These Are the Best Microfiber Car Clothes to Wash and Detail Your Ride

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When it comes to automotive cleaning and detailing, microfiber cloths are one of the most useful accessories to keep around. Microfiber is a synthetic composition that’s both softer and less likely to leave lint than natural fibers like cotton and paper. The rougher fibers of cotton cloths can potentially leave micro-scratches in a vehicle’s clear coat, but high-pile microfiber won’t. Microfiber cloths are also a handy solution for people who tend to have allergic reactions to natural fabric products.

When it comes to detailing, microfiber is very absorbent to water, which makes it especially useful for achieving that shiny, look when towel-drying after a wash. More rigid varieties of microfiber work well for applying polish, washing glass, and dusting off interior surfaces.

We’ve rounded up some of the best microfiber car cloths on the market, so read on for our top recommendations, plus a rundown on what to consider before shopping.

For more choices on auto detailing products, check out our pieces on Car Covers, Automotive Scratch Removers, and Interior Carpet Cleaners.

The Best Microfiber Car Cloths

• Best Overall: Adam's Polishes Ultra-Plush Car Drying Towel

• Best Budget: Meguiar's Water Magnet Microfiber Car Cleaning Cloth

• Best Two-Sided: Maxshine Yellow Edgeless Microfiber Car Towels (5-Pack)

• Best for Glass: E-Cloth Glass Polisher for Cleaning Cars

• Best Extra Plush: Chemical Guys Wooly Mammoth Microfiber Car Cloth

What to Consider

Pile Height

Pile height measures how tall, so to speak, the fibers are—longer piles are softer and shorter piles are more rigid. For drying exteriors, use the softest possible option, but for polishing paint or cleaning hard plastics and glass, you can use lower pile fabrics. Generally speaking, very low-pile microfiber is a bit more expensive.

The softest microfiber products can also be more likely to leave lint, but a quick run through the washing machine can help catch any lint shed before the cloth touches your vehicle.

Texture

Texture varieties include waffle and suede. Waffle microfiber provides higher absorbency, while suede ensures uniform softness across the cloth (think of the microfiber that comes with camera gear or eyeglasses). The waffle pattern is mostly useful for drying, and coarser suede is for cleaning and polishing.

Material

Microfiber is usually about 80 percent polyester and 20 percent polyamide. The polyester gives the material its trademark softness and the polyamide lends absorbency. We find that premium towels tend to contain a little bit higher concentration of polyamide compared to budget brands. Higher amounts of polyamide may also help the cloth hold more water and dry a car faster.

Size

Microfiber car cloths come in a range of sizes, from just a few inches wide to multiple feet. It’s most useful to pick a size that matches your work so you can maneuver it easily—for instance, detailing work might warrant a very small square of microfiber, whereas polishing a car requires a bigger fabric. A large cloth can also come in handy for drying the large surface area of a vehicle quickly. Most microfiber cloths are machine-washable and can be reused dozens of times.

How We Selected

As an automotive writer, I’ve spent over six years reviewing cars and automotive products, including detailing products like microfiber cloths. I also regularly use microfiber cloths like these in personal auto detailing projects. In looking at options for this story, we considered pile height, material composition, texture, and size, among other factors, and chose the best microfiber car clothes across categories such as best overall and best budget.

Ultra-Plush Car Drying Towel

This cloth provides good coverage at 29 by 36 inches, and gets top marks in both softness and absorption. It scoops up water droplets with very little effort on the user’s part, and can dry an entire midsize vehicle in one pass.

One side of the product has soft, long-pile microfiber, while the other is an absorbent polyamide material. This helps ensure a high rate of water intake, but it also means one side of the cloth is much coarser than the other. It’s best to make sure the long-pile microfiber side is the one coming in contact with paint at any given time.

