Dedicated Car Dryers

S

sfckelley

New member
Is anyone using dedicated car dryers (master blaster / bigboi) to dry a complete vehicle? I started using drying towels, then an Ego blower in conjunction with towels, and I recently bought a bigboi Mini to decrease drying time. However, I have found it takes me a lot longer to dry using the bigboi exclusively. If anyone is getting through a vehicle using just a blow dryer, please share your best practices. I am getting water spots by the time I get around the entire car.

Thanks in advance!
 
sfckelley said:
Is anyone using dedicated car dryers (master blaster / bigboi) to dry a complete vehicle? I started using drying towels, then an Ego blower in conjunction with towels, and I recently bought a bigboi Mini to decrease drying time. However, I have found it takes me a lot longer to dry using the bigboi exclusively. If anyone is getting through a vehicle using just a blow dryer, please share your best practices. I am getting water spots by the time I get around the entire car.

Thanks in advance!
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If you are washing it outside in the sun, there is that, to factor into the equation.

I wash all my vehicles, Client`s vehicles, inside my garage out of the sun and use my Metro Master Blaster on a black plastic rolling cart to quickly knock off as much water as possible, (if this is just a car wash especially)..

If it is a really hot day, even in the shade, water will dry much quicker and spot, so that is another factor to consider when to be washing it.

The Master Blaster works great at getting so much more water out of all those trim areas, all the water that gets inside the mirrors, tail and headlights, grill, letters, numbers, etc., and the bottom trim at the bottom of the door jambs that always leaks water for a long time, etc...

It also works great at drying the engine and compartment, the underside of the hood, (be very careful if it has insulation), all the area around the headlights, radiator, etc, from the inside, blowing the water out or down to the garage floor..

I put the long tapered, round, rubber piece over the end of the hose, so it will be easier on everything if i accidently touch something..

Then, any water left is easily removed with any type of soft absorbent towel, etc., that has NOT been subjected to Dryer Sheets, etc., Downy, anything, etc...

I do this for a living so I have to be more exact about all of the processes, and I still love doing it !

Dan F
 
sfckelley said:
Is anyone using dedicated car dryers (master blaster / bigboi) to dry a complete vehicle? I started using drying towels, then an Ego blower in conjunction with towels, and I recently bought a bigboi Mini to decrease drying time. However, I have found it takes me a lot longer to dry using the bigboi exclusively. If anyone is getting through a vehicle using just a blow dryer, please share your best practices. I am getting water spots by the time I get around the entire car.

Thanks in advance!
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What’s your LSP? Need a good one to blow dry. Preferably a coating.

My last car was coated and i could dry it with a MB sidekick ( think BigBoi buddy) 90%. Then i’d hit it with a drying dowel and QD for some shine.

My current car wears a wax and at one point Polish Angel Cosmic and not as good.


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All my vehicles are coated (Adams Graphene, Kamikaze Miyabi and or ISM), I will normally use Beadmaker as my drying aid. I washed 2 last night and I think my hang up is / was I am trying to get the car 100% dry using the blower and I should just focus on knocking off the big stuff and crevices, then use my normal towel / beadmaker routine to finish it off.
 
sfckelley said:
All my vehicles are coated (Adams Graphene, Kamikaze Miyabi and or ISM), I will normally use Beadmaker as my drying aid. I washed 2 last night and I think my hang up is / was I am trying to get the car 100% dry using the blower and I should just focus on knocking off the big stuff and crevices, then use my normal towel / beadmaker routine to finish it off.
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I think you have "tweaked" your process to resolve your water spotting "problem".
One suggestion on using drying-specific microfibers is to use smaller-sized ones and more of them. I use Griot`s Garage PFM dring towels in the 16 x 16-inch "hand" size rather than in the larger 24 x 36" towel size. They are easier to handle as they become wet and not so heavy as a large towel-size would become. I sometimes use two as I dry; one for the initial wipe to soak up the vast majority of rinse water and then the second to REALLY dry the surface. Yes, it takes a little longer and as the first one becomes so wet, I "switch out" the previously second towel used for REALLY drying to become my first one for the initial soak-up removal and a new hand towel for the REALLY dry part. I can generally get by with using three towels to do a "normal-sized" SUV or sedan. This is after using a leaf-blower to initially blow-off the vast majority of the rinse water from the vehicle surfaces, but NOT the wheels. I do the wheels wells, tires, and rims AFTER drying the entire exterior panels and door and trunk/rear hatch jams. I do NOT open the doors and rear hatch/trunk lid and use the blower to dry those areas, as the blown water gets on to the interior. Sounds common sense, and even though I have a variable-speed leaf blower to adjust the air volume, I ONLY hand-dry the jams with the drying microfiber.

Cleaning the wheel areas last and drying the exterior and jams first prevents a lot of water spotting for me. I sometimes find doing the wheel wells, tires and rims can take ALMOST as long as doing the exterior panels and jams, depending on how dirty they are. Yes, sometimes spray water used for rinsing the wheel areas can (and will) get on to the exterior panels, but if it is done carefully and judiciously, that "problem" can be minimized, which is why I prefer a hand-grip nozzle rather than a twist nozzle to control the water flow and pattern.
Since all of my two-bucket washes are done outside and not in a garage or enclosed area, one of the biggest problems I face is over-spray from wheel (brake-dust) cleaners and de-greaser cleaners for the wheel wells on windy days getting on to the just-washed and dried exterior panels. I live with that and just damp-wipe the over-spray with my panel wash media and dry it again with a drying microfiber. I do have dedicated wash-media for wheel areas (Mini-sized E-Z Detail brush for the barrel, rim pad, tire scrub brush, and smaller cotton-chenille pad for the wells) and some use a different wash soap bucket rather than using the soap bucket used with the exterior panel washing. I find doing one wheel at a time the best, rather than spraying cleaners on ALL four wheels and then begin washing the wheel well, tire, and rim in that order (the top-down concept) and then blow-drying the entire wheel area and hand drying the rim. I usually do the front wheel first then move to the back on the same side as being the most efficient methodology/process. One thing I will do, if the soap and rinse waters become really dirty, is to change them out for the other side before I begin washing that other side. If you live where dirt or gravel roads are more common and drive on them, like I do in Northeast Wisconsin ("Up Nort`", as we say), you`ll understand why that is sometimes necessary!
 
