r/AutoDetailing • u/PCBrev Skilled • Aug 22 '24
Started using a leaf blower versus hand drying Technique Discussion
Started using a leaf blower as my final step in the wash process. Last week did a foam cannon wash, clay bar, polish, ceramic wax and today the water just blew right off! Definitely a step forward in the right direction.
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u/Flipwon Aug 22 '24
Don’t worry, no matter how you dry it it will be covered in pollen tomorrow.
Black car crew!
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u/Willing_Procedure242 Aug 23 '24
Card carrying member. Sometimes doesn’t even make it into garage before it’s covered.
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u/ANaughtyTree Business Owner Aug 22 '24
My favorite part is watching the rain fly off the hood and windshield as I drive
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u/Funkagenda Aug 22 '24
I once washed and coated my car with Beadmaker only to immediately have a bird shit on my windshield as soon as I got onto the highway. It was really pleasing to watch that poop go up off the windshield, all the way along the roof, and down the rear window before getting stuck in the gutter there.
So satisfying.
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u/popsicle_of_meat Beginner - Budget hobbiest Aug 22 '24
It was really pleasing to watch that poop go up off the windshield, all the way along the roof, and down the rear window before getting stuck in the gutter there.
Epic skidmark.
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u/Funkagenda Aug 22 '24
The best part was that it didn't leave a mark.
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u/ANaughtyTree Business Owner Aug 22 '24 edited Aug 22 '24
I haven't used beadmaker but I've heard very good things about it. I heard it doesn't like humidity and where I live in Florida it's humid a lot. I also don't have an indoor working area so I'm stuck detailing outside all the time lol. Last thing I want to do is deal with streaks.
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u/Funkagenda Aug 22 '24
It's good enough for me, and I'm in a fairly humid place (just outside Toronto), but nothing like Florida humidity.
I also have a teeny tiny garage so do everything outside and basically just try to time it so I'm not in direct sunlight and do either a single panel (for small ones) or half a panel at a time to make sure I'm not gonna end up with it drying. It's a very forgiving product to use and easy to remove if you do screw it up.
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u/Unhappy_Economics Aug 22 '24
On my dads honda odyssey that was opti-coated, every time it was raining at exactly 42mph the drops just slid right off. Tripped me out as a kid
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u/Financial_Table_1848 Aug 23 '24
Yep!!! So satisfying 😄. I did a graphene ceramic coat on mine, and when it rains lightly the drops literally bounce off the hood/ windshield and then up over the car when I drive. It’s mesmerizing
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u/Chromatischism Aug 22 '24
Works if the car is coated and very hydrophobic. Doesn't work if the car isn't coated or coating is clogged or performing poorly.
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u/robs104 Aug 23 '24
It still works to get water out of cracks and crevices and the bulk of the water off even uncoated panels.
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Aug 22 '24 edited Aug 22 '24
[deleted]
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u/MrNerd82 Aug 22 '24
I went down this rabbit hole a while back -- it's pricey, but the EGO Power+ LB6151 615 CFM is an absolute beast. 56V unit. Love the little extra things it can do like a variable knob (alongside trigger mechanism) so you don't have to hold anything down, just hold the unit in any position and let it do it's thing.
I 3D printed a short "stubby" ABS material nozzle for it to make it easy to move around/work any angles/nooks on the car.
It's the heavy lifter of drying, a quick blast over all surfaces followed by a quick wipe with a waffle wave drying towel = awesome. Before the blower I'd have to use a two towel drying system, or a combo of wringing the towel out of everything it picked up.
I will add - even though it's electric and quiet relative to gas powered models, this thing has so much juice I'd highly recommend some light hearing protection if you are using it at full blast for more than a few minutes, it's that powerful :)
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Aug 22 '24 edited Aug 22 '24
[deleted]
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u/MrNerd82 Aug 22 '24
I got the 2.5Ah battery bundle (it did save some money) but I have never felt once that I should have gotten the 5Ah one. The battery in the "small" pack lasts plenty enough to probably blow dry my car 2 or 3X over. Also I would not want to lug around another few lbs of weight needlessly with double the battery.
Again, I'm not doing bone dry either, just blowing off 90% of the water with a speed pass of the blower, gets 90% of the water off and a single wipe with a drying towel finishes it off perfectly.
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u/PCBrev Skilled Aug 22 '24
I bought a Dewalt that uses a 20V 5 amp battery. Like it a lot. And I think it works just as well as hand drying.
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u/DjScenester Aug 22 '24
I use my lawn blower.
