Best car drying towel for 2022

Sure, you could just let your car bake in the sun after washing it. But if you want to avoid water spots, you can dry your car’s paint and glass with one of the best car drying towels. You’ll do yourself a favor by ensuring that your car is spotless and shiny after wiping it down. Below, we’ll share our top picks for car drying towels on any budget, as well as some general car care tips. Time to leave those bath towels and cleaning rags behind.

CleanTool

We need to talk about The Absorber. This is a synthetic chamois drying towel product from CleanTools that does a downright amazing job after a car wash.

You can use the chamois like a cotton towel to manually dry off smaller areas, or you can spread it across a larger part of the car — like the roof or hood — and drag it to suck up residual water without swirl marks. In both instances, the absorbency of the chamois cloth leaves a nearly dry surface that should take just a few minutes to totally clear up before you clay, wax or just call it a day.

The Absorber makes drying your car surface a simple process. It should be on your shopping list.

Meguiar’s

Not into chamois? That’s not a problem because we also love Meguiar’s X2000 Water Magnet towel. It’s a traditional microfiber towel but it works like magic to leave your car’s surface super dry after washing. What’s also great about standard car drying towels is that you can just machine-wash them in liquid detergent to rid them of dirt and debris every so often. As long as they don’t get trashed, this is a microfiber towel you can use to dry your car for a long time — and it works darn well.

Mighty Cleaner

We already gave our top pick to The Absorber, but we need to give some love to one of our other favorite dryer chamois: the Mighty Cleaner Shammy.

This chamois cloth does a great job picking up water and not leaving much moisture behind. The company also offers its product in a two-pack, which makes it a better deal if you want a couple of these around for drying duties. I like to have one per car hanging around the house.

SHSCLY

If you want more than one car drying towel, here’s a two-pack of great towels. Not only do SHSCLY Microfiber Drying Towels work well to dry cars off, they’re also really big: They measure 29 by 33 inches, so you can cover a lot of ground. We also love how much water these microfiber towels hold before you need to wring them out.

Relentless Drive

Suppose you have a pickup truck or an SUV that requires a much larger microfiber towel. How about a 24-by-60 inch towel that sucks up water from car paint like a pro? That’d be the Relentless Drive Car Drying Towel, and this five-pack can likely serve as all the drying towels you’ll ever need.

Chemical Guys

This microfiber cloth is a little smaller than our top pick. But Chemical Guys’ Woolly Mammoth towel promises to dry a whole car in one shot, and it does. That’s why we think it’s a solid choice as a runner-up for big vehicles. Nobody wants to be swapping through tons of towels when drying their car off, and the Woolly Mammoth keeps things simple.

Mothers

Not everyone has a ton of cash to spend on a car drying towel, and that’s totally fine. We said there was something for everyone. There is: Mothers Waffle Weave Microfiber Car Drying Towel is a great choice as a cheap pick for a car drying towel. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do after a car wash, and we can’t fault it for anything at this price point. Yes, one of our picks is actually cheaper, but the value of having two waffle weave towels at this price to dry paint and glass made us want to place this product here.

Amazon

It’s basic, and that’s OK. This two-pack of chamois from the Amazon Basics brand works very well as a glass and paint dryer for the price. The towels aren’t as usable as our other chamois picks, in our experience, but if you need a cheap chamois, look no further.

Comparison of the best car drying towel for 2022

Best car drying towel Brand Name Price
Best car drying towel overall CleanTool The Absorbe $15
Best car drying towel overall (runner-up) Meguiar’s X2000 Water Magnet $7
Best car drying towel chamois Mighty Cleaner Shammy Towel $14
Best car drying towel bundle SHSCLY Microfiber Drying Towels $30
Best car drying towel for big cars Relentless Drive Large Car Drying Towel $43
Best car drying towel for big cars (runner-up) Chemical Guys Woolly Mammoth $17
Best car drying towel on a budget Mothers Waffle Weave Microfiber Car Drying Towel $10
Best car drying towel on a budget (runner-up) Amazon Basics Drying Chamois $11

General car care and drying tips

  • Where should you dry your car?: If possible, dry your car in the shade. Washing and drying a car in direct sunlight can make the process tougher, especially if the heat and sun create water spots.
  • How do you dry your car after a car wash?: If you want to be sure you actually dry your car, wring the towel or chamois out often as you go along. If you don’t, you’ll simply be spreading water, not soaking it up.
  • How do you dry your car’s nooks and crannies?: To dry the tight and tough-to-reach places after a car wash, the plan of attack is to blow out those crevices. If you have an air cannon, shop vac or even a leaf blower, you can blast areas with air to make sure water exits the crevices to prevent streaks.
  • How can you make drying your car even easier?: After you’ve finished drying your car, follow up with your favorite car wax. A coat of quality wax will help your car’s paint bead, and water will roll off with ease.

Get your car dry with the best products

All of these picks will ensure you’re left with a bone-dry car — you can’t go wrong. So choose your preference and keep those cars clean!

source: cnet.com