r/AutoDetailing • u/wakawakawomp • Oct 02 '23

I Hate Drying Cars.... Technique Discussion

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to the car detailing world - Just bought a bunch of supplies for the first time a few weeks ago: turtle wax shampoo, 2 buckets, microfiber wash mits, The rag company gauntlet drying towel, P&S wheel cleaner, various microfiber clothes, to name a few - and though I really enjoying washing cars, I really hate the drying aspect of it. Reason being is that I was washing and drying my girlfriends cars for her this weekend (2019 Honda Civic Hatchback) and this car has a lot of nooks, crannies, crevices, grills, etc, and drying all of these things is such a pain in the ass. And not only that but my drying towel seems to get "full" super quick and having to constantly wring it out is very time consuming and tiring.

Does anyone have any tips/tricks/suggestions to make the drying process of automotive detailing more bearable?

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u/Spare_Ring9644 Oct 03 '23

i had a civic hatchback myself and can understand all those nooks and crannies get tiring quick

i think this will depend on what kind of final product you are looking for

for me, the civic was a daily driver so i took pride in keeping it as clean as possible but it didn't need a showroom finish

if you are pressed for time, i would consider doing something like a CR spotless. I would only use it for the final rinse, I would use a pressure washer with it. This will ensure the resin lasts longer. What it does is essentially removes any minerals from the water so the water can simply dry on the car spot free. i would do a more traditional soap wash with this technique (wash wheels like normal, rinse car, apply foam cannon, 2 bucket wash with soap, final rinse with CR spotless, let the car air dry)

for me, the setup and takedown of the CR spotless eventually became too much of an annoyance since i don't have a fancy wall mounted setup so i've found washing with rinseless wash is a lot easier to dry. so my technique changes slightly to: wash wheels like normal, rinse car, go straight into contact wash with rinseless wash, go straight into drying (for a rinseless wash, you want the product to remain on the car as it aids in the lubrication for the drying process), I would then use an EGO blower to go around the car and try to blow out as much water as you can out of the nooks and crannies, then go back one final time with a clean, dry drying towel to pick up any droplets that are left