Drying your car..

[Top Gear]

Re: Drying your car..

The best tool is actually an air compressor...One problem with the blower is you have to be careful where you aim it. You don't want to aim it at the ground and blow dust, gravel, and sand up onto your clean car. Again, this is why the blow gun is better as it is easier to aim. For example, I can get under the rocker panels and blow up instead of blowing down onto the ground and getting back blast. For the interior, a blow gun is essential as nothing else can be aimed carefully enough. But I have to admit I used the leaf blower on the interior of my offroad car yesterday. The whole interior was really dirty and dusty. I should have used a vacuum, but I was lazy so I just opened the door and blew it out. I would not do that on a cleaner car as it would blow dirt from the floor onto cleaner surfaces and into cracks. Still, even on the cleanest interiors, a vacuum can't get everywhere or everything. I use a blow gun and a vacuum at the same time to catch what I'm blowing out.

This hasn't been an issue for me. Assuming the car is on some type of driveway, the water splashes down and rinses dust and dirt away during the wash. If very flat/level, you can help that along by shooting water under the car. So, blowing upward isn't necessary, since the challenge is to blow the beads down and off before spots form. I do blow up and around through the wheels and wells to prevent spotting there, but the nearby paint is usually already dry.

I do keep the blower pointed at the car, though, obviously, so yes, it takes some practice. The mistake I made early on was to wave the thing around like it was a water hose. This either does less work than is needed, or blows water drops up and around back onto dry areas creating more work. What's fast and efficient is to move the blower slowly and hold it fairly steady, letting the air do the work. The end of the blower might be kinda close to the paint, but the air is moving across the surface. For the roof, back glass, trunk, windshield and hood, I'm not stepping more than a few feet, on the sunnier or windier side.

The interior blowout is great for dust/pollen and not so much for sand/dirt. I've learned to open both (coupe, or all) doors, ensure nothing is going to fly away, and blow through the car from both sides, rather than blowing into cracks or down at the floor mats, unless the mats are very clean. Usually a near cloud of dust comes out the other side Generally, because this creates an indirect high pressure wind that lifts dust/pollen into the stream and away rather than pushing it into corners, so again, it's not like what you'd do with a vacuum, which is to get into those corners. If I'm doing a more involved interior clean, I'll follow the blower with the vacuum as normal and do the other touches.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Drying your car..

The best tool is actually an air compressor, but one powerful enough to do a good job is expensive.

Good point. I only use my compressor (22 gallon Snap-On) with my Tornador air gun to dry wheels and tires (truly amazing for that) and to blow water from trim, the grille, door jambs, fuel filler pockets, etc. Blow gun in one hand, Water Magnet in the other after drying the main body panels. Works like a charm, but again, you've got to have a fair bit of air moving for that Tornador gun.