Critique my drying technique

GreatAvalon

GreatAvalon

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Hey guys. As the title says, I would like you guys to critique my drying technique and make recommendations to make it better and faster.

Method: After rinsing the car:

  1. I will sheet dry it.
  2. Then use an electric leaf blower that can blow to 230mph to dry.
  3. Then if there are any areas with water remaining, wipe them with Cobra WW MF towel
Problems:

  1. It takes a while to dry the car. So long, that water spots are inevitable, even when blowing the car dry in the garage.
  2. When blow drying the car, it turns one bead into a million little beads. The little beads do dry, but they leave a million little water spots when they do.


I have blown the car dry 3 or 4 times, and had water spot issues every time. How can I address this? Maybe go around all the crevices with the electric leaf blower and then dry with a few WW MF towels? As it is now, I feel I can dry the car faster and more effectively (i.e. no water spots) with a WW MF towel than blow drying.

Note: All the times I have tried my current system, the car's LSP has been worn off. Since, I applied a LSP (Four Star Ultimate Paint Protect, Signature Series II), I have not tried to blow dry the car, so maybe it will be better now.

Thanks for looking everyone!
 
Having a nice coat of wax will make blow drying that much faster as the water will literally fly off.
 
Sounds like your LSP is ehhh...I mean if you're using a leaf blower in the garage and still getting waters spots - no bueno imo
 
c8n said:
Having a nice coat of wax will make blow drying that much faster as the water will literally fly off.
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Ok that is great news. Thanks!!!

281 said:
Sounds like your LSP is ehhh...I mean if you're using a leaf blower in the garage and still getting waters spots - no bueno imo
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Ah, I left out a part - i meant to say since I applied LSP I haven't tried to blow dry to see. All the times I blew dry the car the LSP had worn off over the winter. But sounds like you are saying with a LSP the water should be rolling off the car quickly and with ease, which is reassuring! Thank you 281!!
 
c8n said:
Having a nice coat of wax will make blow drying that much faster as the water will literally fly off.
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I agree, with a good coat of wax like Collinite 845 you should be able to dry that car in 2 or 3 minutes.

Sent from my HTC One using AG Online
 
GreatAvalon said:
Ok that is great news.


Ah, I left out a part - i meant to say since I applied LSP I haven't tried to blow dry to see. All the times I blew dry the car the LSP had worn off over the winter. But sounds like you are saying with a LSP the water should be rolling off the car quickly and with ease, which is reassuring!
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Exactly!
 
umana2482 said:
I agree, with a good coat of wax like Collinite 845 you should be able to dry that car in 2 or 3 minutes.
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2-3 minutes?! Now I can't wait to wash it to give it a shot! That would be great - as it was with no LSP, it was taking about 20 minutes! Thanks for the info!

281 said:
Exactly!
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Ok great! I was thinking "I know people say to blow dry for a reason. They can't all be dealing with this as well. What am I doing wrong?!" Haha! Thanks again man, you always offer great advice

(BTW - Like you suggested, I ordered the Tuf Shine tire brush - you were 100% right, its so much better! Got to the white foam much faster with it! :xyxthumbs:)
 
For me, I blow dry as much as I can in the cracks/crevices. I make two passes on the entire car with the waffle weave.

The car is still "damp" at this point, in which I like to spray it down with a RW/QD and use many plush or WW microfiber towels. Treating it like a rinseless wash.

Drying is a process for me as well. Not a quickie job by any means.

If the car is not extremely filthy, it's rinseless/waterless washes for me any day of the week. Panel per panel, leaves no waterspots, and easier to dry.
 
You have the drying pretty much covered. I do blow dry my car and wipe off excess water with a quality WW Towel like you do. I still have my electric leaf blower but keep it in storage.

I switched to the Metro Blaster Side kick to blow dry my car. It blows pretty good and is way better to move around and way more accurate to get at the cracks and crevices (side mirrors especially). The Electric blower is big and bulky (and in my case LOUD). My guess is that will help cut down on your drying time.

As for the water spots, I would try a nice coat of car wax. This morning I found some dried Bird doo doo. I did not see it the day before.

I thought for sure I was going to get my paint etched or spotted. But sprayed the spot off with DS and MF towel and no spot or etching. I can attribute that to the coat of wax (Dodo Juice Supernatural Wax) on my car. I have 3 coats of wax on my ride. Now I know it was a good thing as there was no damage to my paint at all.

My long point is that you should try a wax as that will probably cut down on the water spots.

Otherwise, your drying technique is very similar to the way I do it.

GET the Sidekick!! You will not be disappointed! That will help.

Have an awesome day!!
 
20 minutes to dry is way too long if your using a leaf blower.
Apply a good wax and that should cut your time down by half if not more.
I blow dry and do get a few tiny water spots here and there. After your done blow drying use a quick detailer and they water spots should go away if you get them immediately. While doing that wipe any straggling water drops.
 
