Opinions on drying with a leaf blower?

What MPH is good for drying. I found a cheap blower at home depot that blows at 140 MPH, I would think that this is good enough.
 
Black and Decker offers an 18V battery operated leaf blower. It is light weight and you do not need to drag electrical cords through the water. For those of us living in a drought stricken area and cannot wash cars at our homes you can take the B&D blower to the car wash and blow the water off when you are through. The 18V B&D blower is not as powerful as a plug in or gas powered however it is a good option.
 
Love using the electric blower, especially if your vehicle has a wax/sealant coat, water just shoots right off. The blower is a must on our vehicles, too many nooks and crannies especially on the suv's where water likes to stay and drip and drip and drip.



Never any need for guzzler or other absorbent towel, I can go right to microfiber and qd. Less touching = less marring
 
I used to use my leaf blower all the time... but then I bought a two motor vac and blow. I only use it to blow the water off the car, and it is easier to get into the different places with the hose than it was with the leaf blower. I love it, a bit on the spendy side, but I'm pleased with the results.



As far as the water blade, I bought one and even after washing my car TWICE, I still got a couple scratches from it. What happened was I have a lot of trees around my house, and when I was drying my car, a couple of little specs of stuff that had fallen from the trees fell onto the surface just before I dried it. As I have a dark color car, it was easy to miss. This is the reason I searched for a no-touch drying process.



I even use my vac and blow when washing with ONR, which is about 2-4 months of the year because of water restrictions in the fall.
 
I've been using a 2 stage electric leaf blower for quite a while.

The red racer is small and always has great coverage with a lsp so water just flies off.

(Within minutes of blowing it dry, I'm adding a touch of Aqua Wax or Crystal Mist so it gets a microfiber treatment anyway.)



I had to giggle a while ago, I looked across the lawn and saw my neighbour had adopted a leaf blower to dry his Land Rover.

I know where he got the idea and I threw him a smile and a thumbs up.

-John C.
 
a 150mph leaf blower will work just fine, no need to get one any higher...



$26.76 at your local walmart...
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read the reviews! :up Weed Eater WEB150 Electric Blower - Wal-Mart
 
zoomzoom3 said:
Does anyone see any negatives to drying a vehicle in this manner?
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The only negative is the fact that with a leaf blower you are bombarding the surface with dirty air, much the same as the air that hits the front of your car when driving at high speeds. Since the air coming out of the leaf blower is much more concentrated and at a much higher speed, sooner or later the surface of the vehicle may become compromised with fine surface scratches, especially on dark colors.
 
Dirty Air? right - maybe in Jersey but down here in the south I haven't had any issues and I use a Redmax blower (20lb backpack style 2 cycle) that I saved from my lawn care days. It's probably overkill for most of ya'll, but I use it to keep my driveway (490') clean and it comes in handy when the leaves start falling.
 
mirrorfinishman said:
The only negative is the fact that with a leaf blower you are bombarding the surface with dirty air, much the same as the air that hits the front of your car when driving at high speeds. Since the air coming out of the leaf blower is much more concentrated and at a much higher speed, sooner or later the surface of the vehicle may become compromised with fine surface scratches, especially on dark colors.
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Well I guess we can always start drying our cars in hospital operating rooms...
 
mirrorfinishman said:
The only negative is the fact that with a leaf blower you are bombarding the surface with dirty air, much the same as the air that hits the front of your car when driving at high speeds. Since the air coming out of the leaf blower is much more concentrated and at a much higher speed, sooner or later the surface of the vehicle may become compromised with fine surface scratches, especially on dark colors.
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I still doubt it coud do any more damage than rubbing it with a towel.
 
mirrorfinishman said:
The only negative is the fact that with a leaf blower you are bombarding the surface with dirty air, much the same as the air that hits the front of your car when driving at high speeds. Since the air coming out of the leaf blower is much more concentrated and at a much higher speed, sooner or later the surface of the vehicle may become compromised with fine surface scratches, especially on dark colors.
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if you think that is a problem tape a dryer sheet over the air inlet

then the air will be clean and smell good too:xyxthumbs
 
Pats300zx said:
The only problem with that is getting some foreign material trapped between the blade and the surface of the car.... Scratch City...
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Hey Mr. Senior Moderator,



Rather interesting how getting some foreign material trapped between the water blade and the surface of a car can be a problem, but not dirty air bombarding the surface of a vehicle at over 175mph. Why do you think one will result in Scratch City, while at the same time you think the other is okay? Do you really think your logic makes any sense?
 
