Micro Restore Use?

[CharlesW]

A question for those of you that use a designated Microfiber detergent.
Would this product be OK to use on clothing as well as MF towels?
Sometimes I have a few MF towels I would like to wash, but I hate to do a small load.
I almost always have enough other clothing, jeans for instance, to throw in with the MF to make a decent load.
Anyone doing this?
Anyone see any problems with doing this?

Charles
Sure hope it's OK since I have a load of jeans and MF washing with Micro Restore right now.

[cwcad]

The only problem I see is the possibility of contaminating any micro fiber towels with denim. I am sure that the jeans will come out clean.

[Beemerboy]

Charles

I did a big load of MF towels some time back and two older terry towels got put in by mistake...the MFT came out OK but they had some lint attached that I had to figure was from the terry towels....I tend to think that MF attract and cling pretty good so anything that you wash with them is going to let lint go that will be caught in the MFT

[Eliot Ness]

I made the mistake of having a cotton terry towel mixed in with some MF several years ago. I could never pick all of the lint out of what was (at the time) my favorite MF for drying. Once you get lint on a MF it can be very difficult to pick out.

Maybe the jeans won't shed much lint, but I personally wouldn't take the chance.

As far as Micro-Restore goes, although I've never used it for anything other than MF's, I don't see where it would be a problem washing jeans.

[CharlesW]

Well, the load is washed and it doesn't look like the MF's suffered any damage.
I'll know better after they are dried.
Interestingly enough, I have had very little linting problems with my MF towels. Once in awhile a stray thread will show up, but never anything that took more than a few seconds to remove.

Charles

[DFTowel]

Don't waste your $$ on these so called microfiber detergents. All they are is a shop degreaser with a foaming agent added. There is no way a detergent can know what it's cleaning. You'll get better results for 1/4 the cost using a good liquid detergent like All or Era and hot water.

[CharlesW]

Originally Posted by DFTowel

Don't waste your $$ on these so called microfiber detergents. All they are is a shop degreaser with a foaming agent added. There is no way a detergent can know what it's cleaning. You'll get better results for 1/4 the cost using a good liquid detergent like All or Era and hot water.

That's probably good advice, but I still want to at least try the Micro Restore.
I have used All quite a bit since it is a product that my wife uses a lot.
I have no real complaints with it, but unless I pre-soak my MF towels they aren't totally clean after washing.
I do use hot water with both the All and the Micro Restore.
As far as cost, the difference doesn't appear to be a bank buster.
All at $4 a bottle, 13 loads per the ad = .31 per load
MR at $20.66 a gallon, 64 loads = .32 per load
Seems like it might be worth trying.
Lots of people recommend against the specialty detergents, lots of people are in favor of using them.
Like many things, lots of opinions.
FWIW the towels came out of the dryer lint free and clean. These were not pre-soaked, but they really weren't very dirty to start with. They had been used with S&W on the Montana which only had a day's worth of road dust on it.

Charles

[black bart]

For badly soiled MF towels I soak them in Simple Green or Purple Power and then wash with liquid tide.
A good APC sells for about 6 bucks a gallon and it will do what the high priced micro-restore will do.

[CharlesW]

Originally Posted by black bart

For badly soiled MF towels I soak them in Simple Green or Purple Power and then wash with liquid tide.
A good APC sells for about 6 bucks a gallon and it will do what the high priced micro-restore will do.

I don't know anything about how Simple Green or Purple Power work with MF towels, but I have read quite a few negative comments about their harsh, possibly corrosive, cleaning characteristics. I used Simple Green at a 50:50 dilution once on an engine with less than great results. Never again.
The APC's I use are costing me a lot more than $6 per gallon. Meg's is about $15 a gallon and Amazing Roll-Off is $25.
Do you really feel you are doing the cleanup any cheaper when you figure in the cost of some APC and the cost of the Tide?
Isn't Tide about $5 to $6 for a 50 oz. bottle?
At 4 oz. per load, that's going to be at least 40 cents worth of Tide at the $5 price. Plus the cost of your APC.
Micro Restore at $20.66 for 128 oz. and 2 oz. per load will be about 32 cents a load.
Everyone talks about how expensive the microfiber products are, but I must be missing something.
Even the cheaper brands of liquid detergents aren't all that much less.
Not having to mess around with a pre-soak or cleaning would be worth something to me.
It remains to be seen just how good the Micro Restore will clean without a pre-soak, but I'll know in a month.

Charles

[Big Leegr]

So, any definitive results yet sir?

[CharlesW]

Originally Posted by Big Leegr

So, any definitive results yet sir?

Not really, but.....
I no longer pre-soak my towels.
I am using the Micro-Restore at the recommended strength in hot water. I then do a second rinse with vinegar added.
I don't do large loads, but I do use the "large load" amount of water.
To me, they appear cleaner than when using laundry detergent. Logical to happen since that's what I want to see.
I have experimented a little with a mix of laundry detergent and the Micro-Restore and the regular amount of detergent plus an ounce or two of the Micro-Restore seemed to be a good mix. I probably should leave the formulations to the chemists.
FWIW, I did order a gallon of the Micro Restore in addition to the quart I originally purchased.

Should you try it?
Hard to say.
It might not be worth the money, but for less than $15 you could see for yourself.
It may not be any better than what you are now using, but it wouldn't be a total loss since it will do a good job of cleaning. If you don't think it was worth the cost, don't buy any more.

[Stephan]

I use Micro restore, or I have the last few times I have needed to clean them. I find it does a good job cleaning. I don't presoak my towels, only the pads...

I have mixed the regular laundry detergent with the micro restore, it didn't have any ill effects, but I couldn't tell if they were any cleaner.

I tend to use products dedicated or meant for a particular process...you know like washing my car with dawn, or using acid on my rims...

[CharlesW]

Originally Posted by CharlesW

Should you try it?
Hard to say.
It might not be worth the money, but for less than $15 you could see for yourself.
It may not be any better than what you are now using, but it wouldn't be a total loss since it will do a good job of cleaning. If you don't think it was worth the cost, don't buy any more.

The DC Store has the Micro Restore for $12.95 right now. With the 10% "detailcity" discount code, the price is only $11.66.