'68 Charger - Full sand and polish

R

riotejas

New member
I'm wondeirng how you fellow autopians dry your cars when it's cold outside. I've always had a dew form on my car that I just can't get off. I want to wash a Zaino my car tonight after a dawn wash, but I'm not confident I can get the car dry enough.
 
It freezes ........ pain in the butt. What you need to do is get two huge towels and get the as dry as you can as fast as you can basically. But remember, the more water you wipe off the faster the car will dry because not as much water has to freeze. Justkeep those towels on the dry side and keep drying... faster ... faster ...... :)



OR you ca use the cali water blade but most people are scared of it.
 
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' >

It freezes ........ pain in the butt. What you need to do is get two huge towels and get the as dry as you can as fast as you can basically. But remember, the more water you wipe off the faster the car will dry because not as much water has to freeze. Justkeep those towels on the dry side and keep drying... faster ... faster ......</blockquote>

Actually, it's not that cold here :D I'm not afraid of the water freezing, I'm just having trouble with the "dew" that forms all over the car. In the past, whenever I rub with a towel, it still leaves a layer of water.

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' >

OR you ca use the cali water blade but most people are scared of it.</blockquote>
I don't have a Cali water blade, only the absorber. Maybe I should go pick one up..hmm... I wonder if Shuck's carries it.
 
CMA's big blue are great.....and fast....use a leaf blower ....drive it around for 20 minutes.....depends how cold.....its in the 30- to 40's here and i pull her in the garage and thats warm enough for me..

jeff
 
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' >

CMA's big blue are great.....and fast....use a leaf blower ....drive it around for 20 minutes.....depends how cold.....its in the 30- to 40's here and i pull her in the garage and thats warm enough for me..</blockquote>

I don't have the CMA big blue drying towel... and I'm planning on doing this tonight. I also don't have a leaf blower handy :down However, I could probably drive around for 20 mins, but what if it's raining?

I guess I could pull out the hair dryer? :confused:
 
You COULD use the hair drier by that would be a pain in the butt.



Try to get some nice Royal Velvet or Charisma towels and use the first one to get the dew thin and then the second one to get the rest.



I can get my car bone dry with towels, all I do is go around once with the first one for the majority of the water and grab a new towel on every trip. By 3-4 towels pecies (I use cut out towel sections) your all set.
 
I noticed that at the hot water do-it-yourself car washes, the water freezes a lot faster than with the older car washes that don't use it. I guess the hot water theory proves true that was discussed in a thread on here a few months back.
 
Yeap, I just thought of that, the only time my car froze over was right after I had a big smile on my face that the spray bay has HOT water.... guess too much of a good thing really ins't good.
 
I am in N.Cal and I got the same dew effect when I dry right around sunset time. It is metal that cools much faster so you can't get rid of it if you wash at night.



Do it in the morning or do it inside the garage if you can. If you don't have Zfx I recommend letting it dry overnight inside the garage and take it off the next morning.
 
Tm if it is getting dark and cool out and the dew point is close you will not be able to do anything about it unless you have access to a garage.



I suggest you wait until the day time. Sorry. HTH
 
I do have access to a garage btw. I will be washing the car outside with dawn then bringing into the underground parking of my apartment complex. THe only thing is that it is not that warm in this underground parking as it's so large -- would cost too much to have it heated ;)



Provided it's not raining, I'm thinking of doing this:



Wash the car with Dawn, then do a dry with the absorber and some bath towels. Drive around for about 5-10 mins to try to dry the dew off and get excess water off. Go back to my underground parking, and redry with absorber + bath towel. Think this will help at all?
 
You can spend a few bucks and get one of those mini jet type heaters and move it on the side of the car your detailing. I think they are strong enough so you only need to move it so it will aim at the front, then the left, the rear and the right side. They look like little jet engines.



Your electric cost ............ I don't know and I'm scared to find out. RedCarGuy has one however if you want to ask around.
 
Here's what I have done the few times I have been forced to wash a car in the evening. First, I have a small propane heater in my garage, I start that baby up and close the garage. While the garage is heating up, I do a quick wash in the driveway and immediately pull the car into the garage upon finishing. With the garage doors closed again, the heater provides just enough heat that it makes it alot easier. I alos use soft towels that have been running in the dryer to get some warmth on them. I alternate between towels that are warm. This usually isn't a perfect dry and I go back over it with a MF and some Wipe & Shine. I hate doing it at night, but if I absolutely have to I use this method. By the time you are done drying, the garage is warm enough to allow waxing or anything else you need to do.







On a side note, why is it that 7 out of 10 times I have to hit the post reply repeatedly until the posting windo shows up?
 
E36 M Sedan: your plan sounds like a good one, but impossible in my case :( My underground parking is for our entire bldg so it's like 2 floors of 100 spots each. Heating it up with a heater would not be possible.



However, I do like the idea of heating the towels up in the dryer first!
 
Dont try and dry your car any more after you have driven it. Chances are high that you picked up dirt and dust from the road.
 
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' >

Dont try and dry your car any more after you have driven it. Chances are high that you picked up dirt and dust from the road.</blockquote>

Is this true? I"ve read that a lot of autopians use this method in their regular car wash duty to help drying... if that's the case, then driving around is no good since I want to apply Zaino tonight!
 
I agree....id shy away from driving around, as you may get the car dirty again, and as a result end up micro-marring the paint when you apply the Zaino. Dry it as best you can with your Absorber and then finish it off with towels. If you can't get it dry that way i'd say wait until you can do it right.
 
Just blot after a quick trip around the block, can easily pick up contaminants and can get trapped under an absorber and risk getting scratches.
 
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