waterblade.. will it scratch?

dvsmnstr

dvsmnstr

New member
hey guys, I have one of those cali water blades.. its the squeegy for your car.. do any of you use it? how good does it work?.. I see it scratching the car and i'm affraid to try it.. let me know!
 
A tool that I never understood personally.

If a steady stream of water is used when rinsing I can dry with only one side of a 24x36 WWMF.

The blade can certainly scratch if there is ANYTHING left on the paint.

I do not use one, but some people seem to really like them. Again, I just can't see how it can be fatser.
 
Technically, the blade won't scratch your car. Particulate left (or recently arrived) upon your paint that gets dragged by the blade can scratch your paint. This subtle nuance is the difference between a win and a loss in a law suit.
 
The steady stream of water trick only works when the surface is waxed and the water slides off easily. In the case of a car that isn't waxed, the water clings to the surface in very large pools. The water blade is certianly a help in those cases. If nothing else, it is amazing at getting the water off the glass without streaking.

I have been using one for the last 5 or 6 years. I love my CWB. Anything can scratch the paint. A bath towel can scratch the paint. If you use the tool properly, then I feel that it is a safe way to speed up the drying process on cars. Its certianly not a tool that is neccessary for drying every car that you work on. If you keep your car waxed and cared for, then there is harly a reason to use one. However, if you are washing a car that hasn't been waxed in a few months, the CWB can help a lot. The next steps in the process should include polishing anyway, so who cares if it leaves a couple small scratches because a speck of dirt was on the blade? Claying can scratch too, but I don't worry about it because I'm just going to bust out a polish to remove the scratches in a minute anyway. I'm not saying to use a tool with wreckless abandon or anything... I'm just saying that if the tool is used properly, then it is a safe and effective way of drying a vehicle. Any possible damage that it may cause can be fixed in the subsequent steps of the process. If you don't intend on polishing the car after using the CWB, then chances are you don't really need to use it to dry anyway.
 
I use a WB along with a WW and have no problems . The rubber on the blade wont scratch paint but if you dragged it over dirt I'm sure it would scratch the paint that way . For me this combo works the fastest and best .
 
Jngrbrdman said:
If nothing else, it is amazing at getting the water off the glass without streaking.................................................................................................................................
. If you don't intend on polishing the car after using the CWB, then chances are you don't really need to use it to dry anyway.
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Outstanding observation and point:bigups

The CWB is a greater hazard; blotting with a top notch quality waffle wave mf is one of the safest ways to dry :bigups
 
Using magnification, I've looked at paint and the protective coating on paint after using the WB........................... I relegated it to windows after that. I'll stick to nice soft WW towels.
 
I hate the WB. Every time I went to use it, it would grab the surface and slam the handle into the car. Obviously, you can't rush the process and must take your time but it's supposed to save time, so it's taking up space on my shelf now.
 
That's why I always do the windows first. The CWB works best if the blade is already wet when you drag it along the paint. Obviously there is a trick to using every product, and this one is a good example of that. Take the California Car Duster... I lit mine up like a torch because I screwed up my car with it. I forgot that it was a 'duster' and not a 'mop'. You can't drag the whole thing all over your car. Anyway, I can't seem to get that part and I screwed up my car. So I won't use that tool or recommend it. Its probably not a bad tool.... I'm just to big of an idiot to know how to use it properly. I'd rather learn to live with dust than learn how to use a tool that I'm sure would be easy to use if I just used the proper technique. :dunno Curse my stupidity!! :ranton
 
I always use mine on the windows and use it on the car maybe every 3rd of 4th time. I agree that it does work best when already wet. You also can only use it where the car is wet...using it to get 1 drop of water off your hood would be dangerous, but with a hood full of water I feel very comfortable with it.
 
I have used the water blade for about 1.5 years and never had any problems. I usually will wipe the blade off periodically to make sure nothing has clung to it. It does get tough on larger curves, but I mainly use it on the hood, trunk, and other large flat surfaces to get large amounts of water off then go to the WW for the crevices/curves to get the rest. (Never had any problems with the duster either).
 
I've used the water blade every time I've washed, for about the last 6 months. For me it's easy and quick, then I dry w/MF plush.

Do you all blot w/WW/MF or "wipe" to dry?

Since I rinse my wash mitt each time prior to dipping it in the wash bucket (kinda like two bucket effect of keeping the wash water clean) I have virtully eliminated swirls/micromarring... This was a HUGE improvement...
 
I have a full size extended cab truck with a hard tonneau and that's a lot of paint to dry. The CWB helps a lot. I just squeegee off most of the truck and then 1 ww towel will do a good job of drying. Without the blade it takes more like 3 towels.
 
Jngrbrdman said:
If you keep your car waxed and cared for, then there is harly a reason to use one. However, if you are washing a car that hasn't been waxed in a few months, the CWB can help a lot. The next steps in the process should include polishing anyway, so who cares if it leaves a couple small scratches because a speck of dirt was on the blade? Claying can scratch too, but I don't worry about it because I'm just going to bust out a polish to remove the scratches in a minute anyway.
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jngrbrdman, you are my hero. i've never really thought of it that way, and i do see what youre saying. basically, if you're working on your car's maintainence, theres no need to use the water blade because the surface is lubercated enough to use the flooding technique, and you wouldnt wanna induce any additional swirls because all you're gonna do is wax.

on the contray....

if you're working on a car that has never been waxed (or close to it), there is hardly any lubercancy, which means that the flood techniquie is not nearly as efftective because it just makes pools of water. however, with the water blade, you can take the water off. and because were doin a full detail on this car, that also includes polishing, which should take off almost any scratches made by the water blade. (don't quote me on that one)



thats brillant!!!! now i see the glass as half full. perhaps now i will actually start using a combination of the calfiornia water blade + WW to dry cars that have never been waxed in a long time. :drunk
 
Jngrbrdman said:
Take the California Car Duster... I lit mine up like a torch because I screwed up my car with it...
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You really set the thing on fire? :lol Thats pretty funny that you were so pissed that you took the time to do that...goes to show you how much we like our cars around here! Anything or ANYONE that messes with them gets lit on fire! :flamed
 
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