first time poster.
i paid full price of 42$ a week ago.
I've only heard good things about aussie company Bowden and was recommended this product by others
Not the cheapest it's been but would still vouch for the product and the current price at the moment
I must be doing wrong. I always go through 3 towels to dry 95% of my Prado, else I'll see water marks
me too. I have to use at least 2 to dry most of my small SUV
i put ceramic coating in the car as well, the water beads alright but they don't fall off the surface especially on the bonnet and roof
I tried not use pressure washer, and just plain hose and it didn't make much difference if at all
Those of you with large SUV's struggling to do a whole car without wringing out, I suggest that's due to your paint surface requiring polishing and a good spray ceramic coat applied such as Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions.
With good a good hydrophobic paint finish you'll barely need to dry your car at all.
I can do my X5 no problem
@Homerlovesbeer: Me neither. I can do 90% of my Prado (no ceramics) without saturating the BGS except when it's overdue for a full wash and polish (wax) as you suggested above.Unlike chamois, wringing it out is next to usless unless you plan to mop up with another cloth. I find a damp BGS leaves streaks.
If the water is beading then sheet the water off the car before you start drying it. Sheeting should take most of the water off, even on the roof and bonnet. I can dry my ceramic coated wagon this way and the cloth is barely wet.
They've probably got a smaller hatchback. My second car is an older Focus and it's possible to mostly dry that car with one of these towels.
On a decent-sized sedan, wagon, SUV or 4WD, you need a minimum of two of these towels to dry the car relatively well as they will get completely water-logged. Three is ideal if you want to properly dry the whole car, wheels and all.
I can dry a family size 4 door sedan with 1 towel and 1 side is still not that wet. However I do have ceramic coating and use ceramic spray to top up every 6 months
Lol. Not my experience at all (see above). Then again I would NEVER touch my wheels - or any part of a vehicle which accumulates signifigant dirt - with a BGS. If you must dry typically dirty parts of your ride then there are cheap, use once or twice cloths which will do the job well enough.
@Igaf: Yeah that's what I do as well, I use rags on the wheels and BGS on the body but not everyone's OCD about their cars and plenty of people use the same sponge and drying towel for the entire car.
Regardless, I've never been able to dry a larger vehicle with just one BGS. Doesn't matter how long it's been between washes or the condition of the paint, using only one BGS would leave a lot of damp areas that would air-dry poorly and leave streaking/water marks.
This is especially true if you have a vehicle with very angular body lines/geometry and lots of vents/grilles/indentations that water will slowly leak out from after a wash.
My system is to use this green one to do an initial wipe of a panel, then use a yellow Maguires to finish off. The green one sucks up more.
Use a leaf blower to get rid of excess water then use the towel
How do you wash it without ruining it? If I wash it, it becomes fluffy
Cold wash, gentle spin, pop in the dryer. That's what I do. Also DO NOT USE FABRIC SOFTENER. That ruins absorption ability.
By it self only? O
I put all my other microfibre towels in as well. No issue with it.
If you use a dryer, make sure it is on low heat.
Yep, use basic supermarket own liquid detergent, no added anything
i use woolworths wool/delicates liquid detergent, and dont use fabric softener.
from Bowdens…
Machine washable
Once you’re finished, be sure to machine wash The Big Green Sucker using our Microfibre Wash and then tumble dry it on the cool to warm setting so it comes back nice and fluffy. If you don't have a dryer, use a hair dryer and slowly run your hands through the fibres. You should do this so the plush material doesn't become matted down flat, as it won't work as well next time around. Then store it in a sealed storage container, with your other microfibre, all ready for its next use. If you do not do this each time, the Boss Gloss can slowly make the towel more hydrophobic and repel water, something you don't want. This is why we don't ever recommend using this towel with the more protective and hydrophobic After Glow or Fully Slick as the drying aid. So wash the cloth out after each use so it will keep on sucking for many years to come.
Also be sure you never wash the towel with anything else other than other high quality microfibre cloths and give the machine and dryer a quick wipe inside so there is no lint before you wash, as it will pick up any other fibres in the washing process.
