Do you dry your car with a cordless blower?

[AngryScientist]

Never really thought about it, but it's a good idea! I do have an EGO blower.

I rarely wash my cars, but I do try and do it once in the fall to get a good coat of wax on them before the winter, and then again in the Spring to get all the salt off, and a blower would speed up the time between wash and wax.

Thanks for the idea!

[zmudshark]

I've been down that rabbit hole. AMA

I've found that a small blower (I have a Dewalt DCE100, because that is the eco-system I'm in) is terrific, with caveats.

The caveats being how the vehicle is treated. I have ceramic coat on one vehicle, and a blower is all I need. I have ceramic waxes on the other vehicles, and though a blower is handy to get water out of drip spots, it's not something I use every time.

The small Dewalt blower is one of the most useful tools I've ever bought. I use it for grilling, mostly, but also for blowing up the grand kid's pool when they come over. Handy for blowing out the interior of the car , and also light yard work, like porch/driveway and deck, patio furniture.

Buy one and see.

More important than a blower is correct microfiber towels, and proper use.

I'm attaching a picture of my 2005 Mazda Miata, which is ceramic coated, DIY. I use a blower on this and the water disappears.

I used UK Cquartz, which I see has doubled in price. I don't know if there is a better DIY product or not these days.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by sg8357

When it is about to rain, I spray the car with soap.
Science takes care of the drying.

that's a good method, i used to do...

[crcycle]

Originally Posted by sg8357

When it is about to rain, I spray the car with soap.
Science takes care of the drying.

I do use my Ego leaf blower with a shorty nozzle before I microfiber towel dry. I'm kind of a detail nut. If it rains after I wash/detail my car. Oh well, at least I have a clean wet car. Better than a dirty, filthy mess.

[charliedid]

I wash once a week at self serve wash and drive away.

[Spdntrxi]

I use my leaf blower then a chamois

[R3awak3n]

I use my leaf blower because I already have it.

My last car was ceramic coated, I will get this new one done as well but for now just use the turtle wax ceramic spray, $14 and does a great job for a couple months. If no ceramic (either temp or long term) then the air dryer does not work great, with ceramic you will have the car dried in 5 minutes its pretty amazing

[CAAD]

Originally Posted by benb

What is the goal here anyway? Some kind of show car level car-guy cleaning process?

I will admit I have blown a bike off with the air compressor.

I can't really imagine going to that level of effort for a car.

I would be really afraid of kicking up dust onto the car after I just cleaned it, or even micro scratches from something the blower ingested. I hand wash a few times a year and just towel off the parts of the car likely to spot.

Usually I just go to the car wash.

At a certain level I start to think car guy stuff gets pathetic. That said a few weeks ago I spent like 2 hours wet sanding my headlights and then reapplying clearcoat. They came out amazing, so there is a kernel of understanding. That's more about avoiding the $1000 or whatever it would cost if I failed inspection over aging lights and had to pay to have the lenses replaced.

It's actually a huge time saver. Takes me half the time to dry the car and just walk around with a towel to touch up and hit the door jambs. Dragging a towel around the entire car introduces micro scratches. The less contact with the paint the better.

Car detailing is just another hobby. Some take it seriously and some don't. People take pride in their vehicles just like some do with their bikes on this board. I guess if you own a Subaru you just wait for it to rain and throw a rag at it.

[benb]

I'm definitely more referring to the people where "car guy" is almost their entire identity.

Nobody like that would ever be hanging out here. We sometimes go to the local car meets and it's just an interesting crowd.

Anyone ever ceramic coat a bike? I hate the whole "cover your MTB in plastic" thing but if a ceramic coat made dust/mud not stick to it that'd be pretty cool.