Best Way To Dry The Car

[UCF w00t]

Originally Posted by rolnslo

There's a reason I said I only use it for filtering rinse water. You nailed every reason not to use it for actually washing the car with their soap. Works fine for filtering the minerals out of my water when washing my black Expedition.

To be honest, I use it and like it. But then again, I'm not as anal as you guys appear to be. Works fine for my needs and is much easier than dragging out a bucket and other crap. In FL, especially during summer, it's going to rain again within a day so no point in going nuts with the wash heh.

[Thrillz]

Originally Posted by UCF w00t

To be honest, I use it and like it. But then again, I'm not as anal as you guys appear to be. Works fine for my needs and is much easier than dragging out a bucket and other crap. In FL, especially during summer, it's going to rain again within a day so no point in going nuts with the wash heh.

Honestly i wish it was a great product for the average consumer but it isnt. If your all about speed i can do it the the usual way in not too much time then using mr clean. For drying a car i use my leaf blower and a drying towel it takes no time at all. I then go over the car with some detail spray and call it a day. I Just dont like doing a half azz job when doing things like i said i have 2 black cars they dont lie about products if there good or bad.

[2010 SS RS]

Place a small paper filter over the air intake to protect from getting debris into the blower. A painters dust mask works great with a little duct tape. Then your blower will be much safer to use. This is pretty important subject cause this car wash activity is a daily maintainence item. If towels are used blot dry method is the only way to protect against scratches. Careful when using car washes as most use re-used water and you are throwing someone elses dirt on your car under high pressure. Spot free rinse is kerosene added to water...yuk! 2SSONLY you are doing the right thing by finding what works for you. When you find a method you dont mind it becomes fun rather than a chore. Hey chimps groom each other so there is no reason you cant groom your Camaro every day right!

[Sixtyniner]

I'v been using a blower for years, learned about from my local Harley dealer, works great, no damage. Just be careful with the snout. The Mr. Clean filter system works great too if you're on well water. Happy washing!!

[2SSONLY]

Originally Posted by hb-rocks

doood...just go buy one of those big Costco Patio Umbrella's that's sorta "Cantileverd" and use it as shade cover when you spend a hour or 2 out washing your baby....!

Not a bad suggestion but the wind here would have that thing 25 miles away before I could drop the hose to try to grab it. Maybe I could sandbag the base to anchor it.

Lots of good suggestions on this thread. Like Larry said, everyone's just got to get a system. BTW Larry, the blot method doesn't work for me. Could see the borders of the chamois.

Yep, I'm reading as many posts as possible and trying suggestions. I'm trying the leaf blower next time.

[Nexus6]

Originally Posted by 2SSONLY

Not a bad suggestion but the wind here would have that thing 25 miles away before I could drop the hose to try to grab it. Maybe I could sandbag the base to anchor it.

Lots of good suggestions on this thread. Like Larry said, everyone's just got to get a system. BTW Larry, the blot method doesn't work for me. Could see the borders of the chamois.

Yep, I'm reading as many posts as possible and trying suggestions. I'm trying the leaf blower next time.

Do you really want to risk that thing falling on your car? i wouldnt even trust it being sandbagged.The only thing short of bolting it down would make me nervous.

[2SSONLY]

As soon as I pay off the camaro I'm buying her an new house.

Or maybe I'll just build a new shop so I have all the space and specs I need to keep her properly.

[UCF w00t]

Originally Posted by Thrillz

Honestly i wish it was a great product for the average consumer but it isnt. If your all about speed i can do it the the usual way in not too much time then using mr clean. For drying a car i use my leaf blower and a drying towel it takes no time at all. I then go over the car with some detail spray and call it a day. I Just dont like doing a half azz job when doing things like i said i have 2 black cars they dont lie about products if there good or bad.

