Vote! Shall I wash my jacket?

I washed my Frank Thomas Jacket in the machine... it was never the same again.

Originally Posted by Grinch

I washed my Frank Thomas Jacket in the machine... it was never the same again.

What happened?
Did it shrink to action-man size??

Originally Posted by marcdbl

What happened?
Did it shrink to action-man size??

Even though we washed it with the nitwax treatment it just became more and more 'un' waterproof. To the point of becoming pointless to wear.

[tigersaw]

My Dianese waterproofs were beginning to ming after 5 years, I got the two pack tecwash from ebay as reccomended on here, followed instructions and its now fresh as a daisy and very waterproof.
The only thing of note is that the wash machine did some minor damage just from all the chucking about.

[Richie]

Originally Posted by Filipe M.

Welcome my son... welcome... to the machine...

Arr nice bit of Pink Floyd there...


don't put it in the machine as it will Fubar it...

[Biker Biggles]

Yes wash it on a cool setting and re proof it.If it doesn't work chuck it away and buy a new jacket.Then come and sit with everyone else in the pub.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Kylie

My Bering textiles started leaking a bit this winter, I went to buy waterproofing from bike shop and first thing he asked was "have you washed it" . Apparently a washed jacket is more waterproof and breathes better, not sure I believe that. Anyhows I took all the armour out and did a nikwax tekwash in the machine (label said hand only), followed by a load of the handspray waterproofing, seems to have done the trick.

Thats true, if the jackets Goretex you need to keep it clean otherwise the dirt clogs up the breathable pores in the Goretex and then it doesnt work properly.

Personally I wash my jackets in the bath with some baby shampoo and then use the spray on reproofer. Liz who knows about this kind of thing said thats the best way. Although you can use the cool 30 degree wash on your machine if you want to.

When you've reproofed it leave it somewhere warm as the reproofer is activated by the heat.

[jambo]

I shall be doing my lot tonight, as the colour is a little less vibrant than it once was... ahem. I plan to use the machine on a delicates, or just bung it all in the bath for a bit on hand scrubbing like we used to do back in the day....

May as well do the helmet liner with some soap too.....

Ah, well done Jambo, you've just reminded me to post my results:

I washed the jacket (and trousers) twice on my machines most delicate cycle.
The first time using Nikwax Techwash, the second time using Nikwax TX Direct.

It's smells very pleasant now, and looks a lot cleaner (but the coloured parts are still a bit black looking).

Most importantly, two days after doing this I went out in a full-on downpour and was still dry when I got to the office 30 mins later.

Thanks to all that voted!

[jambo]

Used the bath to clean gloves, jacket & trousers last night. Don't do that, the stuff will take ages to dry, and the colour of the water in the bath was most off-putting. at least in the machine you can't tell how grubby they were

Used the spray on waterproofing so there's a bit left for any problem areas. We'll see how they do tomorrow!