Blow Drying Instead of Hand Drying

[Tank_McNamara]

I would never consider blow drying my car. Really bad idea.

I'll tell you why. There was a recent documentary on SciTech TV that took a look at these products. Kind of a "Myth Busters" type of show.

They showed that using a blower to dry a car is similar to sand blasting it. The units take in minute particles and blast them against your paint. Using a microscopic view, they showed that over time, it will damage the surface of the veicle.

Granted, some of the newer systems have nice filteration on them, but it still will not remove every minute particle that can get through.

I am not willing to take that chance and still stick to the using my good microfiber towels.

[Finemess]

If the particles are in the air, wont they settle on your finish and if you wipe them with a MF you cause swirls? I like the blower for speed and getting water out of all kinds of places you cant reach with a MF.

[CEE DOG]

Could you give us a link to the video or tell us the brand they tested?

[Bunky]

I would never consider blow drying my car. Really bad idea.

The Metro units have a filter on the intake unlike the typical leaf blower.

[Tank_McNamara]

Good point about the particles settling on the surface. I think the lesser evils of the 2 is the MF

Also, as we all know after owning our vehicles for a while, I know exactly where the water settles in hard to reach places. After washing, I will use my trusty Sears 6 HP shop vac (that thing will take off my shirt if I am not careful) and hit those spots first.

Then dry with MF.

When completed, I drive the car around the block and touch up the last remaining water that only comes out from driving.

[Bunky]

Good point about the particles settling on the surface. I think the lesser evils of the 2 is the MF

If particles are settling on the paint and you wipe them with a microfiber without using something like detailing spray this cannot be good either.

[CEE DOG]

I think the lesser evils of the 2 is the MF

Well, if it was true that a high quality blower with a proper filter would sandblast your paint then everybody would agree. But I haven't seen any proof of that yet. You are making a claim that all blowers will sandblast your paint based on a video that probably tested one brand. If you could provide a link to that it would be helpful to those of us that are considering spending a good deal of money on a quality blower.

[Tank_McNamara]

I am looking for that video. You are probably right that it was based narrow research. I have a friend who as an AirShammy that he uses on his Harley and he loves it.

I am still convinced that air drying is not the way to go. Those could quickly turn a small chip into a huge problem and logically, the "particle blasting" concept has some validity to it. Video or not.

That is what forums are all about. Sharing ideas and thoughts.

[ziggo99]

Well, driving through the desert while it's windy is pretty much the same thing. Driving and hitings bugs and dust too. Granted, the bugs and dust aren't moving at 140mph, but the point stands. I recently started using a blower and I personally love it. I don't think I'm doing that much damage to the paint.

[cobalt9123]

The microfiber would definitely be worse in this case. Also, mind you, the car has water on it. The microscopic particles would be hitting, a majority of the time, water instead of paint, and then shedding off of the car just as a rinse down. Dragging a microfiber over these microscopic particles and making longer scratches in the paint can not possibly be better.

I believe the safest route is to blow dry, 2nd place being using a microfiber and the BLOT method, not the wipe method.

[Mikejl]

What about the initial rinsing off the car before washing? You have jetstream of water at differing pressures, depending on the person, pushing down against the dirt and sliding it off the paint at varying angles.

I would think that would do as much damage over time as blow drying.

Mike

[julian]

I have not noticed anything at all that would contribute to this theory by said poster.
Mostly, You will use the blower (electric) at an angle of about 20 degrees, not blasting it head on.. I happen to remove just enough water off of the surfaces so that my mf with detailer liquid will finish the dry and detail process at the same time.
I would say the greatest foul may be forcing water into unwanted areas, such as the door windows (rubber moldings, seals) , or hardware that lets it sit in these enclosed metal areas for quite a while afterwards, which can lead to rust on parts that you can not see..
Hand drying is perfectly fine if you do not have to rush drying to defeat water spotting.
just my 2 cents..:rolleyes:

[fancyfootwork]

I've never used a blower to dry my car, but I can't possibly see this being equivalent to a sandblaster. These small particles are most likely hitting water anyways. I'm also assuming you would be in a clean area (enclosed garage for example) and not washing your car in the desert with wind blowing everywhere. Either way, a microfiber and air are going to do some sort of damage to your paint it's inevitable, but when it comes down to time vs. money, I'd take the money aspect and blow dry.

[maximus20895]

Right, put your hand in front of the blower..now put your hand in front of a sandblaster..see the difference..

[Bunky]

Done incorrectly, both can likely cause issues. There are not very good ways to dry a car and then probably not very good ways to blow dry it. The fact that so many respected pro's use blowers (just like the argument about sponges) it cannot be unilaterally bad.