Leaf Blowers

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: Leaf Blowers

When I used a leaf blower, I used a cordless. It was effective for the first ten minutes before the battery switched to low output, but that was all that I needed it for. Then I would point it at my dog and let him pretend he was hanging his head out the car window LOL. The new lithium cordless blowers run much longer. The obvious advantages are that you're not dragging a cord so you don't have to fight cord tangles, dragging the cord across your paint, or having to worry about puddles. I stopped using it after I started using flood rinsing because the sheeting action of the flood rinse actually removed enough water where the blower was no longer necessary.

[Detailing by M]

Re: Leaf Blowers

........ Then I would point it at my dog and let him pretend he was hanging his head out the car window LOL. .........

classic John!

[Blueline]

Re: Leaf Blowers

Interesting. I never thought of using if for drying. Use it to dust off the car when I get back it after a few weeks before washing, and to start the BBQ.
Now it has three uses. (i don't have any leaves to blow)

Now that must be some BBQ.

[Top Gear]

Re: Leaf Blowers

For those of you with serious water spot issues like I had, there really is no other way to reliably avoid them than with immediate blow drying. The hose-flood method just doesn't work for me, and even if it did, I'd still be wiping for a long time to dry and remove spots with several MFs, probably creating more swirls. In another thread I raved about my 2-micron Whirlpool water filter on the garden hose, but I've since realized hard water spots are still possible with the filter and it's the blower doing the work by my drying before any evaporation happens.

Once you blow your car dry that first time, in like 5 or 10 minutes, you'll be dumbfounded at how much time and back pain you could have spared before and how clean the car really is. It also helps to be tall and/or have a lower car roof so you can blow downward, but you can use a kitchen step ladder if that's a problem. After a few times you'll get good at sculpting the air to move the beads, not having to do the same sections more than once (like around door mirrors), and preventing any wiping at all after drying. I'd say the leaf blower is the single best trick I've picked up from this forum - and that's saying a lot!!

[SpoolMe]

Re: Leaf Blowers

The hose-flood method still requires that i touch my car with a towel over and over, creating opportunity for scratches. I thought I'd be safe with all MF towels but scratches are making their way on anyhow so i think ill buy a blower. The less contact the better!

[davey g-force]

Re: Leaf Blowers

Top Gear you're making me want to get a blower now! Do you mind posting a pic or link to the one you've got?

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: Leaf Blowers

The hose-flood method still requires that i touch my car with a towel over and over, creating opportunity for scratches. I thought I'd be safe with all MF towels but scratches are making their way on anyhow so i think ill buy a blower. The less contact the better!

Agree with you! Lots of folks here like using a blower (I used to be one of them) but even a blower won't remove all of the water from your paint. It's a great way to start your drying regimen, but I still had to use a towel at some point. Whether you use a leaf blower or some other method and you still have to involve towel drying, try not to drag the towel over your paint. Try blotting with water magnets instead. I have modified my own washing/drying techniques using idea's from Garry Dean and other innovative members on this forum to where I can now wash my car with only two gallons of water. I last polished my car over 8 months ago and the swirls are minimal. This is the longest stretch I have ever had since joining MOL where my car's paint has remained looking good for so long.

[SpoolMe]

Re: Leaf Blowers

Agree with you! Lots of folks here like using a blower (I used to be one of them) but even a blower won't remove all of the water from your paint. It's a great way to start your drying regimen, but I still had to use a towel at some point. Whether you use a leaf blower or some other method and you still have to involve towel drying, try not to drag the towel over your paint. Try blotting with water magnets instead. I have modified my own washing/drying techniques using idea's from Garry Dean and other innovative members on this forum to where I can now wash my car with only two gallons of water. I last polished my car over 8 months ago and the swirls are minimal. This is the longest stretch I have ever had since joining MOL where my car's paint has remained looking good for so long.

Good advice. I still have much studying to do

[chiptouz]

Re: Leaf Blowers

My car is properly waxed and I use the flat hose method, but I still prefer to use a blower. All the water that accumulates in the trim, door wells, etc. just gets blow out. Plus I cut down on the number of waffle weave towels I need to use.

[Top Gear]

Re: Leaf Blowers

Top Gear you're making me want to get a blower now! Do you mind posting a pic or link to the one you've got?

Davey, here's the one I got: HomeLite Blower. Figured I'd get the cheapest and see how it went, but I've been very pleasantly surprised. Used it yesterday to actually blow leaves, of all things, and I've used it other than drying the car, like blowing out a dusty storage area, even blowing out the car's interior on the low setting to get dust out of the corners before vacuuming. It's not too loud, and has plenty of power for everything I've tried.

...even a blower won't remove all of the water from your paint. It's a great way to start your drying regimen, but I still had to use a towel at some point. Whether you use a leaf blower or some other method and you still have to involve towel drying...

