Polishing & Buffing Cloths

A buffing cloth is the towel you use to take residue off after applying something, whether that's a polish, a wax, a sealant or a compound. Its job is to lift what's left into the fibres rather than push it around the panel.

Buffing cloth and polishing cloth mean the same thing, the terms get used interchangeably in detailing and neither one is more correct. What matters is that it's soft enough not to mark the finish but still has enough bite to actually clear the residue rather than glide over it.

GSM is grams per square metre, the density of the fibres, and higher isn't automatically better.

Too light and there isn't enough fibre to grab residue properly. Too heavy and the cloth feels bulky, holds more than it needs to, and starts smearing once it's loaded. Mid range is where most polish removal sits. As a general guide:

• 300 to 400gsm for most polish, coating and compound removal. The ACE and GENERAL sit here.
• 350 to 450gsm plush cloths for the buffing stages, where you want more give and more capacity. The ACE Heavyweight and VERSO are in that band.

The bands overlap on purpose, anything around 350 to 400 will handle both jobs, which is why most people end up there.

Weave and fibre split matter just as much as GSM. A well designed cloth with the right structure will outperform a heavier towel that relies on thickness alone.

Straight away, if you can. Compound sets hard in the fibres and a cloth that's sat in the basket for a week comes out stiff and never quite recovers.

• Wash separately from general laundry.
• Warm water, 30 to 40 degrees.
• A mild liquid detergent, or a microfibre wash like CARPRO MFX.
• No fabric softener or bleach.
• Air dry, or tumble on low.

Worth keeping two piles. Cloths that have been near cutting compound pick up abrasive residue that washing doesn't fully remove, so they're better kept for correction work rather than going back onto a finished panel. Your finishing cloths stay clean and stay soft.

You can, but the compound side is the one worth keeping separate.

Wax, sealant and quick detailer residue washes out. It's oily, it comes away with a normal wash, and a cloth that's had wax in it goes back to normal. Compound is different, the abrasives are ground fine enough to sit in the weave and a wash won't get all of it out, so a cloth that's done correction work can carry a bit of grit back onto a finished panel.

In practice most people end up with two sets, one for correction and one for final buffing and protection, and a colour or a different cloth entirely makes it easy to tell them apart. If you're only ever doing a wax on a well kept car, one set is fine.