We love this towel and after using it, you may begin to feel like we do at times, in that the chamois is dead… Long live the Sucker!
Use 1/8 of your regular washing detergent with 2 table spoons bicarbonate soda, 2 table spoons of white vinegar as softener.
This is my go to with my regular clothes washing too.
Fantastic towel for drying. I can do my BMW X5 without needing to wring out. Just make sure to wash it prior to first use so it doesn't leave lint all over the car.
Not trying to troll, but how does this compare with Kmart's $5 supreme drying towel?
https://www.kmart.com.au/product/supreme-drying-towel-415277…?
The Bowden's is a much thicker and higher quality product. There is no chance the Kmart towel could absorb water and dry to the same level. Also the Kmart towel looks like it could cause very light scratching after a few uses due the fibre quality.
I use the Kmart on my wheels and tyres.
One for the door jams/boot/bonnet
But it doesn’t do anything on the rest of the car. Can’t even compare.
there was another kmart or target one which was yellow one side and grey the other, it was almost as good as the bowdens own one, have a few and use them in combination with bowdens. Almost identical tbh and loads cheaper
Yeah, I have about 10 of these as they were only $4 each.
Valid point
For the price of 1x Bowdens you can get 5x Kmart ones.
I have both and prefer the Kmart ones because you can use a different towel on each area of the car without picking up dirt from door jambs and rubbing it into your bonnet
BGS is good for a final buff if you're using a spray wax but that's all its good for IMO
@fullspend please do not use the BGS for anything other than drying. Any spray wax products that contaminate the fibres will make the towel hydrophobic over time, i.e. it will not absorb water making it useless.
Even if doing a straight dry after a wash, 5x Kmart towels still does a better job than 1x Bowdens
Its a bit of a novelty to be able to dry your whole bonnet with a single swipe but by the time you get to the end of the car it can't do a 100% pick-up of water like your 5th fresh Kmart towel can
Kmart's towels are possibly similar to some I was buying from a local 'crap' store - https://www.cheapaschips.com.au/products/kb055?_pos=1&_psq=m…
They weren't as big, nor quite as thick, but for $5 I could buy several compared to one BGS. However, no matter how many times I washed and rinsed them, they still left fine bits of lint behind when drying, especially on a glass roof. So when I spotted Bowdens going for about $20 here a couple of years ago, I grabbed one to see what I might be missing. The BGS is rather good, even if over-priced - no lint for starters and if a car's been coated for good water run-off, then one BGS would dry a medium sized car.
After seeing a car detailer use a blower to partially dry a car, I bought one myself (sold as a 'pet dryer' on eBay), and this helps remove bigger water droplets off the car and out of gaps, so the BGS easily drys the rest. However, I've since realised a cordless leaf blower does a good job too :)
Are you referring to this one?
https://www.kmart.com.au/product/supreme-drying-towel-415277…
What's your take on its longetivity? Would it last 10-20 washes?
That Kmart one looks like good value assuming it's thick enough - fairly large and gets good reviews for drying a car. I might grab one myself when passing a Kmart just to check it out.
Apart from the Bowden's BGS, the only other thick microfibre car-drying towel I've used is that $5 Sedona one from Cheap-as-Chips (probably found in many 'crap' stores). The faint trail of lint it leaves behind is annoying, especially on glass. If the $5 Kmart one is better, you could buy several for the cost of a Bowden's BGS.
Better value if you can find local stock
I managed to get one locally just before Christmas for $40.
That's how I bought mine as well.
I thought I was a genius when I came across it and people were still posting the suckers by themself, here on OzB.. Poor suckers. 🤣 In fairness, they were hard to find near me within like 50km's. I was just super lucky my local had some left. I didn't realise there was only 1 left after my order aswell. I was thinking to broden the other one.
How does SCA pricebeat itself?
It's price beating the product listed in the comment Wolf is replying to, so pricebeating Repco.
@tehkrohnz: Ah yeah. It's a special order at SCA though so not sure if they will honour that for you
You realise $26.99 < $29.60 right…?
I think they mean with shipping..
Thanks…
This or the Twisted Pro Sucker?
