SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash Microfibre Detergent 1000ml

Wash and revive microfibre cloths properly — SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash

What does SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash do? This dedicated detergent for microfibre cloths pulls polish, wax and coating residue out of the fine fibres, brings back the original absorbency and protects the fibre structure from wearing out before its time.

Microfibre cloths are the most heavily used consumable in pro detailing: every car burns through a dozen or more cloths across different jobs — pulling off polish, laying down sealant, cleaning glass, working the interior. Spending money on quality cloths like the SONAX PROFILINE Coating Towel or the SONAX PROFILINE MicrofaserTuch Glas only pays off if you wash them right and keep them, over many sessions, in the shape that holds onto their original performance. Standard detergents fall short here: they aren't built for the chemical residue of detailing work, they leave fabric-softener film that clogs the fibres, and they degrade the fibre structure over time. SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash is the detergent formulated specifically for what pro detailing demands: it fully dissolves polish, wax, silicone and coating residue out of the microfibres, skips the fabric softener that gums up the weave, and goes easy on the fine fibre structure that gives the cloths their absorbency and scratch-free character. Available in 1000 ml.

• Fully dissolves polish, wax and coating residue out of microfibre cloths. The residue you get after detailing work is a real challenge for standard household detergent: cured polish remains, dried wax particles, silicone left over from dressings and hardened ceramic over-coat all block up the microfibres and noticeably drop their absorbency. SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash is built for exactly this kind of residue and dissolves it without the aggressive chemistry that would damage the fibres.
• Fabric-softener-free — keeps the absorbency and cleaning power of the microfibres. Fabric softener is the enemy of good microfibre cloths: the substances in it settle on the microfibres and seal off their surface — the cloth feels soft, but it soaks up far worse. SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash leaves out fabric-softener substances completely, so after the wash the fibres pull water like a brand-new cloth.
• Protects fine fibre structures — stretches the life of quality microfibre cloths considerably. Quality microfibre cloths for ceramic application, glass cleaning and pulling off polish don't come cheap. Wash them with the wrong detergent and you throw away the quality you paid for. SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash extends their working life with a fibre-friendly formula and a clean that doesn't deform the fibre geometry. A cloth that lasts ten times longer pays back the detergent many times over.

Detailing1's tip from the shop: Sort cloths by what they're used for and wash them separately — Coating Towels with hardened ceramic residue need a different wash than your everyday polish cloths. Put SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash in at the right dose (follow the maker's spec, typically 50–100 ml per wash) straight into the machine, and wash the cloths at 30–40°C with no spin. The spin cycle deforms the microfibre pile. Never wash them with textiles made of other materials — cotton lint settles into the microfibres and drops the cleaning power for good. Let cloths air-dry after the wash, not in the tumble dryer — heat can change the fibre geometry. For Coating Towels carrying heavy residue, soak them first in lukewarm water with a few drops of Microfibre Wash, then wash — that loosens dried-on residue ahead of the machine clean.

Formula and how it works — how SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash dissolves detailing residue

The tricky part of washing detailing microfibre cloths is the sheer variety of residue you have to get out. After a day's work, a polish-removal cloth holds a mix of abrasive-particle remains, oil-based polish carrier, paint pigments from the panel you worked and possibly silicone from the lubricating additives in the polish. A Coating Towel holds SiO₂ or ceramic particles that, depending on how far they've cured, can sit tight in the fibres. A glass cloth holds surfactant residue and mineral deposits from hard water.

SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash takes on these different residue types with a formula that leans on several dissolving mechanisms: surfactants that wrap and emulsify the grease-based polish residue, complexing agents that break down mineral deposits from limescale or abrasive particles, and a neutral-to-mildly-alkaline pH base that even loosens inorganic coating particles without attacking the polyester fibres of the microfibre itself. The formula deliberately contains no cationic surfactants — those are the compounds in fabric softener responsible for that soft feel, but they clog the fibres at the same time.

The result after one wash with SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash is a cloth that soaks up like new again: the fibres are free of residue, the capillary action of the microfibres is back, and the cloth's surface is even again, with no hardened zones. Wet a polish-removal cloth after the wash and wring it out, and you feel the difference straight away — after a proper Microfibre Wash cycle the cloth gives back noticeably more water when you wring it and soaks up fast again, the sign that the fibre channels are clear.

Which cloths benefit from SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash — compatibility at a glance

SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash suits every quality microfibre cloth in detailing — both within the SONAX PROFILINE system and microfibre cloths from other makers. In the SONAX PROFILINE system, the key cloths that gain from proper care with Microfibre Wash are: the SONAX PROFILINE Coating Towel for ceramic application (proper care matters most here, since hardened ceramic residue ruins the cloth fast), the SONAX PROFILINE MicrofaserTuch Glas for streak-free glass cleaning (here fabric-softener residue wrecks the streak behaviour straight away) and all the standard microfibre cloths used for pulling off polish, laying on detailer and cleaning the interior.

