premium-blend of 70/30 (400 GSM) microfiber has soft silky satin edging and is 100% paint-safe.
The Rag Company microfiber cloth is undoubtedly the best choice for drying your vehicles speedily and safely, capable of holding up to ten times its weight in water.
These microfiber cloths are not just good to look at and use. They are highly durable and can be machine washed hundreds of times. Making them even better value for money. The manufacturers claim they get softer with each wash.
Overview Of The Main Features
- Four hundred thousand fibers per square inch.
- Premium blend 70/30 microfiber.
- Four hundred GSM.
- Super Plush.
- 100% South Korean.
- Satin edging.
How To Wax A Car
Remove Dirt And Grime
The first step is to wash your vehicle thoroughly with a specialist shampoo. Get rid of all the dirt and grime from paintwork, windows, and wheels. Use plenty of clean water to rinse down, making sure to remove any trace of soap suds.
Use your microfiber drying towel to wipe down everywhere and dry properly.
Deal With Any Bodywork Defects
Polish Your Car
To deal with any paintwork defects, you’re going to need to polish the vehicle. If you apply polish carefully, it should remove any previous layers of wax, grease, and grime to reach the paint that doesn’t have any damage.
Remove Imperfections
If you look in the sunlight, you’ll be able to see any imperfections in your paintwork. We’re talking about swirls and light scratches. For this, you’ll need a more abrasive product. A product specifically designed to repair and renew paintwork. Paint renewal polish that includes protective resins to fix damage leaving behind a barrier for a long-lasting restoration.
Benefits Of Waxing A Car
After dealing with the defects and revealing the unprotected paintwork, you need to apply wax to protect it.
When you wax, correctly you have now created a protective layer over your car’s bodywork. Mainly since you have dealt with the swirls and small scratches after waxing, your bodywork will gleam like a new car.
You will also have reduced the need to keep polishing.
Where Should You Wax Your Car?
Don’t attempt to wax your vehicle when it’s hot, in direct sunlight or when it’s freezing. Waxing in the sun or when it’s scorching will dry and harden the wax much too quickly, making your job harder than it needs to be.
Wax your car in the shade, or if not possible, in your garage. The same if it’s icy, try to park and wax in the garage.
Different Types Of Wax
There are different types of wax, as you would expect. The three most popular are sprays, pastes, and liquids.
Spray Wax: The quickest of all three to apply. Shake the bottle well before use.
Paste Wax: This is more challenging to apply to your vehicle and will take more time, but the results will be longer-lasting.
Liquid Wax: Comes in-between the other two. There will be less effort than paste wax but better results than spray wax. So it depends on what you’re aiming for and the time you have available.
Using Spray Wax
Step 1. Spray directly on the surface of your vehicle, one section at a time.
Step 2. Using a damp microfiber towel, rub in the wax. Be careful to work it in thoroughly, taking your time with each section.
Step 3. Flip over the microfiber towel using the other side to buff off.
Step 4. Repeat if necessary.
Apply Liquid And Paste Wax By Hand
It will take you longer with paste and wax, but you will appreciate the results.
Step 1. To apply paste and liquid, you can use a damp foam applicator or a microfiber towel specifically for waxing. Whichever you use, apply a small amount, and apply in a circular motion.
Step 2. If you need to apply more, repeat in precisely the same way.
Step 3. Using a clean plush microfiber towel, wipe off and buff. Checking your work from different angles will ensure you remove all the wax.
It’s best not to wax too far ahead of yourself. Move panel by panel, keeping each area small. When you get to the hood, divide it into two and wax each half separately.
If you find it’s not buffing up as much as you’d like, switch to a new microfiber towel. A fresh towel will always help. If any wax gets into the metal seams, an old toothbrush will gently brush the wax out.
In Conclusion
This article should have given you some excellent insights into the best cloth for waxing a car. It covers all the various other stages of cleaning a vehicle using the best microfiber cloth for each.
Microfiber cloths for cars are not expensive, even the high-end plush ones, once you factor that they are reusable and are washable.
When you buy, the price is generally between three and a dozen towels. Another thing to consider is higher pricing doesn’t always mean better quality microfiber.
The best microfiber cloths for cars, drying, waxing, and polishing, will offer super absorbency, no scratch, and incredible softness.