Does the Blackfire Car Dryer blow filtered and heated air?
Please advise.
Thank You,
Todd
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Does the Blackfire Car Dryer blow filtered and heated air?
Please advise.
Thank You,
Todd
Not sure about filtration but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t blow heated air.
And sorry to piggy back here... but does anyone have any good suggestions for screwing the blower tube on without it falling off? I don’t recall having issues with this the last few years (but I didn’t use it a whole lot) but now I can’t get the hose tube/wand to stay attached to the main unit.
Technically all blowers blow heated air as their motors heat up.
Any one that is marketed as blowing heated air is just that - marketing. Unless it has a separate heating element.
As to the filter part. Perhaps that sounds like a nice feature but remember your car drives through unfiltered air every time you drive.
I did buy a blower that advertises these two features but those features are not why I bought it and I don't feel they are important at all. If anything a cordless blower is faster and almost as effective.
I have the McKee's version of this and it works fine but it's cumbersome to use and I end up using my Metrovac Sidekick most of the time. Carrying this on your shoulder and that thick hose around your body is just not natural or easy to do.
They both have a filter and as you use the machine, the motor gets hot and the air going through it feels warm. The hotter the ambient temperature it, the more you notice that as the motor gets hot faster. I don't think the "heated" air helps in any way to dry faster as the drying is really coming from the velocity of the air.
So between a dryer like this one you linked to, a regular electric leaf blower, and the sidekick, I use the sidekick 99% of the time. They all work but the only one that isn't some sort of pain in the butt is the small sidekick. Sure it doesn't pack the same punch as the others but I find that it doesn't matter, I'm just using them to get the water out of the crevices to make sure I won't have drips or runs when I start driving it. The PFM will pick most of the water on the body must faster than one could do with a blower. Especially with how aggressive the beading is these days on ceramic coatings, I feel like I get to a point the blower just pushes the water around and it keeps turning into smaller and smaller beads but doesn't dry, it just moves away from you but then stays there for you to push it again from other side.
I think Andre or Bobby here at Autogeek are both pretty much experts with this air dryer, I can send them the link to this thread and hopefully they can answer your question. They are both slammed in their jobs so it might not be until next week.
If they can't get to it - I'll ask them and share their answer.
:)
Just to comment,
Most of my car washing is PREP WASHING - this means I'm working on NEGLECTED paint and this means I don't use any type of car dryer or air blower to dry the water off and instead use Guzzler Waffle Weave microfiber drying towels.
Here's why for Prep Washing I don't use a car dryer.
With a neglected car, the paint does not bead-up water. In order to use any brand or type of air-blowing car dryer, it's NOT going to work well unless there is already HIGH SURFACE TENSION on the paint surface forcing standing water to bead-up. When a car has a fresh coat of wax, synthetic sealant or a paint coating, for most of these products, they are going to cause high water beading. In these examples, a car dryer will work great to blow off the water.
No water beading after washing? Water is NOT going to blow off.
Now if I am washing a car that I've detailed and thus the water is beading up. I still tend to use the Guzzler Waffle Weave drying towels because the water IS beading up - it wants to get away from the paint and will quickly be absorbed or sucked-up into the guzzler.
I do use the FLEX Cordless Car Dryer to blow out cracks, crevices, emblems, door handles, windshield washer squirters, grills, lug nut barrels, wheels and tires, etc. Basically any place that is not a flat surface that can be wiped easily.
When it comes to car dryers - more power or MORE MPH is better. That and keeping a fresh coat of "something" on the paint that causes surface tension.
Even after blowing a car dry, in my experience, there are always going to be TINY WATERMARKS on the paint surface. These water marks will tend to diminish the overall gloss, clarity, shine, etc.
The way to remove them of course is to WIPE the paint with something. For me I will tend to use whatever is closest to my hand, something that is a waterless wash or a water-based coating detailer. Solvent-based products do NOT tend to remove water marks but instead, coat over them.
So because I'm going to WIPE the paint after drying it anyways, it's no big deal to dry the paint by wiping it with a Guzzler.
The reason I like Guzzler is not because I think it's the best drying towel, but because I think it's the SAFEST drying towel.
Because it has a FLAT WEAVE - it's pretty much impossible for the weave to become contaminated with abrasive particles. Thus pushing the weave of the surface of paint means you have reduced the potential to mar or scratch the paint. Blotting with a waffle weave is even safer.
Any type of towel that has a fluffy or looped nap has the potential to become contaminated over time. Contaminants, sticks, wood chips, leaves, metal bits, dead bugs, whatever? Can become LODGED in the fibers and hard for you to detect visual and even tactically. Thus you don't know your towels are contaminated and then when you use them you scratch your paint.
It takes HOURS to buff out a car and only seconds to put scratches back into the paint -Mike Phillips
Me? I'm all about,
Reducing the potential
:)
I basically use the blower to blow out cracks, crevices, emblems, door handles, windshield washer squirters, grills, lug nut barrels, wheels and tires, etc.(as stated above) since the coatings I have on my cars really allows the water to bead up well after rinsing ( with DI water). Then some LSP n drying towels to finish things off