Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

Thanks for taking one for the team. Let us know how it works for you.

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Order an Air Wand

Yes, that's would be an interesting comparison, but I don't own a leaf blower and I threw out my 20 year old shop vac a few months ago and haven't had the need to replace it yet.

Do you use a leaf blower or shop vac to dry your car?

Mike

Yes and no. I picked up a cheap shop vac a few weeks ago after I posted a thread asking for advice on the best way to force residual water from the mirror housing, fuel door, and door handles. People suggested leaf blowers, pancake compressors, and shop vacs. I still dry my car using water magnets and the blotting method, but I use the shop vac for the crevices.

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

Kewl!
Looks like you can compair it to a leaf blower.
waiting for the review.......

[Mikejl]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

UPS dropped off my new toy today.

Since I didn't already have a leaf blower I ordered the complete package, the Air Wand and Barracuda 2595 blower. Both boxes arrived wrapped as single package.



Boxes were inspected and found free of damage.







Contents of boxes laid out for inspection.



The felt protecting the the air outlet of the wand looks and feels good enough to prevent anything more than a little marring if it accidentally hits the paint surface.





I'll post more after I have had a chance to read the directions and assemble for use.

Mike

[Carfire]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

Looks Cool!!
Can Not Wait to Hear The Results!!

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

I'm going to help Mike out on Saturday.
We should make a good write up with great pictures!
Thanks Mike!

[TxRado]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand



Waiting patiently. Can't wait to see how this turns out. I just posted a thread a few days ago about the return of micro-marring after just one wash. This looks like a great tool to fix my issues. However I still haven't determined if it's my washing or drying that's ruining the paint.

[Mikejl]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

Saturday morning was perfect for washing your car here in Southern California. Cool and Overcast. Mario arrived around 10 am to help me test out the Air Wand do a comparison of the Air Wand vs leaf blower. We each washed and dried our own cars while the other snapped pictures of the process. For those that like all the details, here is the process we used to wash the cars:

Meguiar's Gold Class Shampoo
3 Meguiar's Microfiber Wash Mitt's (I used one Mitt for the whole car while Mario likes to use 2 Mitts at the same time)
3 bucket method - Separate bucket for cleaning wheels
Various tire brushes
Washing Tires first, then from the top on down.

The review below is from my perspective only. Mario will post his own review to this thread later. I was first up and used only the Air Wand for Drying. Mario did the comparison testing between the leaf blower and the Air Wand. He did about half the car with the leaf blower, then we wet the car down again and he used the Air Wand to dry the whole car.

Using the Air Wand:

I was worried that wearing the Barracuda 2595 blower and weilding the Air Wand would be cumbersome, but that is not the case. It isn't uncomfortable or very difficult to use. I tended to use one hand to keep the blower next to my body while the other hand wielded the Air Wand. This method worked well, but does requires the use of some strenth, Otherwise the Air Wand is easy to control. By the time I finished drying the car, the arm holding the Air Wand was starting to get fatigued. Another thing, the Barracuda 2595 blower is loud so I strongly recommend using ear protection.

It is fairly is fairly easy to keep the wand off the paint because the blowing action is pushing against your hand and away from the paint, although a couple of times I lightly touched the paint with the felt. It didn't leave any marring that I could see. You need to stand back from the car a little to keep the hose away from the car, but this was not difficult as the hose and Air Wand are a good length and not so long as to be cumbersome to wield.

As the pictures show, the Air Wand does a good job of blowing water off the car in a controled way. It worked real well for the drying the sides, the front bumper and grill, the door handles, the mirrors, and made quick work drying the tires and rims. It was a little awkward trying to dry around the rear license plate and where the bumper meets the trunk and I spent more time on that area than I think is necessary. A few times I blew water back onto areas I had already dried, but I blame that on poor technique.

The wand did a fair job on blowing water out of the crevices and when I drove the car to park it in the street saw much fewer drips than I do when using WW Towels to dry. I still needed to use a towel on the inside on the trunk, hood, and door jams. Next time I will try the Air Wand on the inside off the trunk and door jams.

The Big Air Wand Bummer:

There is one significant issue we both experienced. As the Air Wand blows the the water it creates some very tiny little water droplets that dry very quickly as tiny little water spots. I would guestimate that they were over about 40% of the car. They were easily removed with Last Touch and an Ultimate Wipe Microfiber, but it still bummed me out because I bought the Air Wand to use as a touchless drying method so I wouldn't have to go over the car with a towel after washing. Except for maybe some light blotting with a WW MF towel.

After spending some time thinking about this I realized I could make this a non issue by UQW or Waxing after every wash. I was doing this before anyway. It turns out Mario also does a UQW after washing his cars.

Air Wand vs. Leaf Blower

While the leaf blower will dry the car, it blows water in all directions and IMO slower than the Air Wand. The shape of the air wand alone makes it a better option than the leaf blower for drying a car and gives you the most control for force air drying.

Summary:

Except for the tiny water spots, I have to give the Air Wand a thumbs up. It took about the same amount of time to dry using the Air Wand as it did the conventional method. I know I can take some time off the drying process once I perfect my technique. For this first use I used the wand on the hood first because it was the best place to see the Air Wand work, however, that isn't the best place to start and I will try from the top down next and make changes until I get my process dialed in. I really like the way it dried the tires and rims and that alone saved me a ton of time.

The Air Wand is actually fun to use and I will probably use it after every wash in the future.

Mike

and now the pictures...

































more pictures coming shortly...

[Mikejl]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

Mario's Mercedes ...













































If you look closely at this picture you can see the tiny water spots



Finally, Mario using Last Touch to remove the leftover water spots. UQW also easily removes the water spots



Thank you for looking.

Mike

[Tuck91]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

nice review/writeup

looks like a good product

[Carfire]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

Great Review!!
Thanks for The Info!!
Thanks for Taking one for the Team!!
I think I am still going to stick with traditional methods.

[imacarnut]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

Some people have to realize (not directed towards you) that a leaf blower/drying device(s) (doesn't work well unless you have a good coat of wax/sealant) isn't a total replacement for drying (I know no one claims it be, just saying) and if you do it in the summer, you have to be careful otherwise you will get waterspots. I've been using a leaf blower for yeeaars and find it more useful to get water out of the tight spots such as in/around emblems, wiper blades/air vents, gas cap door, wheels/rims, headlights/taillights, door handles, etc, etc...

[Hemin8r]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

Nice write up Mike, thanks. Nice looking neighborhood too.

[Fischer]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

Looks pretty awesome. It doesnt seem like something I would want but looks very useful. I prefer to use a small air compressor to blow out all the small crevices and what not.

When it comes to the water spots, what if you were to maybe add a MF roller behind the wand or something similar?

[roushstage2]

Re: Taking One For The Team - Ordered an Air Wand

Nice write up, thanks! Looks like it would especially be useful on a car like mine where there are lots of cracks and crevices for water to hide and large surfaces like on a truck!