Living in FL, using normal water will pretty much guarantee spots. It will dry before you can get to it with the drying towel. I don't have a black vehicle so maybe it's insufficient for those but I've found it adequate. But what specifically about Mr. Clean doesn't do the job? I mean it's really not rocket science. You wet the car, put soap on it, use cloth/mitt to clean, and rinse. I don't have a black car but I don't see what the big deal is. The Mr. Clean thing just filters the water to remove the crap so you don't get spots when it dries and mixes the soap in with the water as it comes out.

[Thrillz]

Originally Posted by UCF w00t

Living in FL, using normal water will pretty much guarantee spots. It will dry before you can get to it with the drying towel. I don't have a black vehicle so maybe it's insufficient for those but I've found it adequate. But what specifically about Mr. Clean doesn't do the job? I mean it's really not rocket science. You wet the car, put soap on it, use cloth/mitt to clean, and rinse. I don't have a black car but I don't see what the big deal is. The Mr. Clean thing just filters the water to remove the crap so you don't get spots when it dries and mixes the soap in with the water as it comes out.

This is what i found silly about the system. You have to use a wash mitt no way u can do it and get a good wash without touching the car thats a given aka instructions that come with it. So now u have this wash mitt that u need to rinse out not using any buckets or anything with just the mr clean gun. It doesnt do a good job cleaning the mitt so now i pull out my buckets to clean the mitt kinda defeats the purpose of this system imo. On top of that with my 2 black cars it leaves this nasty haze on them aka the autodry setting. I used the system to a tea does it every time. Maybe its the water here in my area i dunno but the system simply wont work as intended they way they want it too. What proctor and gamble have done is produced a nice little system for people to purchase there over priced soap and these filters that make washing a car that adds up for a less then average wash job.Sure there is nothing to washing a car BUT if u dont want to add nasty swirls and scratch's to your paint which i hate then there are proper technique's u must use or you will have a nasty looking paint job in no time. Until i find something thats better then the system i use that does not put any new swirls in my paint i will continue to do it using the traditional 2 bucket system with a foam gun and fire hose nozzle.

[Katie.Gilmour]

Originally Posted by Shifty 6

I heard those things are made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff.

Thats what I have been using and they arn't that awesome...I am loooking for something else to dry the car off with

[themossman]

I wish I had a picture of the scratch that a leaf blower put on my M3. I have NO idea what it picket out of the air and blew out but it got me REAL good.

I used the california water blade to quickly remove the bulk of the water and an 'absorber' to get what was left. I DO NOT pull, drag, push, brush the absorber on the paint...I use it to blot...lay it down, pat, pull off. And if you use a water blade you have to keep it in pristine condition (the case it comes in is perfect for storage).

[MONEY]

Originally Posted by bcannan354

I like to take it for a ride to dry it off. Just drive it down the road at 70 MPH or about 5 minutes and it is completely dry. Nothing ever had to touch the car = no marks. Mom told me to work smart, not hard.

[MisterT]

Originally Posted by CamaroHutch

SHAM-WOW Towels while wearing a SNUGGIE!!

[firstmate]

Hi, I bought the Zaino products, and used them. But still have hard water so I get spots. Bought the Mr. Clean system, mainly because I wanted the filter for using on the rinse water. So I didn't use their soap, used my regular Zaino wash and washed that way. Once I rinsed the soap off with regular water, switched it to the filtered and it definitely made a difference in the spots I used to get.

The water kind of just sits on the car, so it stayed pretty wet using the filtered water. Then I used the California water blade, and cotton towl to get the left over water. But I do like the idea of a small type of blower to blow out the nooks and crannies where I know the water just sits...

But I want to know... What is the best, softest drying utensil? I did buy some of the Zaino towels, and they are very soft. But when I used them with the detail spray I could see these little shiny things on the car (black car), and they actually looked like little bitty scratches, kind of freaked me out!!!

Should I buy an old time chamois? I have had an absorber before but it ended up mildewed after a couple of years. Guess that should be expected, but is there anything else someone is using that they consider to be the best?