Pats300zx said:
I dont see any negatives. I think its a great way to get the majority of water off of the car. I usually sheet the water off, blow dry, and then follow with a WW towels.



It makes drying so much easier.
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My exact procedure.
 
Accumulator said:
I use a leaf blower with the AirWand attachment. It works OK on well-LSPed finishes, at least for getting the bulk of the water off (can't use the sheeting rinse in this shop). I still have to do a lot of drying with WWs and a lot of blowing with the air compressor, but it's a nice first step.



FWIW, I don't like the blower *NEARLY* as well without the AirWand; I consider that attachment a virtual necessity.
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Can you please post a link to the air wand.
 
mirrorfinishman said:
Hey Mr. Senior Moderator,



Rather interesting how getting some foreign material trapped between the water blade and the surface of a car can be a problem, but not dirty air bombarding the surface of a vehicle at over 175mph. Why do you think one will result in Scratch City, while at the same time you think the other is okay? Do you really think your logic makes any sense?
Click to expand...

No need for the snottyness.
 
mirrorfinishman said:
...Rather interesting how getting some foreign material trapped between the water blade and the surface of a car can be a problem, but not dirty air bombarding the surface of a vehicle at over 175mph. Why do you think one will result in Scratch City, while at the same time you think the other is okay? Do you really think your logic makes any sense?
Click to expand...



I *do* think the logic makes sense, and I'll take a stab at explaining why, based on my own experiences. The following is just discussing, not :argue and we can agree to disagree if necessary. As long as we all use what works for us, any disagreements can remain theoretical.



First off, I *agree* about the dirty-air issue in some cases. I sure wouldn't do the leafblower thing outside or in some shops. My previous shop was one place where I'd *never* have done it; it woulda stirred up too much potentially abrasive dirt/dust.



BUT in my current shop, things are *clean* (air filtration, regular cleanings, etc.). No dust settles on vehicles/etc. even after quite a few days. Blowing with a leafblower seems perfectly safe, and I'm *very* careful not to direct the flow of air to any place where there might be dust that could get stirred up. The floor is damp (to retain dust/etc.), the rest of the shop is as clean as most kitchens, the air is directed only at the vehicle (via the AirWand nozzle), and my air filtration units keep the shop clean anyhow. I don't see a realistic potential for problems and I've never observed problems (been doing this for a while now).



I *did* observe problems when I used the waterblade, and I *have* observed problems from wiping imperfectly cleaned surfaces with a towel.



The contamination that could get trapped between drying media and the finish is, at least in my case, most likely from one of two sources: 1) dirt that was missed during the wash, and/or 2) dirt that got blown out from a crevice/etc. and then remained on the finish. (It's not just floating around the shop.) This type of contamination *can* easily get trapped between a waterblade/towel and the finish, and if said media is moved in the long, arcing motions commonly used it'll result in a long, nasty scratch.



In this case, the direct pressure being applied to the contamination is, IMO/IME, far more concentrated than the pressure from a stream of air, and thus more likely to cause marring; I've scratched paint by wiping dirty water with a towel, but when I've blown dirty water off a (well-LSPed) panel with air it did *not* cause marring (and yeah, I inspected with magnification).



Any time there is dirt getting moved across a finish there's a risk of marring, but in my case, one method *has* resulted in marring and the other method has not.
 
Accumulator



The New Air Wand



Is this the Air wand you are referring too? or was it a different one. This is what I found in my searches. Anyone have this one? good bad feedback?



thanks,

chris
 
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