Water Magnet Microfiber Car Cleaning Cloth

As the name implies, this cloth was made with drying in mind, covering a large 22-by-30-inch area at once. It also comes with a waffle pattern for maximum absorbency. The Meguiar’s microfiber cloth is available in a single-pack, or in multi-packs for bigger detailing jobs. The bright yellow color also makes it easier to find inside a dark vehicle interior.

Although it provides good coverage at a low price, this cloth may not be as soft as some of the more expensive options. Still, this is a very handy product to keep in your car for quick dusting and emergency clean-ups on the go.

Yellow Edgeless Microfiber Car Towels (5-Pack)

This five-pack of 16-by-24-inch cloths all have a thick, suede texture that cleans up interiors beautifully. Each fabric sheet is actually two-sided, with a long-pile gentle side and a more abrasive short-pile side. They’re good for washing, waxing, and drying without leaving much lint.

During the washing process, the deep fibers help grab dirt and lift it safely away from paint without scratching, and the material is 80 percent polyester. The relatively small size of the cloth may mean you’ll have to wring it out several times while drying, and it may take longer than some ultra-absorbent fabrics.

Overall, with two uses and five cloths included, this is a solid multipurpose kit.

Glass Polisher for Cleaning Cars

Unlike most microfiber cloths, this set of two, four, or eight cloths features a rough, rigid surface with extremely short pile height—perfect for scrubbing the grime off of windshields, mirrors, and chrome surfaces. (Keep these away from paint as they’re liable to leave tiny scratches in a sensitive clear coat.)

The cloths are 20 by 16 inches apiece and 80 percent polyester. The manufacturer also guarantees the product lasts at least three years, or about 300 washes. These are the clothes you need if you spend a lot of time detailing your car, especially since you can grab them in an eight-pack.

Wooly Mammoth Microfiber Car Cloth

This drying towel with a cutesy name almost looks closer to a throw rug than a simple hand cloth. The Wooly Mammoth cleaning cloth features a massive 25-by-36 inches of coverage with nearly half an inch of thickness for soaking up as much water as possible.

The fibers come in a long-pile suede, with 30 percent polyamide content for added absorption. The large size, however, can come at a disadvantage when the cloth fills up with water, becoming awkwardly heavy for some users. You’ll also want to run it through the wash once before use to strip it of potential lint.

Microfiber Car Cloths

This kit is the best pick for people who work on cars, whether that’s in a body shop or at a car wash. With a dozen bright blue cloths at 16 by 24 inches each, this pack is a terrific value. The suede-like pile height is relatively short, so they’re more suited to scrubbing than fine detail work, but these do just fine drying off paint, mirrors, and windshields.

The microfiber composition is 80 percent polyester and leaves minimal lint. Black satin stitching around the border ensures the cloth retains its shape across many uses and washes, which is a nice touch for anyone who uses microfiber cloths all day.

Anti-Bacterial Treated Microfiber Wipes (Six-Pack)

This set of six microfiber car cloths is treated with microban, which can kill bacteria on contact without the need for additional cleaning solutions. This chemical treatment makes them perfect for regular cleaning of touch-points inside the vehicle interior, especially if messy kids are involved. They work well for use inside the house, too. They can be used for scrubbing dry, or with water for added solvency.

The pile height of this microfiber is longer than some other scrubbing cloths, but shorter than some dedicated drying towels. Overall, they are a happy medium of softness, scrubbing power, and absorbency. The manufacturer also states they last for up to 300 machine washes before needing replacement.

Microfiber Car Cloths 6-Pack

This cloth’s small, 14-by-16-inch size makes it perfect for stowing a few in the car for periodic dusting, or to mop up emergency spills. With twelve of them in the box, you can easily outfit your household’s cars with one pack of these microfiber cloths.

These are best saved for the interior, however, because the coarse short-pile pattern isn’t good on paint. The material makeup is more washcloth than drying towel with a very high polyester content—87 percent versus only 13 percent polyamide—so it’s less absorbent than its competitors.

That said, it’s a nice tool for picking up dust, wiping away stains, and generally keeping your dash looking good.

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