Drying with a Leaf Blower Scares Me

A

audia4guy

New member
I'm surprised that people here support this drying method so much. Unless you are drying your car completely dirt free garage, you are almost guaranteed to pick up some dirt from your driveway or elsewhere from the amount of air being pushed around.

People also seem to not like the idea of "dragging" anything across the paint to dry the car. I have used a California Waterblade with quite a bit of success. I always double rinse the car to make sure I won't be dragging any dirt across the car.

I just ordered some WW microfiber drying towels to replace my cotton t-shirts that I was using. I'll use these as a "finished" after I waterblade the car.

If waterblades are bad,,, PLEASE let me know. Just like every other fanatic here, I want the car to look the best and if a California Waterblade is hindering me,,, to the trash it goes.
 
Good point about the blower... I know when I blow out my garage floor, after 30 min of dooing it I can still see some particles in the air - even though the floor looks spotless.
 
It scares me too. I just drive down the local parkway (around 50mph the water moves off) and then finish with a waffle weave. Seems to work fine.
 
I don't start the blower until I aim it at the car, and then i lift mine above my head to start at the roof. I can see someone having a problem if they don't have a concrete or asphalted driveway, but i don't see any dirt being kicked up by the blower. :nixweiss Besides, I only blow AFTER washing the car and the surrounding area is usually wet. I even use a small air compressor to get into some of the crevices... The air stream is concentrated on the car, not on the ground, so it blowing up dirt isn't too likely.



That CA Water Blade can cause much more damage IMHO, the potential of it dragging dirt across the paint is too high. That's even with a double rinse....



BTW...i wash my cars outside....
 
Taking the car for a short drive is far more likely to pick up dirt and other debris than blowing off the car after a wash.
 
Seems like a lot of trouble to me to have to get out a leaf blower or drive around the block. Why not just flood rinse and dry with a quality MF drying towel? We don't look for shortcuts when polsihing and sealing. I don't see the logic.
 
audia4guy said:
I'm surprised that people here support this drying method so much. Unless you are drying your car completely dirt free garage, you are almost guaranteed to pick up some dirt from your driveway or elsewhere from the amount of air being pushed around.

People also seem to not like the idea of "dragging" anything across the paint to dry the car. I have used a California Waterblade with quite a bit of success. I always double rinse the car to make sure I won't be dragging any dirt across the car.

I just ordered some WW microfiber drying towels to replace my cotton t-shirts that I was using. I'll use these as a "finished" after I waterblade the car.

If waterblades are bad,,, PLEASE let me know. Just like every other fanatic here, I want the car to look the best and if a California Waterblade is hindering me,,, to the trash it goes.
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It totally depends on how you use it. I personally love the water blade. Common sense applies here:



- Rinse the water blade often

- If you see some dust, re-rinse that part

- Even in flat panels, don't go too hard. I prefer to use the water blade at 80% of its capacity rather than risk damage. A WW with a water blade is hard to beat.... :xyxthumbs

- Try to keep the panel with a decent amount of water to make the water blade safe and effective. This is like a clay bar, it needs lubrication.... (I said "clay bar" you dirty minded.....;))

- If you pick dust EXACTLY with the blade edge, you'll have problems. If you have dust in the panel AND you have enough water for proper lubrication, the water will move the dust WITHOUT any problem, as water displacement picks the dust safely. I happened once to use it without realizing some dust fell and adhered into the door (kids playing and running). The door had a decent amout of water, and I noticed the dust AFTER I finished it. I checked the door carefully for any damage. No scratch. The water blade didn't press on a dust particle, and the water it displaced moved the dust...... :eek:



The blower seems like a decent method to try. For the water blade, LUBRICATION is key, as it is for some other activities (Put the dirty minds to rest..... I told you I am referring to a clay bar......:p)







Alex
 
JaredPointer said:
Seems like a lot of trouble to me to have to get out a leaf blower or drive around the block. Why not just flood rinse and dry with a quality MF drying towel? We don't look for shortcuts when polsihing and sealing. I don't see the logic.
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Actually, the leaf blowers gets water out of the cracks and crevices. You can't reach those places with a MF. Sometimes I use the leaf blower first then I use a waffle weave towel.



AlexRuiz, that is most likely the only other reason why YOU would even worry about lubrication on anything.
 
JaredPointer said:
Seems like a lot of trouble to me to have to get out a leaf blower or drive around the block. Why not just flood rinse and dry with a quality MF drying towel? We don't look for shortcuts when polsihing and sealing. I don't see the logic.
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Naw, not much trouble at all....

My 99 4Runner has a lot of seals, trim and cracks and crevices that require a blower or compresser to get all the water out. Otherwise, i get drips...
 