For foam application pads like the SONAX PROFILINE CoatingApplicator, Microfibre Wash matters less — foam pads get cleaned differently. Wool pads and lambswool pads aren't washed with Microfibre Wash either, since their wool fibres have different care needs than synthetic microfibres. Microfibre Wash is tuned specifically for synthetic microfibres (polyester/polyamide blends), which make up the bulk of pro detailing cloths.

One special case is breaking in new microfibre cloths: even factory-fresh cloths can carry sizing residue from textile production that limits absorbency on the first use. A wash with SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash before the first job clears out this factory residue and gets the cloth pulling at full performance from the very first use. For pricier specialist cloths like the Coating Towel, this prep is well worth it.

Use in a professional setup — dose, wash programme and how much you need

In a busy detailing operation with high cloth throughput, using SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash efficiently is part of running the numbers. Getting the dose right is the heart of it: too little detergent cleans incompletely and leaves residue in the fibres. Too much means needless cost and possibly surfactant residue if the cycle doesn't rinse enough. The maker's recommendation, depending on water temperature and load, sits at 50–100 ml per standard wash (5–7 kg load) — for cloths with very heavy residue (e.g. Coating Towels after ceramic application) you can dose at the top end.

The recommended wash programme for detailing microfibre cloths: a 30–40°C gentle programme with no fabric softener, a moderate spin (400–600 rpm max), a delicates programme if you have one. Higher temperatures (60°C and up) clean more aggressively, but on synthetic microfibres they can press the fibre cross-sections together and cut the capillary action for good. If you want to play it safe: 30°C plus a double rinse, paired with the right Microfibre Wash dose, gives very good results without thermal stress on the fibres.

For planning how much you need: a 1-litre bottle of SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash lasts 10–20 washes with steady use, depending on dose and load. For an operation washing three times a week, one litre covers four to six weeks. That makes Microfibre Wash a very economical bit of kit: the protection it gives the far pricier microfibre cloths — whose life can triple with proper care — outweighs the cost of the detergent many times over.

Versus household detergents and alternatives — why a dedicated clean is the difference

The question keeps coming up: can off-the-shelf detergent or alternative products do the same job as SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash? The short answer: not on par for pro detailing use. Here's the head-to-head. Standard heavy-duty detergents (Persil, Ariel and the like) are made for cotton and blends at 40–95°C. They often contain optical brighteners that settle on dark microfibre cloths and can leave white streak marks on the paint when the cloth is used to pull off polish. On top of that, many heavy-duty detergents contain cationic surfactants or get paired with fabric softeners that clog the fibre capillaries.

Delicate detergents like Perwoll are gentler on fibres and more softener-free than heavy-duty types, but they too aren't built for the specific residue of car detailing. Polish oils, silicone remains and SiO₂ particles from ceramic coatings are far more stubborn than ordinary textile soiling. Delicate detergents emulsify these substances less effectively than a product tuned for detailing chemistry. The result: the cloth looks clean after the wash, but the fibres aren't fully clear of polish-oil residue — on the next job the cloth gives that residue back onto the freshly polished paint and can create a smeary film that drags down your polish finish.

Some detailers use diluted SONAX PROFILINE All-Purpose-Cleaner as a pre-treatment for heavily soiled cloths — that makes sense for a rough pre-wash, but it doesn't replace the final cycle with SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash, which rinses the remaining emulsified residue out of the fibres and protects the fibre geometry. Pairing a pre-wash with All-Purpose-Cleaner and a main wash with Microfibre Wash is the most effective workflow for cloths carrying heavy polish or coating load — the pre-wash breaks up the coarsest residue, the main wash gives the fibres back their original absorbency.

Buying SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash — when it's worth it and how you use it

SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash comes as a 1000 ml bottle and is for anyone running pro microfibre cloths in detailing who wants to protect that investment. Choosing a dedicated detergent is choosing to run your cloth stock economically: buy ten SONAX PROFILINE Coating Towels at several euros each, then ruin them beyond repair with standard detergent after five jobs, and you've lost more money than a year's worth of Microfibre Wash would cost.

For detailing enthusiasts who do the occasional car and run a smaller set of cloths, Microfibre Wash already makes sense at ten to twenty cloths — even a single Coating Towel whose life triples from five to twenty jobs beats the price of a litre bottle of Microfibre Wash. For professional operations, Microfibre Wash isn't an optional extra but a fixed part of buying in supplies, right alongside polishes, sealants or pads.

Bottom line: SONAX PROFILINE Microfibre Wash is the logical companion to a quality microfibre-cloth stock. It protects the money you put into good cloths, fully restores the cleaning power after every job and keeps the SONAX PROFILINE cloth system — Coating Towel, MicrofaserTuch Glas and other specialist cloths — holding its value for years. One litre of detergent for 10–20 washes is one of the smallest, best-returning investments in a pro detailing setup.