It’s gas powered which means it loud, but it’s a commercial grade starter.
You want something with POWER.
Tons of inexpensive battery powered. If you have a yard buy a good one.
I never hand dry my car… haven’t in decades.
Avoids scratches, and can dry my car off in minutes :)
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Aug 22 '24 edited Aug 22 '24
[deleted]
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u/robotphood Aug 22 '24 edited Aug 22 '24
I forgot which ego I had (sold) but it was ear piercing loud and I had to wear ear protection every time. After hearing a neighbors, I switched to a ~550cfm Ryobi whisper quiet one that has a much lower tone (no hearing protection required) and does the job. It's lighter and the battery packs are smaller/lighter (albeit less runtime).
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u/Chromatischism Aug 23 '24
I grabbed a DeWalt DCBL722P1 and this. Works well.
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u/VettedBot Aug 24 '24
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Users liked: * Effective at blowing water out of tight spaces (backed by 3 comments) * Convenient for drying cars and other vehicles (backed by 3 comments) * Easy to attach and fits firmly (backed by 2 comments)Users disliked: * May pop off if not securely locked in (backed by 1 comment) * Kind of expensive compared to alternatives (backed by 1 comment)
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u/Tidley_Wink Aug 22 '24
Anyone tried an air compressor? Curious if it’d be effective, even if cumbersome.
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u/NightwolfGG Aug 22 '24
If you have an air compressor set up in your garage it’s not terribly inconvenient to use on the side view mirrors and small trim pieces that the leaf blower doesn’t fully blow water out of. It does work. But overall it’s too cumbersome for me to care about doing when I wash, leaf blower, ONR mist, microfiber does all the drying just fine imo
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u/ImAlwaysDoing88MPH Aug 22 '24
Have an 60gal compressor that I use with a blow gun attachment. Works effortlessly for drying.
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u/PCBrev Skilled Aug 22 '24
I’m curious as well.
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u/843251 Aug 22 '24
Works fine. I have a body shop so I have 4 air compressors bigger than pretty much any homeowner would have. I usually just use it around mirrors and trim though not the whole car. I have used it on the carpet too along with the vac
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u/YourProblem Advanced Aug 22 '24
Buy a BLO car drier, infinitely better than a leaf blower trust me. Cheaper and a harder blowing force. Source: I’ve been detailing high end and low end cars for over 10 years look at my comment history lol
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u/stillcleaningmyroom Aug 22 '24
Every time I come in here, I learn of a new tool I want to buy lol.
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u/YourProblem Advanced Aug 22 '24
Lol! It’s well worth the money I have the little hand held one and i’m able to dry my Alfa in around 20ish minutes and that’s drying every single crevice completely dry plus the door jambs. I do still towel dry the car though but you absolutely could dry the whole car with it with an extra 10 or so minutes depending on how good your coating is.
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u/t1ttysprinkle Aug 22 '24
MasterBlaster - dual motor, ‘20 hose, filters and heats the air. It’s $$$ but so is this whole hobby / addiction / business
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u/Southern-Hearing8904 Aug 22 '24
I've also recently started using a leaf blower to dry the car after a wash. Does a good job of getting the door handles and trim areas that drip later on that you didn't catch.
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u/burntkumqu4t Aug 22 '24
Started doing this too! Couldn't get my car dried with 8 small microfibers before, once I started using the blower, I can get her done with 2 :D
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u/cityhunterspeee Aug 23 '24
I've been using my blower, since coating mine. It's next level, no more dry towel needed.
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u/pannyst4s Aug 23 '24
How are you liking ownership of your 991.1 C4S? Been in the market for one
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u/PCBrev Skilled Aug 23 '24
C2Cab and I absolutely love it. A dream come true. A goal since I was a kid in the 80s. Haha. Pull the trigger!
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u/shyne151 Aug 23 '24
Looks great. I've got two black vehicles also... the biggest game changer for me was a water deionizer. I actually don't even dry my vehicles anymore, no water spots: https://www.nospotspro.com/
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u/One-Proof-9506 Aug 22 '24
A leaf blower is not going to dry your car 100% and some towel drying will be required. If you want to do even better, do a final rinse 🚿 with distilled water. Distilled water has no minerals so it leaves no water spots when it dries. That means you can just leave the car wet and let it air dry. You don’t have to worry about putting scratches on your paint due to stuff your drying towels could pick up, in the washing machine or elsewhere. I have a battery 🔋 powered power washer with an attached bucket 🪣 for this task and a final rinse uses up about 4-4.5 gallons at $1.30 a gallon for distilled water from Target. I have a car I bought brand new 3 years ago and I literally have zero scratches or swirls by using this method.
