Recently started wearing an oldish North Face bike jacket again, it’s a soft shell made of gore windstopper.

Would be nice to get back to the old water-beading-on-top that it had years back when I bought it – what do I need to do?

There’s a few versions of this, staying away from those that involve sacrificing chickens at midnight and eyes of toads, there’s re-proofing stuff like Graingers for Nikwax, both of which you add into a normal wash cycle. Follow instructions, but apparently, heat, immediately after the wash – tumble dry ot an iron on low setting – helps to activate.

However… my experience with Goretex is not great and I find (and have had this confirmed by ‘experts’) it really doesn’t like the amount of dirt involved in mtb and especially when it’s ground into the fabric by backpacks. Something to do with how the fabric uses microscopic ‘hairs’ to repel (bead) water which is eventually, after a certain number of washes, rendered useless. This maty be different for ‘proper’ bike wear, rather than general Goretex. Someone else here may know better, but I’ve had little luck re-proofing my Moutnain Equipment Firefox and, according to one of the drivers at a well known Welsh mtb uplift centre, neither did they; they had three of them that went the same, leaky way as mine.

Check penultimate paragraph of this reivew: http://www.northern-focus.com/gear/outdoor-gear/mountain-equipment-firefox-review/

Grangers/Nikwax reproofer works fine. I’ve had best results doing it in a sink rather than a washing machine though (instructions are on the reproofer).

If it’s not been done before and/or the jacket has been washed in standard detergent then a wash in the Grangers/Nikwax cleaner beforehand is a good idea.

Cool..

I have some vague notion of Nikwax bad/Grangers good – or are they much of a muchness?

Also -is a spray on reproofer better, as you don’t want to DWR the inside of a softshell?

The spray-on seems to work fine. Makes a bit of a mess, so do it in a garage or something. Still worth doing a proper wash first and a tumble once it’s almost dry if the fabric/garment allows.

I’d do it like this:

1. Wash it in a normal washing powder/liquid/gel to remove the worst of the dirt then double rinse.
2. Re-wash using a technical cleaner like Nikwax Techwash or the Grangers equivalent.
3. Reproof with a wash-in or maybe spray-on reproofer from Nikwax or Grangers.

You shouldn’t have to heat treat the garment with the latest stuff, but follow the instructions.

It’ll sort things out for a while, but you’ll have to top it all up occasionally.

However… my experience with Goretex is not great and I find (and have had this confirmed by ‘experts’) it really doesn’t like the amount of dirt involved in mtb and especially when it’s ground into the fabric by backpacks. Something to do with how the fabric uses microscopic ‘hairs’ to repel (bead) water

With respect, I’ve actually visited Gore’s R&D centre in Germany and spent a fair bit of tine with people who should know what they’re talking about as they work for the brand and no-one’s ever mentioned ‘microscopic hairs’.

The beading, I think, comes down primarily to the DWR – durable water repellent – treatment applied to the face fabric, which with use loses its effectiveness, particularly if things get contaminated by dirt, oils etc. The structure of the face fabric does have an impact on how well DWR will ‘take’ and I suspect that abrasion damage won’t help that, but the little hairs thing sounds unlikely.

My experience is that you can successfully reapply DWR treatments, but it helps if you’re really methodical about the process. Bear in mind that conventional detergents leave behind residues that can screw up the beading etc,

Anyway, why were the ‘experts’ in inverted commas? Is it because they weren’t experts at all or just that you didn’t really believe them? 😕

Just redone some trousers with Nikiwax, used the non tumble dry stuff.

Seems OK, i washed them first without any cleaning “stuff” and before I washed them I washed my other dirty gear in just a washing agent no fabric conditioner to make sure no conditioner was present.

I doubt much ever beads like when its new but better than no beading at all!

Thanks all. Sounds straightforward enough.Going to go for these two, look OK?

http://www.jackson-sports.com/en/Nikwax-Tech-Wash-300ml/m-1127.aspx

http://www.jackson-sports.com/en/Nikwax-Softshell-Proof/m-5349.aspx

DWR’s don’t like standard detergent.

I tend to run a hot cycle of all my non dwr cycle kit with tech wash, than do my dwr kit with tech wash, then if required reproof it.

BadlyWiredDog – Member

With respect… …Anyway, why were the ‘experts’ in inverted commas? Is it because they weren’t experts at all or just that you didn’t really believe them?They run a very well known outdoor shop. Not going to say who or where, but they basically explained (possibly in over-simplistic terms) how the performance deteriorates with wear/use on a lot of the Gore Tex fabrics. This bear out practical experience of myself and a great many others.

I bought a Paramo Quito but can’t bring myself to bike in it, so it is doing ‘best waterproof’ duties, in place of both the mountain Equipment and older Berghaus jackets which have decided not to be waterproof any longer. I’m out doors a lot – not some clean-booted townie – irrespective of weather, every day, so I’ll take practical experience over PR and manufacturer’s claims any day.

Mate sells this stuff repel I’ve done a few items (most not previously waterproof), seem to be holding up so far to the water.

Tesco now sell tech wash and reproofer about £4 each. Cheap enough to clean after every mucky ride makes them work loads better. Any dirt on the fabric means it can’t bead.

Re what type of proofer to use, at a bike show a few years ago I quizzed one of the bods on the nikwax stand.

Wash-in is fine for fabrics that don’t need/work by wicking – so on a pile+pertex (eg buffalo, montane) you use spray-on on the top surface, if you used wash-in you’d completely mess up their operation.

Standard wash-in/spray-on vs soft-shell – the soft-shell is intended for softer fabrics, the standard stuff for the ‘harder’ kind of fabrics – IIRC the point is how long it’s retained on the fabric, so soft-shell might last a bit longer on a more soft/pliable fabric.

That said, my Paramo, as intended by the manufacturers, just uses the non-softshell wash-in, and is still pretty pliable as fabrics go.

I just wash my Goretex paclite with a non-bio tablet on 30 degrees and then a 30 minute low heat tumble dry.

I wash it perhaps once every three months and I tend to make a beeline for puddles and slop so it gets covered, it is still 100% waterproof and perhaps only seen and specialist Nickwax style wash twice which made no noticeable difference.

My Wife on the otherhand has a similar Gore coat but it has a mesh style liner, she claims its not waterproof at all but we’ve treated it in the same way.

They must be about 10 years old.