I use the CWB too, and have had no problems with it. I rinse the water blade off before using it, and again after using it. I follow up with a WW, and then dry out the door jambs with a terry cotton towel.

I then drive around the block to get any water out of the cracks and crevices. When I get home I wipe off any water that came out during the drive.
 
The leaf blower is only to get water out of areas where towels cannot reach. I consider it much safer than taking the car for a drive...
 
JaredPointer said:
Seems like a lot of trouble to me to have to get out a leaf blower or drive around the block. Why not just flood rinse and dry with a quality MF drying towel? We don't look for shortcuts when polsihing and sealing. I don't see the logic.
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Why not use a drying towel alone?



Because the probability of dragging grit across the surface is higher! When you blow dry (my preferred method) you do it immediately after the wash. The driveway will be wet. If you blow down from the roof and your driveway is wet, your chances of picking up grit are minimal. Way lower than trying to dry the car completely with an MF drying towel.



Regarding a leaf blower being a hassle, I have mine on a hook beside the garage door. The extension cord hangs below on another hook. One end is already plugged in. I can have it out and be drying the car within 45 seconds without hurrying. (I timed it once!)



Regarding shortcuts, I don't follow your logic. We DO use short cuts for polishing, sealing, and much more. The PC and rotary buffers are short cuts. There are still people who prefer to do it by hand, but most of us use one of these short cuts. The only difference is that they are ACCEPTED short cuts!



Using a leaf blower to dry is just a new method. Lots of people are conservative. They don't feel comfortable with new methods. That's OK. It takes a while for new methods to go mainstream.



For example, do you use a Foam Gun and a GritGuard? People who have indicate that it reduces the chances of marring the paint. I'm switching to this method now. I received my GritGuards (2) last night and my Foam Gun is due on Monday, 12/6.



My plan is to use two five gallon rinse buckets, one on each side of the car. Each bucket will have a GritGuard in it. The idea is to rinse the car down to get major dirt off, then spray the car with foam. Using a nice wool mitt, you wash the car and rinse often in one of the rinse buckets. The GritGuards keep the rinsed grit down at the bottom of the buckets. With no wash bucket and two "GritGuarded" rinse buckets, your chances of picking up grit are greatly reduced over traditional methods.



Leaf blowers, foam guns and Grit Guards are just new tools in our detailing "tool bag". The PC, sealants, water-based polishes, contoured buffing pads, clay, and a whole lot more were new at one time. Some people didn't feel comfortable with them. For example, there lots of posts from people who are terrified of using clay for fear that they will scrape their paint.



Some people are more aggressive; some are conservative. I'm the former. Sounds like you're the latter. No problem. Choose the tools and methods with which you feel comfortable.



Regards,



Dan.
 
I don't understand, doesn't your car wash have blowers built into the roof to blow on your car as you pull out?
 
If you have hard water just using air alone will leave spotting. It sure does in my neighborhood. Then you have to QD to remove it and you're using a towel again. Might as well cut to the chase towel dry in the first place.



I'm with Antonio and RCBuddha, I use the air to blow out cracks and crevices. If I don't, my cars drip out of weird little nooks and crannies for hours. I always dry the open surfaces with ww MF, MF chamois or synthetic chamois first.



My leaf blower is also a yard vac so I don't use it on cars (would spew all kinds of strange crud). I use compressed air but since I have a pretty wimpy compressor I've been itching to pick up a dedicated blower.



I also try to hold the cloth at the opposite end of the crevice and blow the water into. Cuts down the splatter radius.





PC.
 
Wet down your driveway additionally after washing if you want to ensure no dust and dirt pick up. Using a yard only blower,I often blow the driveway extremely thoroughly before the washing process also. I will use a CWB only for windows.
 
I use my leaf blower every time and haven't had any problems. I have a 3 car garage so there's lots of concrete in the area where I wash it. The concrete is clean and thick grass surrounds it, so there's really no dirt that can get stirred up.
 
I started with a leaf blower, but then bought the Sears shop vac that doubles as a blower. I wash under my carport that has cement or grass around it on three sides and dirt only on the alley side. I'm well within the boundaries, (6 feet) or more from the alley and by the time I get done washing the car everything is wet and nothing is blowing anyway. So for me it's not a problem and I'd never want to have to do it any other way again.
 
pocon1 said:
I don't understand, doesn't your car wash have blowers built into the roof to blow on your car as you pull out?
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Was this a joke? :doh





I use the CWB, but only on big areas (trunk, hood). I have a cheapy MF to wipe it off with after each pass, so it A) doesn't drag any water droplet across the dry section and B) take of any dirt that it might have caught.



Then I dry the rest with a WW. No problems so far I guess.
 
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