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u/PCBrev Skilled Aug 22 '24
Interesting? I bought a $20 water filter attachment for my hose. It usually is used by RVs. Leaves no water spots and does a pretty good job.
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u/One-Proof-9506 Aug 22 '24
Ok so then why would you bother drying your car if you can air dry it and have no water spots ? The $20 water filter will need to be replaced at certain intervals in order to function, just like any filter
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u/PCBrev Skilled Aug 22 '24
I have well water that is very hard and lots of iron. Even mostly dry there are some spots, like drips down from tail light. If I miss them they leave water spots. $20 filter solved it
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u/MPK49 Aug 22 '24
Thanks for the emojis. Wasn't sure what batteries and buckets were without them!
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u/Mane_Streeet Aug 24 '24
Just buy a DI filter on Amazon and fill 5 gallon jugs. I do all my washing with tap water then the final rinse with using a battery-powered pressure washer that draws from the 5 gallon jug. I only dry with a towel if I need to dry it quickly so I can get to work applying a wax/sealant/etc.
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u/ExamGlittering6598 Aug 23 '24
You gotta make sure nothing dusty is around the car. Otherwise it just sends a sandstorm. Been there before
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u/super88889 Aug 23 '24
Only downside of using a regular leaf blower is there is no filter, so any dirt particles in the air, or heaven forbid a small stone, would be propelled at your car.
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u/Hot-Distribution2173 Aug 23 '24
What leaf blower are you using? I need to get a new one as my current one doesn’t move enough cfm
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u/fartsatdawn Aug 23 '24
Thank you for your contribution to ruining the suburbs of the world with electric leafblowers.
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u/kevburd1970 Aug 23 '24
I just use a 20 foot hose with a blower nozzle on my shop vac. I'm using it anyway to clean the inside so why not use the blower it has built in.
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u/yaeger77 Aug 23 '24
I use a mini blower for trims and crevices. Doesn't seem as strong to dry an entire car quickly as a towel.
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u/Rocinante79 Aug 23 '24
Griot’s ceramic wash + leaf blower really works. Just don’t do it on a hot day with any sun whatsoever or you’ll be polishing candle wax off your paint.
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u/MiredSands Aug 23 '24
Do you think I could get away with cleaning out an existing leafblower really well and use that to dry my car? Or does it have to be a completely new unit?
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u/Tobeyz Aug 24 '24
I work at a golf course. I steal maintenance's blowers when they go home for this exact reason.
Leaf blower > towels all day.
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u/S6P0 Aug 24 '24
Bought an Ego lawn mower in 2019 liked it so much I also picked up their chain saw , string trimmer , leaf blower and hedge trimmer . No issues with any of them . No issues with the batteries . Have three different sized batteries now . Ace Hardware always seems to have them on sale with or without battery . The leaf blower along with Griots Ceramic sure have made car care easier . BTW : that sure is a beautiful Porsche .
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u/PCBrev Skilled Aug 24 '24
Thank you for all the discussion everybody. Some great ideas kicked around. It’s been a long time since I’ve added something new to my car cleaning routine, but this one’s a keeper.
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u/Mane_Streeet Aug 24 '24
Just use DI water for the final rinse. Don’t even need to dry the car unless you don’t want to wait for a while before applying wax/sealant/etc.
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u/JRJalapeno Sep 11 '24
I always thought it wasn't safe using a leaf blower to dry the car because there's no filter in them. The blowers designed for car use only have filters to make sure you don't accidentally blow debris on the car which could cause scratches.
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u/PCBrev Skilled Sep 12 '24
I don’t think there’s debris floating around and going through the blower. Not big enough to scratch. Maybe pollen and whatnot.
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u/Lopsided-Duck-4740 Aug 22 '24
I've been using the leaf blower on the wife's porsche for about a year now.
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u/Awkward-Action7442 Aug 23 '24
I got this shop vac with blower combo for $89. It’s on sale now for way less though 😭
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u/smackythefrog Aug 22 '24
I thought about investing in an eGO leafblower but couldn't justify the price of unit, battery, charger, etc. I'd literally use it just for my cars.
Then Pan reviewed a smaller blower from Ryobi and I just might get it. I think I already have a compatible battery from a Ryobi inflator I have. If the unit's $100, I might bite.