Get the Twisted Pro Sucker, it's a much much better drying towel. It's currently on sale at Autobarn and definitely worth it over the BGS.
The BGS only ever performed 'ok' in my tests, but the Twisted Pro Sucker was up there with the best trying towels I own.
Nice, cheers!
Cheaper again at Repco
Definitely the Twisted Pro Sucker
recently got the twisted pro and its better, so get supercheap to price beat repco and done. Its what i did this morning :D
Shoutout to the $5.50 Supreme Drying Towel that Kmart sells that is comparable.
Cheers, quick check of the comments before finalising checkout… I'll give the Kmart one a go
It definitely won't be of the same quality, but you can buy 2 of them and still save 60%.
And if you get 4x for less than the price of 1x BGS they will hold more water in total
OP, if you bought it a week ago and has used you supercheap member account when you buy it, you can login to your account and should see the credit for the difference you paid and sale price
yup i did receive a credit for the difference on my SCA account, thanks!
I have two of these and also tried these cheap ones I got from Kogan for $10 for 3. IMO those Kogan ones are about the same.
So nothing special about these if you can get towels with similar pile count.
My experience seems different to most. I paid $19 for mine.
I found the BG would dry 3/4 of the car and reach saturation. Then the issue was trying to wring the water out to dry the rest of the car. Due to the large size, the towel becomes heavy when wet and difficult to wring the water out. This is less of an issue in summer than winter when a portion of the water would evaporate off the car.
Initially there was green fluff shedding from the towel but that improved after a few months.
Personally I find using several smaller microfibre towels works better for me.
You should be changing towels after cleaning a few panels anyway. Without doing an intensive clean you are bound to pick up debris especially towards the lower panels.
If you have to change towels anyway, might as well go with a few of the kmart version. The idea with the BGS is that it can completely dry a car by itself.
Yeah that's my point. It's a good quality product but could be overkill depending on people's cleaning style.
It also depends on a few things.
Size of car, Mine is a family sedan and is ok to use 1 tower to dry the whole car and still 1 side is still fairly dry . (I don't use this to dry the bottom skirt where I use a Chomos)
I have ceramic coating so would have less water on the car which helps alot.
I have a few new ones as spares.
Yes these are good.
But the kmart one's are also incredible value for money.
Bring back the $12 price error from Repco last year!
They have been such great gifts!
Only car guys would appreciate.
What a marketing job. $26 for a microfiber towel? I bought a pack of 20 for sweet F all not long ago. You people get big suckered into anything, haha
Oh okay
Username doesn't check out.
"CunningLinguist" but uses dad-level jokery.
My username is a word play, have a think about it.
I ain't that cunning, sorry.
That's why it's called the big green sucker.
Fantastic towel. I can dry my entire Bugatti without having to wring it once
I can dry my whole G-Wagon and half of my two Ferraris with one of these. Just wish they weren't so expensive
So one ferrari?
Half of both Ferraris
What color is your buga'ee?
Thanks OP. Have been needing a new "chamois", and I even got an email this morning that I had $10 SCA credit, so only cost me $16.99
Yes that should be about the true RRP of the cloth. At $41 RRP they are dreaming.
You are not wrong, we get used paying high prices and accept that, often shocked to find out how much things actually cost. Especially this type of textile products.
How would this go as a travel towel?
works better only after the person has been ceramic coated
I found the bunnings mocrofiber rags incredible value for money. $10 pack has got ~ 30 towels. 90% of it is usable. From the comments doesn't looks like folks have tried here.
I got a Rapid Dry Towel recently, more expensive than this @ RRP but I'd take one over two of these big green suckers. Best towel I've used comfortably.
I wish I could use this to clean up corruption in Parliament
You need something like sulphuric acid for a major sh1tshow of a job like that..
Really had to go and make a towel political
I was a Bowden's Own fanboy and now I just use morning fresh and seriously can't see the difference
Specsavers have regular good deals.
Savage lol
Oh please,make it stop with the $5 KMart comparisons,this Bowdens towel is the Gold Standard.
One of their best products. it can dry an entire car without having to ring it.