Dr. Wack "A1" A1 "DAS TUCH" Premium Microfibre Cloth 1 Stück

A1 "DAS TUCH" lifts wax off without dragging holograms in

What is the A1 "DAS TUCH" Premium Microfibre? A microfibre cloth made from 85 per cent polyester and 15 per cent polyamide, high pile on both sides, ultrasonically cut instead of overlocked. Built for taking polish, wax and detailer off paint. Not a drying towel, not a glass cloth, no substitute for a polish.

A1 "DAS TUCH" is a microfibre cloth from Dr. Wack in a 40 by 40 centimetre format that takes on the last job on the paint: lifting off wax, polish or detailer residue without laying new swirls in. The application engineering team in Baar-Ebenhausen says it picked this one out of more than 50 alternatives before it went on sale under the A1 label.

Microfibre means this: a continuous filament of polyester and polyamide is split lengthways until one filament becomes dozens of wedge-shaped single fibres. Those split edges work like thousands of tiny shovels that carry the wax residue up into the pile instead of pushing it across the clear coat. You notice it like this: the paint gets cleaner on the second pass instead of smearier.

85 to 15 is no cost-cutting exercise here, it is a decision. Polyamide is the soft, absorbent share and costs more to make than polyester, which is why plenty of premium cloths sit at 80 to 20 or 70 to 30. This cloth gets its softness from the second lever instead, from pile length and yarn density. Day-to-day that means you feel the difference in the height of the fibre, not on the spec sheet.

• 1.6 metres of edge without a single thread. Overlocked cloths carry a seam of polyester yarn all the way round; at 40 by 40 centimetres that is 1.6 metres of hard edge running along with every pass. On the A1 "DAS TUCH" a high-frequency blade cuts the fabric and seals the cut edge in the same moment. On black piano paint that one millimetre decides whether a fine line shows up under low light later on.
• Both sides carry the same high pile. Dr. Wack lists the cloth at 55 grams net weight; across 40 by 40 centimetres that works out at around 340 g/m², spread evenly over two identical sides. Most polishing cloths have a fluffy side and a smooth side instead. We get a lot of messages from beginners who have picked up hologramming because they switched to the hard side in half-shade without noticing.
• 60 degrees, no softener, around 300 cycles. Dr. Wack quotes about 300 wash cycles and explicitly allows the tumble dryer up to 60 degrees. What ends that number is not the drum, it is a single shot of fabric softener: its cationic surfactants lay down as a film over the fibre edges and block the channels between them. In practice that means the cloth pushes water along in front of it afterwards instead of taking it up.

Detailing1's tip from the shop: From what we see day-to-day, the most expensive mistake happens after the job and not during it. Throw the cloth into the laundry basket with wax and polish residue in it and leave it until the next wash day, and those residues harden off in the pile. The time after that, hard crumbs sit between fibre and clear coat, and almost everyone puts the fine scratches down to the wax. Rinse the cloth out warm straight after buffing, until no more foam comes, and wash it within 24 hours.

Buffing off is lifting off. You do not polish with it.

The A1 "DAS TUCH" takes nothing off the paint. It lifts off what the applicator left behind and pulls the panel up to a high gloss on the second pass.

Dr. Wack describes the routine in four moves: fold the cloth twice, lay it down flat, wipe off the polish or wax residue, then turn it or shake it out and go for the high gloss with a clean side. Laying it down flat is the part most people skip. Work with your fingertips and the whole pressure of your hand lands on a few square centimetres, and you press the residue you just lifted straight back into the paint right there.

The cloth works dry. Damp in the pile thins exactly the residue you are trying to lift and spreads it over the panel as a haze. If you rinse it out along the way, the cloth has to dry all the way through before it goes near the paint again. From what we see day-to-day, that is why two cloths per car run better than one you wring out halfway.

One panel, one pass. Each side of the cloth gets used once and then you move on, rather than rubbing back and forth under pressure. On dark metallic paint you see the difference under low light straight away, on silver you only notice it in the sun. As working partners Dr. Wack names four of its own products in the product information sheet, among them the spray wax from the HIGH-END range.

The name misleads here, because buffing off is not polishing. Cut and finish come from the polish with a pad or a machine, the cloth only handles the last step. A microfibre cloth removes no swirls. At most it makes them less obvious for a few weeks, for as long as there is wax standing in the scratches.

The high pile drags streaks across glass

Long pile and glass do not go together. It puts too little fibre on the pane at any one time and spreads the film instead of taking it off in one pass.

