How many towels do you use? Normal drying, and for DIY ceramic?

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Over winter I have time here to somewhat refresh stuff for my wash routine. Also planning to DIY ceramic coat this summer as well.

1) When you wash, then dry, how many towels do you use? I typically use two big ones. One for a sort of course drying, then one to be sure I don't leave streaks. Various microfibers (3 or 4) get the job for door jambs, extra work on the windows, things like that. I'd guess this isn't too unusual?

2) For folks that have done ceramic coatings themselves - I've been watching the Adam's videos, and notice they use a suede-like microfiber first, then a big fluffy towel next. What I haven't seen is how many they use and I'm wondering what people here go through for a ceramic application? Is it like 1 of each of those towels (suede and fluffy), or more like 2, 4, 6 or so of each of those? When I do the job it would be nice to have a benchmark. I'm thinking these towels will end up thrown away afterwards, having become somewhat stiff and such with cured ceramic.

3) If you do any ceramic touching up, the lower % stuff in a spray bottle, do you like 1 or 2 towels for the whole car, or something different? Seems like this would pick up a lot less ceramic and the job would be done a lot faster.

[Our03z4]

I made a setup with a 35 gallon tuffy garbage can and a saltwater aquarium water DI/RO filtration. I just rinse the car with that water when done and literally don't have to use any towels now. I had my Z4 coated and it did make a decent difference in number of towels but still needed 2 big thirsty towels. When I got my A8 I went the RO route. It's nice because less contact with the paint the better.

[Our03z4]

Oh and after having two cars professionally done I wouldn't do it again. It makes a difference but not worth the money IMO. I just use Turtle Wax Black Ice, stuff is great. Having the windshield done was worth the money, basically didn't need windshield wipers, was odd lol.

[FrankMstein]

I use a leaf blower, not towels. Towels leave water in crevices and it ruins the application when it runs off.

[pikkagtr]

Originally Posted by FrankMstein

I use a leaf blower, not towels. Towels leave water in crevices and it ruins the application when it runs off.

There's always still some residual even with a blower and ceramic coat
It depends on the panel shape and vents etc
I typically use just one drying towel for finishing touches near the fenders and side skirts
But having a water filter makes the process less painful as if you forget or miss some spots , it will dry clear

[icj_45e]

1) I blow dry with leaf blower. Using a drying aid (Merlin's magic mix using CarPro products), I lightly spray and use one big twisted loop MF towel for primary drying purposes. I use 1 or 2 smaller mf towels with a non-Si02 based quick detailer for the door jambs and any other spots that are still wet.

2) When I recently ceramic coated my wifes car w/ Gyeon mohs evo, I used a short nap MF towel for initial wipe-off and a long nap MF towel for the final buff. Most videos I watched on youtube recommended that procedure. I'd have a 5-pack of each ready to go before you apply. You may not need them all... When done with a towel, throw it into a 5-gallon bucket with water and APC solution. Than wash with a MF specific detergent and you should be able to re-use the towels.

3) 1 to 2 sounds about right, depending on size of car, what spray you are using, etc. I perform these "touch-ups" via drying aid sprays

[TboneS54]

1. Blow dry 95% of the water away
2. Spritz a 70/30 pearl weave MF towel (very short nap) with sio2 detailer/WW, and dab/blot remaining water drops around the car.
3. Place magnetic MF strips along bottom of doors to catch the drips that run over the rockers; remove about an hour later.

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Originally Posted by icj_45e

2) When I recently ceramic coated my wifes car w/ Gyeon mohs evo, I used a short nap MF towel for initial wipe-off and a long nap MF towel for the final buff. Most videos I watched on youtube recommended that procedure. I'd have a 5-pack of each ready to go before you apply. You may not need them all... When done with a towel, throw it into a 5-gallon bucket with water and APC solution. Than wash with a MF specific detergent and you should be able to re-use the towels.

That helps a lot, thanks.

I was picturing 2 or 3 of each with lots of folding over and such. Having more ready is a great idea just in case. I could see getting confuse don WTH side of a towel I already used and then just ditching it for a new one.

Checked the bucket thing out, good idea to have it with water and APC or similar in it. Towels won't hardly have a chance to dry out / cure before the cleaning process begins. I won't throw the applicator in it of course, in fact I wont' plan to throw the suede-like initial wipe-downs in it either. But the follow-up stuff I'll give it a shot at saving them. I can certainly check after washing how it went, compare them to a new one and ditch them if they hardened up w/ the ceramic.

[FrankMstein]

Originally Posted by pikkagtr

There's always still some residual even with a blower and ceramic coat
It depends on the panel shape and vents etc
I typically use just one drying towel for finishing touches near the fenders and side skirts
But having a water filter makes the process less painful as if you forget or miss some spots , it will dry clear

Obviously. I have used my air compressor especially on emblems and bottom of door weep holes and liftgate/trunk. I can't remember the last time I used a towel.

[P1]

Wash your car, use a shop vac in blower mode with a restrictor on there and blow as much water off your car as possible. Then use your favorite drying towel to dry it.

Once you're ready to throw some quick detailer on there, I can do the whole car using just two microfibers.

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Originally Posted by P1

Once you're ready to throw some quick detailer on there, I can do the whole car using just two microfibers.

Yeah in retrospect the answer is simply to get a bunch of towels and be ready to swap them as needed. I suppose I was mostly interested in the ceramic application but got things sidetracked with the general washing.

I think I can get a good feeling if a towel is getting the coating off, judging how it slides or not across the paint and if it's actually removing it or just smearing it around.

Towels are cheap, I'll get a boat load. Knowing that something like a half dozen for the initial application, and a couple for later less concentrated sprays seems about like what others use and probably what I'd have guessed. But sometimes it's worth asking, you never know if the answer was going to be 1, or 20 for some reason.

[SpaceSilver.X1]

since I bought a blower/dryer a while back, I only needed a couple of big towels. The dryer took care of at least 90% of the water on the car. (MetroVac 8-hp)

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

I use 2 drying towels. I have a big and small drying one but this year I'm going to swap to 2 small ones I think, or maybe 3. It's just more maneuverable. Then I go over with 2-3 towels to buff off the drying aid/topper.

[Duke24]

After I hand wash, I can dry my entire X5 with two large microfiber drying towels. I then use my blow dryer to get water out of the crevices and then touch up with Gyeon ceramic detailer. I used to go straight to the blow dryer after hand washing, but it ends up taking me forever to dry this way from chasing water beads all over the car.