Leaf blower followed by detailer

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aqus

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Hi I just purchased a black car. In order to reduce swirls and light scratches, I am using leaf blower after mechanical wash.being a black car it is not perfect I see many imperfections like water not fully gone spots etc. I do use a quick detailer to finish off and to remove last drops of water.
Question is doesn't this defeat the purpose? If I blow dry Instead of towel drying and then go over it to finish off with a microfiber with a quick detailer or quick wax, how is this better than just towel drying with a drying aid?
People with black or dark colored cars are you satisfied with just leaf blower,or do you finish off with something else?
 
aqus said:
Hi I just purchased a black car. In order to reduce swirls and light scratches, I am using leaf blower after mechanical wash.being a black car it is not perfect I see many imperfections like water not fully gone spots etc. I do use a quick detailer to finish off and to remove last drops of water.
Question is doesn't this defeat the purpose? If I blow dry Instead of towel drying and then go over it to finish off with a microfiber with a quick detailer or quick wax, how is this better than just towel drying with a drying aid?
People with black or dark colored cars are you satisfied with just leaf blower,or do you finish off with something else?
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The benefit of using a dryer or leaf blower is that reduces the amount of towels you use or need to wring out per car. After blowing the car, I only use 1 or two small 16x16 FTW towels with a drying aid to finish off.

How effective drying a car solely by air will depend on what LSP you have on the car. This is where ceramic coatings excel, but waxes and sealants allow for this too, although not quite as well. Last week I had to give my Mustang an express wash, I foamed the car down, rinsed and then air dried, no towel touched the paint. Doing this does mean you have to be a bit more methodical in your technique to avoid water drips.
 
If the car is absolutely clean 100% and you are using a quality towel you should not have any issues. I blow dry mine though.
 
We have 2 black vehicles..one coated and topped with can coat evo, other is not coated at moment. Leaf blower is extremely more effective on a coated car. Un coated vehicle always gets a wipe down after a blow to clean up what water didnt fully leave the surface. Coated vehicle...For a quicky ill just blow it off, it shes getting makeup then ill do a final wipe down with 3d bead it up. It is quicker for me to do it this way...so i dont chance water spotting.

Anytime you touch the surface you always take the risk of marring the paint. But that risk is miniscule if its a clean surface like luckydawg said. Unless you have soft clear

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I use air as much as I can. I think what I like most about good beading is how easy it is to dry the car with air. I can then follow up with a towel if needed and a detailer.
 
NJNinja said:
I use air as much as I can. I think what I like most about good beading is how easy it is to dry the car with air. I can then follow up with a towel if needed and a detailer.
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^^^This^^^
 
Air dry as much as possible followed by a detailed spritz n towel ( never a towel alone on the little bit of water droplets left on paint).
 
I too have 2 black cars and use a leaf blower, also the CR spotless. I added a small foam filter to the leaf blower intake, don’t want it to become a sandblaster
 
aqus said:
I do use a quick detailer to finish off and to remove last drops of water.
Question is doesn't this defeat the purpose? If I blow dry Instead of towel drying and then go over it to finish off with a microfiber with a quick detailer or quick wax, how is this better than just towel drying with a drying aid?
Click to expand...

Yep, that’s the way I see it. I only have a Metro Sidekick, but even if I had a Master Blaster or equivalent blow dryer, I don’t think I’d like the idea of using it as my primary method of drying because I’d still probably feel the need to go over most of the paint with a towel and some form of lubricant aka detail spray in order to get that perfect finish.

IMO the best way to go about it is to towel dry immediately after the final rinse and then blow dry the nooks & crannies while chasing the drips with a small drying towel.

Trying to touch a dried vehicle even if you’re spraying detail spray along the way seems like an unnecessary tedious task which will require a much heavier hand than if you were to simply glide your drying towel across the paint while it’s still wet.

You don’t really even need a “drying aid”
 
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Ever since I started using PFM towels I eliminated the need for a drying aid
 
Keep in mind too that water has no lubrication to it. A Drying aid will, which helps the towel run across the paint.

I use a blower to get a majority of the water off (saves time as mentioned above), then a drying aid with some protection in it to help lubricate to finish the final towel dry and add alittle protection at the same time until the next wash.
 
Lately I’ve been drying my car using a little quick detailer such as bead maker, DoDo, Wolfgang...or which ever I’m in the mood for and spaying a few squirts on the PFM, drying the car then going over the different crevices with a Ego blower, then following back up with the PFM.

seems to work really well.

JF


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SR77 said:
Keep in mind too that water has no lubrication to it. A Drying aid will, which helps the towel run across the paint.
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Water requires no additional pressure to dry off the paint, just the weight of the towel.

A detail spray or any product used as a drying aid will require some amount of pressure while wiping in order to buff off.

IMO less rubbing on the paint = less chance for marring/swirls.
 
I used to blow dry the cars I was working on but I was so out of breath afterwards... so I stopped ;)

Now a days it's spray wax with damp towel followed by dry towel.

If you want to take the time to blow dry first, go for it, it can't hurt.
 
I use both. Leaf blower then drying towel. I couldn't get by without a blower as there are a ton of spots that water gets stuck in on my F150 like emblems, grill, wide mirrors, under trim. I do rinseless washes so if I don't blow it out with the blower, it will start to drip down and dry on the paint causing tons of visible polymer spots/streaks. Looks terrible.
 
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