Getting an air dryer was probably the best detailing `thing` I`ve spent money on but it does take a few times (for each car) to get the most efficient use outta it.

Generally I`ll start with a quick sweep of horizontal surfaces to get those 99% dry in a few seconds, then start going after the irritating places like mirrors, emblems, wheel lug wells, wheels, panel seams/junctions and other *&^%$# water trapping places. Once done with that there are a few splatterings of water back on horizontal areas so sweep those quickly again then start doing sides of car. Not gonna get it all so a RC Platinum Pluffle cleans up any `leftovers` quickly.

The time it takes all depends on the car; wifes C7 with all it`s vents, creases, cracks and crevices is a bit more of a PITA then the Cayman which is relatively smooth and rounded. Overall it still takes less time than towel drying as once dry, it`s DRY and I don`t have to go back and clean up water that comes streaming out of hidden, non-towel-reachable places after the first drive; that stuff was maddening. I never wash in the sun though, just too much of a PITA.
 
While I use the compressor for the nooks and crannies, I get most of the water off with my AirWand. I simply love that thing and use it every time I wash.

I did a write-up about it should anybody be interested, might be worth the dreaded ​search.
 
Last time I mentioned the Air Wand folks seemed scared of its construction. Must be why its not very popular.
 
Bill D said:
Last time I mentioned the Air Wand folks seemed scared of its construction. Must be why its not very popular.
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If i’m seeing looks like it hooks up to a blower? How much more efficient is it than just usingva blower?


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To be honest , it`s probably not that much more efficient than a blower alone. It just concentrates air in one spot as it dries. I haven`t used mine in forever. I just quickly dry with a PFM
 
Can someone share a link for the air wand or are you referring to a DIY air wand with a row of holes in a length of PVC pipe? If the latter, please share a picture.
 
After the final rinse using de-ionized water, I’ll use my cordless leaf blower on all the cracks, crevices, and wheels. I’ll then wipe up any water left on the panels.

Using de-ionized water enables me to take my time drying, even in the sun.

I’ve been using Griots Boss Cannon with the Surface Wash, then the Polygloss. I do have to hustle a bit to ensure they don’t dry on the surface.
 
Bill D said:
I think this is the link to Accumulator`s Air Wand review:

dgage- Sorry, I don`t do Digital Imaging :o See if you can find it by searching on "thenewairwand" or something like that.
It`s not *that* hard to find as I can find it even with my weak search skills.https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/to...share_fid=191540&share_type=t&link_source=app


See If it works for those on Tapatalk
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Yeah, that`s it! Thanks Bill.

Yeah, *IMO* it works much better than just a blower, though there *is* a learning curve to being time-efficient with it. I`d say it makes the process more *efficient* but not more *effective*.

Note that I don`t want to spend one unnecessary *minute* doing this stuff, and I refuse to make things hard(er) on myself when I`m Detailing; for me, it`s all about doing this stuff as quickly and easily as possible without compromising my results. If this thing weren`t All That (for *ME* at least) I wouldn`t bother with it. It`s not as essential as my foamguns, and it`s not a complete replacement for the air compressor (or somehing else for nooks and crannies like a MasterBlaster/etc.), but I`d sure hate to dry without it.

[INSERT usual !YMMV! disclaimer]
 
Older said:
After the final rinse using de-ionized water, I’ll use my cordless leaf blower on all the cracks, crevices, and wheels. I’ll then wipe up any water left on the panels.

Using de-ionized water enables me to take my time drying, even in the sun.
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Much as I like my CRS, my vehicles retain so much water, even with all that forced-drying, that I still have to, uhm...Dry The Car...when I use the Deionized :( Not slamming the approach by any means, just saying that it might not solve *every* Drying-related issue for everybody.
 
Thanks. I did a search but couldn’t find it available so either I’m not searching well or the Air Wand isn’t available any more.
 
I saw it recently. I think I searched "Air Wand" no space between the two words. I also think you have to ask what leaf blower it works with because I think the list they give is obsolete. The site really needs a make over.
 
Accumulator said:
Much as I like my CRS, my vehicles retain so much water, even with all that forced-drying, that I still have to, uhm...Dry The Car...when I use the Deionized :( Not slamming the approach by any means, just saying that it might not solve *every* Drying-related issue for everybody.
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No argument there.

It just makes it much more relaxing for me, not having to be a whirling dervish trying to beat the water spot demons.
 
Bill D said:
I saw it recently. I think I searched "Air Wand" no space between the two words. I also think you have to ask what leaf blower it works with because I think the list they give is obsolete. The site really needs a make over.
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Thanks Bill D. The secret search was "airwand leaf blower". I ordered it to attach to my Big Boi Blowr so we`ll see if I have to make any modifications. Thanks guys.
 
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