That is what the second cloth in the same line is for. The interior and glass cloth is flat woven rather than high pile, it mixes 80 to 20 instead of 85 to 15, and its edges are overlocked rather than cut. For the dash, screens and glass that is the better build, because short fibres give you more control and the film does not get smeared.

If you are taking polish, wax or a detailer off paint, you reach for the high-pile cloth. If you are doing glass, screens or plastic inside the car, you reach for the flat one. The overlocked seam is completely harmless on glass, because no edge runs over soft clear coat there.

What is behind that is geometry, not a question of quality. At the same hand pressure a high pile puts less fibre on the paint at once and holds the lifted residue at a distance, because there is air standing between fibre tip and the base of the weave. Short pile does the opposite: it brings more contact points onto the surface and gives you control that way. On glass that is the advantage, on fresh wax it is the drawback.

Drying the car is beyond it too. 55 grams of microfibre take up roughly seven to ten times their own weight, so about half a litre of water, and a mid-size saloon carries several litres after the wash. That is what drying towels at 900 to 1,500 g/m² are for. The hardest limit comes right at the start: once a cloth has been out on pre-wash, wheels or door shuts, there is grit in the pile. For paint it is finished after that, no matter how often you wash it.

One cloth per job beats ten for everything

This cloth earns its place if you take wax, polish or detailer off by hand and the paint is dark enough that every mark shows up under low light.

Two of them are enough for one car: one for the lift-off, one for the high-gloss pass. If you are after a single cloth for everything instead, you are better off with the flat all-rounder. The microfibre cloths in the line split the work between them on purpose rather than both doing everything half well, and that is exactly why there are two of them.

A cloth that has to stand in for everything ends up good for nothing, because every job leaves a different kind of contamination in the pile. Plastic dressing brings silicone in, interior cleaner brings surfactants, pre-wash brings grit. That is why every cloth here gets one fixed job and is washed separately by job. It costs one more wash load and saves the machine polish that would otherwise be due after two seasons.

The 300 wash cycles are a figure about the fibre, not about your cloth. At one wash a month that would work out at 25 years, and no polishing cloth lasts that long. What actually finishes it you spot from three signs: it barely takes anything up any more, it feels hard and brittle after drying, and the cut edge starts to fray. In regular use one to two years is realistic.

The strongest lever is in the product information sheet and still almost nobody follows it: shake the cloth out hard several times after the dryer. A pile that comes out of the drum lies flat, and flat pile puts more fibre on the paint in one go, with less air as a buffer in between. Two seconds of shaking lifts the fibres again. Skip the move once and do it once, and you notice the difference on the very first pass across the bonnet.

How to use the A1 "DAS TUCH" Premium Microfibre

From the first wash load to the high-gloss pass

The cloth goes through the machine once before it is allowed near the paint for the first time. Dr. Wack recommends that pre-wash explicitly, so the fibres open up and anything left from making it up is gone. Wash at 60 degrees, separately or with same-coloured laundry, with no softener and no bleach.

For the work itself the manufacturer sets out four moves: fold the cloth twice, lay it down flat, wipe off the polish or wax residue, then turn it or shake the residue out. The high gloss you get on the second pass with a clean side. Work with your whole palm rather than your fingertips, or the full pressure lands on a few square centimetres and the residue you lifted gets pressed back in on the spot.

Per car reckon on two cloths, one for the lift-off and one for the finish pass. As working partners Dr. Wack names four of its own products in the product information sheet, among them the spray wax from the HIGH-END range. For glass, screens and the dash you do not take this cloth but the flat woven interior and glass cloth from the same line.

After the job, speed counts. Rinse the cloth out warm until no more foam comes, and get it into the machine within a day. Wax and polish residue that hardens off in the pile is exactly what marks the paint next time. If it goes in with other fabrics, it belongs in a fine-mesh laundry bag.

Notes: The tumble dryer is allowed up to 60 degrees, and after drying the cloth wants shaking out hard several times so the pile stands up again. Fabric softener and bleach are off limits, because they seal the fibre edges and take the absorbency away for good. The cloth is not suitable for glass, for drying the car or for anything below paint care such as wheels, door shuts or pre-wash. A cloth that has been out there carries grit in the pile and does not belong on paint any more. Dr. Wack quotes around 300 wash cycles. In practice it ends sooner, as soon as the cloth barely takes anything up, feels hard or the cut edge frays. Store it dry, dust-free and apart from your cleaning cloths.