The time when Aldi is giving SCA, Repco, Autobarn a run for their money.
As always, Aldi have been a champion in putting out good-enough quality items at highly competitive prices.
If you haven't been cleaning with microfibre clothes, at 34cents a piece, thou should be.
Note: some OzB users have mentioned that this microfibre by Aldi, in terms of quality, should be better than Morgan's offered by Bunnings.
Wow I'm glad I don't suffer from that.
i had these in a smaller pack, in my opinion it's not really microfibre compare to costco one
Although Costco ones cost a bit more (36pk for $20, 55c per towel vs 34c at Aldi), agree that their quality is very high for the price, good enough for car detailing let alone general purpose cleaning. Haven't tried the Aldi ones though.
Since they are re-usable and last a long time in my experience, it's worth paying a bit more for the quality since one pack will go a long way for most.
Kirkland microfibre from Costco should only be used on engine bays and door jambs. I used it on soft paint and it scratched it.
Which car specifically? Surprised to hear this, the Americans love these and I've used them when paint correcting several Mazda's with decent results, though I make a point to always use a towel fresh from the packet and change frequently when doing so. YMMV then.
Anyway don't need to go down the detailing rabbit hole in this post, the point I'm making is that the Costco ones are good quality compared to other 'bulk' packs.
@Soothsayer: While highly discussed on detailing forums Eg Autogeek Autopia. The overall opinion is Kirkland towels aren't paint safe. Handy towels but should be avoided on clearcoat. Particularly softer clearcoat. I use lots of these Kirkland towels. From the car to the home Cross stitch, Terry weave, low pile, low GSM and stiffening are just some of the reasons I look at other options when it comes to paint towels
@SummerZero: The Rag Company (TRC) Eagle Edgeless
Origin - premium Southern Korean microfibre. Not a cheaper, inferior Chinese towel or yarn. TRC own their own manufacture warehouses. That is, they control the product from start to finish
Size - 40x 40cm the best multi use size. I fold it in 1/4 for spray waxes or use 2 to dry a car
Weave - super soft and plush split microfibre. Dirt has room to escape into the fibres. Terry weaves is not a good option on paint.
Border - borders increase the risk of marring. Microfibre and silk edging are better that budget overclock stitching. However no edge is best. Chinese edgeless is improving but still a long way to go
GSM - around 400-500 is perfect weight for me. Too low and the towel is not plush enough to be safe. Too high, try wringing or drying that bad boy out. GSM can't be considered in isolation. Weave + GSM need to be considered together
Blend - 70% Polyester / 30% Polyamide. Most are 80/20 or even stiffer blends. You want a 70 or even 75 blend. The lower the first number, the better quality the towel is. Polyester is part that makes the towel soft and absorbent. Polyamide is like a plastic. Makes the towel stiffer. Better for cleaning, useless for drying
Production - made using the highest quality German Karl Mayer textile equipment.
Marketing - they list the specs of their towels
Tags - need to be ripped off at the risk of damaging the towel or left on at the risk of marring the paint
Price - may look unattractive but will work out cheaper in the long run.
Nv Car care is a good Australia owned option. Owned and distributed by Waxit. They also sell some great CarPro towels. Nv and CarPro are among some of my favourite options
I'm sure Bowden sell some great towels too but I can't provide feedback
And for the true Ozbargainer. While they are Chinese check out Lucullan on alixpress.
@Soothsayer: I should mention if it's working for you then keep at it. I have myself used the Kirkland towels to apply spray waxes when fresh. Most of us aren't dealing with show cars and as you discussed it's a rabbit hole
Haven't seen these around for awhile
Pack of 50?!
Are these meant to be disposable?
Why would I ever need 50 cleaning clothes?
Toilet Paper replacement.
Probably better for the environment but disgusting af.
microfibre is made from plastic
@Vession: Well the idea is a mountain of toilet paper and its packaging or a bucket full of plastic over the lifetime of toilet usage.
Which would you pick?
No idea how biodegradable toilet roll packaging is or if toilet paper is biodegradable etc and the empty cardboard toilet rolls too.
Or a large bucket full of nasty microfibre cloths.
You obviously haven't tried
That's an excellent question
I have lots of these, sometimes years old, and they are still good
It's Aldi, throwaway culture, use em and throw em
As a cleaner even 50 is a lot but it always helps to have reserves when cleaning rather than run out but as a normal person I guess they expect you to share with friends and family maybe lol I don't know.
Should not need any more after one purchase unless you a business of some sort.
It's part of their bulk special buys after all. Even "good" ones need replacing even eventually.
The main worry is that they really are rubbish quality and you have to use them as if they were disposable anyway!
