If your micro fibres are new put them through the washing machine a few times, hot wash no need for any detergent, micro fibres normally need braking in a bit before they work well for polishing glass.
You could also try using scrim, IMO pre washed scrim works better for detailing windows, they also last a lot longer, when you wash scrim or micro fibres put them on a hot wash and don't use any detergent as they will already be saturated in the stuff from cleaning windows.
So long as you are using flat weave microfibre cloths they can be used absolutely perfectly straight out of the bag, no washing required.
Scrim on the other hand always needs a good boil wash and several days braking in before they reach peak efficiency.
I used scrim for over 22 years, but microfibre beats the hell out of it.
If you are just starting out trad then it is going to take you some time to get the hang of it, the more skilled you get with a squeegee and applicator the less detailing you will need to do.
When you start out you will go through no end of micro's or scrims every day, eventually you will only use a couple a day.
The odds are you are over wetting the glass, going right up to and over the edges of the frames, meaning that you will have loads of detailing to do, and the wetter it is, the more rubbing you have to do.
If your squeegeeing is up to scratch there should only be a thin bead of water at best to detail, but however much you have there, it has to be left bone dry after detailing, if your cloth is too damp you will only end out with a smear after detailing.
Don't hold the cloth in a great bunch in your fist, use only a couple of fingers pushed into the folded cloth so that you don't have too much material going onto a couple of inches of the glass.
This may only be a semi skilled job, but it does take a fair amount of skill to become good at it...
Keep practising, keep your detailing cloths as dry and clean as possible, use a separate one (this one can become wet) for sills and frames, wringing it out when required,...er...or rotating it with the dry ones as they become to damp to detail effectively with.
Totaly agree with washing without detergents regardless of whether you are using micro's or scrims, at least to begin with....
Ian
