Why is the water blade never discussed?

joshtpa, and the people's point is that WW towels pull dirt away into the nap from the paint, whereas with the water blade, it has nowhere to go other than be dragged across the paint. it's not about the surface area, it's about what happens to the dirt particles.
 
WW will keep the same dirt and go across your body of your car. But according to "the people" there should be no dirt where your car is washed.
 
joshtpa said:
WW will keep the same dirt and go across your body of your car. But according to "the people" there should be no dirt where your car is washed.
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Grrrrrrr. You are not listening. Towels absorb water and dirt. It pulls it AWAY from your paint, it doesn't drag it across it.





;)
 
GRRRR, you are not listening. Just because it grabs it and "pulls it away", does not mean that it will not come in contact with the paint.
 
Danase said:
It might not get stuck between the blade and the paint but it could drag the dirt over the surface. It doesn't take much on some soft paints to mar.
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If you have dirt on the surface then you aren't washing or rinsing properly, thus the risk to mar is equal no matter what you use.



These things work like plows. Water is pushed away and dirt, since there isn't a place to trap it, should carry away in the water. Dragging dirt with one of these isn't really a possibility. A towel on the other hand, no matter how carefully you "blot" can drag dirt.



Either way, any time you touch the paint you're gonna mar it. How much depends on the user. I don't think there is an increased risk of marring with a CWB as compared to a WW, but that's just my opinion.
 
Danase said:
Towels absorb water and dirt. It pulls it AWAY from your paint, it doesn't drag it across it.
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If you wipe a dirty spot of the paint with a WW where does the dirt go, through to the other side of the towel?



Every time i've done it the dirt has stayed on the part of the towel that is in contact with the car.
 
joshtpa said:
GRRRR, you are not listening. Just because it grabs it and "pulls it away", does not mean that it will not come in contact with the paint.
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The texture of a WW gives a speck of dirt a place to go so hopefully it won't come in contact with and scratch the paint. If that same speck of dirt gets trapped under the water blade it has no where to go except against the paint.



Some people use the CWB and don't have any problems, so if it works for you that is great. Other members are just pointing out why there can be more of a hazard when using a CWB.



I think the CWB is a great tool, but like any media that touches the paint we should know that there are some risks. I don't use the CWB too much anymore because I feel safer using an ultra soft WW to blot my cars dry.



Sometimes we just gotta use what works best for us and agree to disagree with others who have had a different experience.
 
John took the words out of my mouth. I used to use the CWB until I read threads similar to this one. Yes, there are many threads in this forum and others. I have never experienced anything bad with the CWB, but regardless the potential is there. I realized that it might happen one day and I would have been extremely mad at myself for a preventable scratch. I modified my procedure to do a final "sheeting" rinse, CWB on glass only and do a two stage WW drying session. The first stage I go around the top half of the car and blot - never going below the trim line. The last part of the first stage, I carefully blot on the lower half (below the trim line). This keeps the potential damage to the lower area only. The second stage is started with a 2nd WW to pick up the remaining moisture. I QD at the same time to eliminate any potential water spots.



When washing and drying, to me it's about eliminating and reducing the potential to scratch or induce swirls on the paint. Using the 3 bucket method (1 for tires/wheels/underbody only, 1 for suds and 1 for rinse water for the rest of the car), using grit guard, sheeting, blotting, I can safely say my results show that I have no additional swirls or scratches from washing or drying.
 
Bruce Lee once said,"If it works, use it", now that was to answer a question a student had about a martial arts move. But the same can be applied here. I use towels, CWB and a Redmax backpack leaf blower (that's the commercial Landscaper version) to dry my cars. Let's stop trying to convince the towel people to be blade users and vice versa, hey if it works for you - use it!
 
JuneBug said:
Bruce Lee once said,"If it works, use it", now that was to answer a question a student had about a martial arts move. But the same can be applied here. I use towels, CWB and a Redmax backpack leaf blower (that's the commercial Landscaper version) to dry my cars. Let's stop trying to convince the towel people to be blade users and vice versa, hey if it works for you - use it!
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Well said - Bravo! Some people like what works best (in their minds) and you can't show them otherwise. It's like the old man who still uses that 20 year old tin of Turtle Wax Paste on his car. He likes it because it works for him. :wall You can't show or teach him otherwise. Just do what's right to make sure that your vehicle looks the best it possibly can. :bolt
 
Alfisti said:
Have the pro-CWB users on this thread ever used a quality WW towel?
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I use both, and a water sprite chamois and a blower to dry cars. CWB -> chamois -> blower and WW. CWB is used to get a bulk of the water off, chamois to get remaining, blower for the cracks & crevices and WW to touch-up.



I am in a commercial setting so time and materials has to be considered in my process.
 
Alfisti said:
I understand. :up But, is a chamois really faster than a WW?
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I don't believe it is faster and a WW does finish better (streak free). The advantage to a chamois is that it is easier to rinse out and keep clean making it more "reusable". I would have to keep a large number of WW's around to accomadate the amount of cars that we do, making it somewhat cost prohibitive.







Eliot Ness said:
Is the water sprite similar to the Absorber, kind of a soft and absorbent synthetic chamois?
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It is synthetic but different then the Absorber. I've used the absorber before but don't care for it much.
 
I was using the Water Sprite before moving on to MF towels.



It is a synthetic chamois that mimics the feel of a conventional leather chamois. Soaks up alot of water with a similar action to the Absorber and can be squeezed out. Like the Absorber, it was best used when layed out flat on a panel to soak up the water, followed by a light wipe to get rid of the small droplets left over. Worked well when new.



it excelled in pulling water from small crevices. Just stick a corner in a seam where you know water collects and watch it pull most of it out.



My problem with it was that like the Absorber, it needed to be stored moist or it would stiffen up to the consistency of cardboard, and for those of you who live in warm, humid enviornments know, wet storage eventually means mold.



It was a pretty good product, but the majority of my washes are with ONR now and I like MF towels better in that process.



I like the CWB for windows!
 
PINITI-FX said:
JELLY BLADE is waaay more flexible - new & improved version from the same manufacturer.
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For you guys who suggest that if a spec of DIRT is present, the CJB will drag the DIRT across the paint - look at the blade, water will carry that spec of DIRT (if present) out to the sides and then fly off the car. Leftover water can them be WW'd.
 
Another thing to consider regarding the CWB is the big plastic handle. It's not unlikely that one might inadvertently scrape the car with the edge of the handle. Granted this is user error, but nevertheless the chance is there. I could see possibly trying to dry in a hurry and/or in tight spots or 90 degree areas like where the trunk lid meets the bumper and accidentally scraping the edge of the plastic handle against the paint.



I know we all like to think that would never happen, but the potential is certainly there and scratches are never planned. Waffle weave towels don't have any hard plastic parts. The CWB does sound like a good tool for glass, though.
 
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