If you do use them for the car, which I'm not sure they're suitable for, then you do need to wash them after every single use. And in order to maintain the softness, you have to wash them with different wash than what you'd generally use for your clothes. So you'd probably be best off having a lot of them so that you can pile up dirty ones and then do a small washing machine load to wash them all separately. If you're just wiping up spills in the kitchen then you could just chuck them in with the regular wash. You would still probably want to buy 20 though, depending on how much mess you clean up and how often you do laundry etc. Always better to have more than less, especially if you get a bulk discount. But yeah 50 might be excessive for many. You could keep some in the garage, some in the laundry, some in the kitchen, some outside for cleaning furniture etc out there.
that is how i use mine. Keep them in the kitchen for a while and then after a week or so chuck them in the laundry. when I have a decent amount stacked up I will do a seperate wash with the bowden's own microfibre cleaner.
I also use microfibre for cleaning bathrooms and general household cleaning, some for car, computer stuff etc. They all get washed together. I have a pack of these and they feel thicker and a bit nicer after a few uses compared to the bunnings multicoloured packs they sell. they can sometimes get a bit 'worn' and thinner after a while where i would only use them for messy type cleaning such as vacuum cleaner bits or outside in the garden/patio areas for dusting, cleaning the oven also. then when they are too thin / lose their plushness chuck them and get a new one out to add in to the rotation.
that is how i use mine. Keep them in the kitchen for a while and then after a week or so chuck them in the laundry. when I have a decent amount stacked up I will do a seperate wash with the bowden's own microfibre cleaner.
It’s like you’re in my own head…
They are pretty small and thin sized, so be warned…you could almost shove them in a tissue box and use them as such.
But they certainly can clean around the house for glass, mirrors and countertops…
Are these good to use on cars or not recommended?
I have cloths like this for cleaning the interior of my home, or for cleaning the internal plastics etc of the car or anything that isn't a painted surface.
I would in no way dare use these for the exterior of my car for polishing etc
Cheers
good enough to clean oil but not for detailing
Aldi should have "good enough quality" as their slogan.
What's the dimensions. Damn hard to read on the aldi page.
Looks like 30x30 or 30x20. I'm guessing cm. Decent size if cm, if it is mm then it's glorified toilet paper
A little small. Explains the price though.
SCA and repco etc maxi packs are larger cloths. So perhaps a same $/m2 rate but more exxy per unit.
Thanks for the size info.
I have these and they're very good. They work really well and last for ages.
Unfortunately, they're made in China so I can no longer buy them.
Microfibre towels specifically or anything from china?
He is brainwashed by the media to think "China man bad"
Nope
China man (your words turbo) good.
CCP and their surrogate companies bad.
I am making a big effort to not buy Chinese made products. Not always possible but where there is an alternative, I do.
I will buy them from Australia, Israel or Switzerland when they make them this cheap too.
Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh etc works for me
So your moral isn't aligned to the fact people are being exploited to keep prices low, it's just anti China.
@Circly: My message was posted before his clarification on the CCP, but he should have made the clear distinction to begin with.
Lots of Chinese owned companies do have presences in Vietnam, Cambodia, South East Asia, etc.
We can't be too careful these days.
I am representing countries that represent "quality", and sometimes quality plastic products at Aldi are actually made in Switzerland or Israel.
(At least they have been recently).
I am all for quality plastic products that are durable and less disposible.
These products may well be better designed and solve normal product weaknesses.
[I hope my neggers above can understand this part].
Can we neg deals based on bad for the environment? Why don't they make these towels out of a biodegradable fibre?
These cloths can mean a lot less chemical use or even just plain water for cleaning and is enviromentally friendly. They can also be used over and over many times.
I'm not anti cloths, I'm just wondering if every time you wring one of these out, does it mean a turle dying somewhere? Why not just make them out of something else?
I think the "nanoplastic" lint created by these when they go through a wash is measurable, but so is the impact of felling trees to make paper towel.
As far as I understand, the whole 'microfibre' material needs to be made out of plastic, otherwise it's a completely different fabric with different properties.
May not kill a turtle on every wash but probably some micro plastic get into someone's stomach after eating animals from the sea or river.
Why can't we have microfiber made from organic material?
Fret not Jackson, and neg not, soon you'll be able to pour your whiskey out of a paper bottle, pop your Carlsberg out of a paper can, etc.
Does anyone know if you can buy microfibre in a roll? Like you can buy rolls of fabric at Spotlight?
Only if you want to knit a jumper from soft yarn. You can buy better quality but reasonably price cloths with better pile and GSM in bulk on AliExpress if that's what you're after.
Run for their money? Maybe. Blown out of the water? Nahh. On sale, sca’s buffing / glass microfibres are superior, larger and work out just as economical. Possibly due to polyamide count. And I was one who stocked up on multiple of Aldi’s last microfibre deals (I think it was either a 10 or 12 pack?)
Sure, but I don't think I've seen these autoshops offering microfibres at that kind of price range.
Oh well, to each their own… perhaps the placebo (polyamide not) effect makes the buffing shinier…
Tempting.
I bought a big pack from kmart and they are so bad. They seem like normal cloths not microfibre so I'm pretty hesitant to use them on the car.