Should you trust your paint with Costco’s microfiber cloths? This is what detailers say – Jalopnik

There’s a strange haven where you can buy a kayak, a cake and a gaming PC all under one roof. Where the air smells faintly of tire rubber and rotisserie chickens. Then you see it: a mountain of bright yellow microfiber towels priced so low it looks like they’re paying you to take them.

The Kirkland Signature 36 Pack – pretty much standard issue for the loyal Costco member. You can use these microfiber cloths to clean your home, polish the lenses of your glasses or use them as a spill cleaner top. But their value is matched by the online discussion about one crucial application: touching your car’s paint. Is using it on your car the ultimate detailing bargain, or do you slowly grind microscopic scratches into your clear coat to save a few bucks? The answer, like most things in the automotive world, is complicated.

To settle the debate, look at what these yellow squares are made of. The Kirkland towel uses an 80/20 blend of polyester and polyamide. Simply put, polyester provides the washing power and structure, while the more expensive polyamide provides the softness and absorption. While 80/20 is great for general cleaning, detailing purists will tell you that the “gold standard” for anything that touches paint is a softer, more absorbent 70/30 mix.

Forensic detailing‘s Jon Delieu put the Kirkland Signature towels to the test with his favorite high-quality microfiber. Using them all to buff a small area of ​​delicate, piano-black B-pillar upholstery, the results weren’t exactly flattering to Costco’s finest — the Kirkland towel left behind micro scratches, while the other towel with the higher polyamide content finished the job without a trace.

Then there is the density, or grams per square meter (GSM). Although Costco doesn’t publicly list this spec, the Internet hive mind reverse-engineered it to around 350 GSM – a solid workhorse weight. The biggest historical flaw, however, was the scratchy stitched edges and a stiff, sewn-in label that might as well have been made of sandpaper. Costco was wise and made the towels label-free, which was a huge improvement, but those hard-stitched edges remain a point of serious discussion.

So can you use them on paint? The detail forums are polarized on this topic. However, their success seems to come with strict rules: use enough lubricant from a good car soap, apply light pressure and maintain the towels better than your own laundry.

On the other side are the purists, who relegate Kirkland towels to wheels, glass and interior stain removal. They claim that with softer dyes the towels can cause micro-marring. They are the adjustable wrench of the detailing world: versatile, cheap and just a little bit wrong for every job.

So yes, you can use them on paint, just like you can use a butter knife to pry open a paint can. It works… until it doesn’t. For most weekend detailers, the Kirkland towels are fine, especially with good technique and some common sense. But if you’re looking for a mirror finish or are working with soft paint, maybe opt for the premium stuff. (To see what the right towel – and the right touch – can do, see how detailing transforms a car into its most perfect self.)