JSou said:
For me, I blow dry as much as I can in the cracks/crevices. I make two passes on the entire car with the waffle weave.

The car is still "damp" at this point, in which I like to spray it down with a RW/QD and use many plush or WW microfiber towels. Treating it like a rinseless wash.

Drying is a process for me as well. Not a quickie job by any means.

If the car is not extremely filthy, it's rinseless/waterless washes for me any day of the week. Panel per panel, leaves no waterspots, and easier to dry.
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Thanks for chiming in :xyxthumbs:

I have been kicking around the idea of using a QD as a drying aid and wasn't sure of the steps required for that. Now I do, so thanks man! I just started toying with rinseless/waterless washes. In the summer (or whenever Spring comes), I see myself using them often since my car doesn't get too dirty then...since theres no salt and crap all over the road. I was thinking of using that type of wash a lot when pollen comes too. Thanks for the tips and technique recommendations man!!!

ferret1980 said:
Also a spot less filters help!
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I need to do some research into that I guess! I have only seen the $4-800 cart water treatment systems here on AG. Thanks for mentioning that, I'll do my research :D!

Kamakaz1961 said:
You have the drying pretty much covered. I do blow dry my car and wipe off excess water with a quality WW Towel like you do. I still have my electric leaf blower but keep it in storage.

I switched to the Metro Blaster Side kick to blow dry my car. It blows pretty good and is way better to move around and way more accurate to get at the cracks and crevices (side mirrors especially). The Electric blower is big and bulky (and in my case LOUD). My guess is that will help cut down on your drying time.

As for the water spots, I would try a nice coat of car wax. This morning I found some dried Bird doo doo. I did not see it the day before.

I thought for sure I was going to get my paint etched or spotted. But sprayed the spot off with DS and MF towel and no spot or etching. I can attribute that to the coat of wax (Dodo Juice Supernatural Wax) on my car. I have 3 coats of wax on my ride. Now I know it was a good thing as there was no damage to my paint at all.

My long point is that you should try a wax as that will probably cut down on the water spots.

Otherwise, your drying technique is very similar to the way I do it.

GET the Sidekick!! You will not be disappointed! That will help.

Have an awesome day!!
Click to expand...
Don't say the Metro sidekick!!! I almost bought one of those, but the Craftsman leaf blower would blow more air so I figured it would be better. It is loud (but I wear hearing protection for comfort). It is bulky, but it blew harder. Maybe I made the wrong decision, huh :D

Definitely sounds like with the sealant on my car now, it should be much better! Thanks for the help!
 
rolop6 said:
20 minutes to dry is way too long if your using a leaf blower.
Apply a good wax and that should cut your time down by half if not more.
I blow dry and do get a few tiny water spots here and there. After your done blow drying use a quick detailer and they water spots should go away if you get them immediately. While doing that wipe any straggling water drops.
Click to expand...
I thought so! Will do, thank you for offering advice rolop! :dblthumb2:
 
Apply a coating, be done washing & drying in no time!
 
why dont you give rinseless washing a try? im mobile, and this is all i do. two bucket method. one bucket for rinseless solution, the other one for just rinsing my micro chinelle mitt. washing one panel at a time, and drying with a waffle weave one panel at a time. i never see water spots, and i can wash the exterior of a car in less than 30 mins.
 
Lexi65 said:
What are spot less filters? Feed back please. :buffing:
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I believe he is talking about a water filter. Usually can be put in line of your water source and will give a better quality of water. Less minerals to create spots. Kind of like the Mr Clean filtered sprayer a while back, but much better.
 
spiralout462 said:
Drying takes me forever also. So does washing!
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Glad I'm not the only one!!!
281 said:
Apply a coating, be done washing & drying in no time!
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hahaha no joke!
mrclean said:
why dont you give rinseless washing a try? im mobile, and this is all i do. two bucket method. one bucket for rinseless solution, the other one for just rinsing my micro chinelle mitt. washing one panel at a time, and drying with a waffle weave one panel at a time. i never see water spots, and i can wash the exterior of a car in less than 30 mins.
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Sounds like that is something I really need to put into practice this spring/summer. I have done it before, and have ONR.
fly07sti said:
I believe he is talking about a water filter. Usually can be put in line of your water source and will give a better quality of water. Less minerals to create spots. Kind of like the Mr Clean filtered sprayer a while back, but much better.
Click to expand...
Gotcha, makes sense :xyxthumbs:






As always, thanks for the input everybody!
 
mrclean said:
why dont you give rinseless washing a try? im mobile, and this is all i do. two bucket method. one bucket for rinseless solution, the other one for just rinsing my micro chinelle mitt. washing one panel at a time, and drying with a waffle weave one panel at a time. i never see water spots, and i can wash the exterior of a car in less than 30 mins.
Click to expand...

So good.:props:
 
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