The other day I saw a guy, that had just washed his car at a coin operated car wash. All he needed now was to dry the car down with a wipe down and that was all. He got out a strange "towel", that later turned out to be some sort of a leather based chamois. He started the drying process and quickly it was visible, that all he was doing was wiping the excess water WITH adding damage to the paint.
Back in the days, the leather chamois were almost all there was as a drying aid. The microfibler towels were still not good enough or were difficult to get (the good ones), and so many people were using a leather chamois for the drying process. The problem here is, that such chamois can inflict quite a lot of damage when not used properly.
I tried to have a word with the guy, explaining that the leather chamois needs to be used in such manner, that It will only absorb the water. When rubbing the chamois to the car's paint, one can even strip the applied wax coat (depending on the wax) with a single (not proper one) wipe with a leather chamois. The biggest problem comes, when the car isn't 100% clean (a common problem with people when using coin operated car wash) and there are spots with some dirt left on the paint. The chamois will catch the dirt and will quickly drag it on the paint. The guy just didn't want to listen and even talked back to me, saying that he had been using such chamois for the past 15 years and they always worked great... and had never applied wax to the car's paint, because there's no need for a wax on a well maintained car.
Compared to the chamois, the good microfiber towel will catch the dirt and won't let it back on the paint (if there's only little dirt here and there, we're talking about a well cleaned car, after all). The MF towel is easier to operate and will absorb more water than the chamois.
So... people, just use microfiber towel for the drying process...