Huh? Not true. I assure you, after I'm done blow-drying, the paint is totally dry. You must be making a few passes for the large beads and then stopping? You have to keep patiently working all the beads off from the top down (they will get smaller and smaller) and until the surface is dry from roof to rocker panels and in all the panel gaps in between, including the wheels and tires, etc.

Sometimes thin dabs of water can remain across the surface and create the dreaded spots in minutes (especially with black paint on a hot or windy afternoon) so I make sure those are dried by the blower. Still, that's only about 10 minutes of blowing effort. The only wiping I ever have to do after that is to use GC Quik Detailer to clean off remaining bug bodies or any fine dust residue that didn't rinse off (I only use suds-n-mitt if it's truly "dirty"), and I'll apply fresh GC Quik Wax every few rinses or so. But again, the car is totally dry when I'm done with the blower and needs no wiping to dry.

Oh, and with two cars, I'll rinse and blow one, then rinse and blow the other, because the water spots will form on the one very fast if not dried immediately. I also use the blower on the engine bay after rinsing it for all the same reasons.

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: Leaf Blowers

Huh? Not true. I assure you, after I'm done blow-drying, the paint is totally dry. You must be making a few passes for the large beads and then stopping?

True. And I used the blower extensively, not just for large beads. Not everyone will have the same results given the vehicle being dried. While you undoubtedly have a technique that works for you, I've simply found it much easier to forgo the leaf blower and traditional car wash altogether for a no rinse method that produces little excess water that is easily blotted by water magnets. And Followed by a spray down with either Last Touch or M34, all water streaks are eliminated and I'm left with a finish that glows.

When I used a leaf blower I thought it was the best thing ever for drying a car. Then I discovered flood rinsing which made the leaf blower irrelevant, and flood rinsing was eventually replaced by no-rinse washing using Gary Dean's method (or at least my variant of it). But like Mike Phillips (formerly of Meguiars and now with Autogeek) says, find something you like and use it often. If leaf blowers work best for you I wouldn't change a thing. For me it's simply faster and more efficient to use the method I just described..

[Top Gear]

Re: Leaf Blowers

CE, I can't imagine why any paint could possibly still be wet after a supposedly thorough blowing...unless you were just impatient at the time or if your blower wasn't strong enough on "hi"?? I set mine on 150MPH "hi" and hold the end of the long nozzle mere inches from the paint moving slowly, not leaving a panel/area until it is dry. The roar of the air over something like a door mirror is as loud as the blower motor itself, if that tells you anything. If I'm impatient with an area and leave tiny beads too long, they can create very small water spots, say on the windows. Despite the noise, there is a Zen to drying this way.

My experience with the flood method was just the opposite as yours, too. I had to walk over and turn off the water, then take the sprayer off, then turn the water back on, which was now hosing water all over the place, so I might have to adjust it. Then, I had to carefully move around the car keeping the hose off of it trying to make a heavy-beading waxed surface sheet/flood, only to see splatter and tiny beads more than true flooding. Then I'd go turn the water off and put the sprayer back on. For my trouble the car was effectively no drier than when I'd started, yet all the tiny beads weren't big enough to roll off and were drying quickly while I wasn't looking. I then picked up the blower and properly dried the car with far less effort. So, maybe I did the flooding wrong, but regardless, the extra trouble monkeying around with a silly water hose and all the wasted water splashing around were signals it was the wrong direction for me. So, I chose a noisy Zen

[s word]

Re: Leaf Blowers

I constantly use both methods.
Waffle weave and x-press spray wax it pretty thorough and the spray wax aids in fast drying with no streaking.
Leaf blower helps with annoying areas ie lights, body gaps, doors, mirrors...I use corded.

But still the most fun and cost effective leaf blower is the poor mans version...drive the car around the block
As long as you have dried the car thoroughly the little bit of water that comes out will not catch enough dust to ruin your paint.

[Pip Poppy]

Re: Leaf Blowers

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

I purchased a Makita cordless 18v leaf blower and used it today.
Whilst it blows the majority of the water away, it seems to leave thousands of very small beads which is not a good look on black paint, so I have to 'touch' the car and wipe it down anyway.

I found the blower to be very good at reducing the water in those annoying water holding spots that all cars have but still had to go for a drive around the block the get rid of the last of the water.

The blower won't cut down on my washing/drying time but it does give me a bit more fun.

[CCC4me]

Re: Leaf Blowers

I second the air compressor recommendation. I already have it out in order to blow out the microfiber pads, and it works far better than a blower in cracks and crevices. Not quite as quick on larger panels, but the ease of carrying only the nozzle around and not having to get out one more item more than offsets that. Besides, when the sheeting method is used, there isn't much to blow off anyways.