So I go out today, thinking I'm going to have a good day rinsing off the car and hand-drying her.

Wrong.

I purchased a high quality 100% cotton bath towel from Bed Bath & Beyond, then went to the carwash. While using the rinse cycle (wand), I discover. my first paint chip in front of the front passenger wheel well.



I drive the car around, park her in the shade, and whip out my $20 drying towel. It feels very nice. Anyway, I fold the towel into a square and commense to start drying the car off. In all actuality, all that happens is water is spread around the surface of the paint. I change the drying surface frequently by folding the towel over and around. Some water is absorbed, but not as much as I think should be. I think I imagined the towel touching the surface and water being soaked up.



So, 30 minutes later, I'm left with a dry car with lots of water swirls instead of water spots. It is very evident on the glass of the car. At least the paint doesn't appear to have any swirl marks.



I think I'm going to go BACK to that car wash, run it through the automatic wash, and just let it dry the old fashioned way... by driving it.

What did I do wrong??

I'm not looking forward to my first waxing if this is how its going to be... I think I need to attend a class on hand washing/waxing your car...

 

it's the cotton.

And my father recommends driving drying
Seriously.

 

It's better to wash the towels first in the washing machine, and don't use any bleach or fabric softener. They will be more absorbent if you break them in first.

If you're really ****, cut all the ends off. The ends may not be 100% cotton and can still scratch. With the ends cut off they fray in the washer, but better to junk up a $20 dollar towel than scratch up a $25K+ car.

 

Buy a Chamios

 

Get one of these: http://www.calcarduster.com/autoOrig...Waterblade.asp

Then use a towel to get the remainder of the water. Be sure to keep the blade clean though. I wiped it down after each swipe. With an old car it got something on the blade and put some scratches on the car. Once I started wiping the blade I never had another problem.

 

I have a rather different system. I use 2 large Bed Bath $20 towels, and a rechargable leaf blower. The blower is not very strong, but it does blow out all the water hiding in the cracks. Then I take one of the towels and just lay it on the car . I don't wipe. Just keep picking it up and laying it down. That gets most of the water off. Then I use the other towel and some detailing spray (I use Zaino z6, but others should work well) and wipe down the car, That gets rid of the rest of the water and the car looks great.

 

Leaf...

...Blower.

Wash the towels first

 

Dude, just read this...

http://www.autogeek.net/exterior.html

 

+1
Just be sure to rinse it off real good should it fall on the ground!

 

Ditto. I have two of them, one towel does the whole car just sqeeze it out and dry again. I also use a leaf blower to dry it and then drive dry the rest, this is the best way to avoid swirls.

 

thanks needed that

 

Get the Absorber, Walmart has it. Man, those things are awesome! They hold so much water, and it drys it without a streak with just one swipe! I keep one in my car to dry it after it rains too.

 

I 2nd the Absorber, just make the finish is SUPER clean before using it. But it holds a TON of water.

 

I use a leaf blower like mentioned above. Not only does it dry the car great, but it gets the water out of all the places that a normal towel (or chamios) won't... like in the grille. And it will never, ever scratch the paint!

 

Do leaf blowers have an intake filter? I was going to buy one but I was worried they'd suck in a piece of junk and smash it into the paint. Any thoughts?

 

I have a Toro blower... the intake area has a plastic screen of sorts, so nothing big can get it. I guess you could use a piece of foam or something that would let the air through but no junk.

I'm not sure what you could suck up that could do any damage, though. I've used it on previous cars with no problems.

 

The leaf blowers draw air from the rear of the blower. No worries about debris getting sucked up and striking the car.

 

Very cool... I'll have a look at one next time they're on sale. That's the only thing that's been holding me back. The neighbours will think I'm a crazy ****, but too late for that... They already did when I started up my car with no exhaust .

In the meantime has anyone tried a Air Compressor with a blower attachment?? Say set it at 90psi or so?

 

Just make sure you are using an electric, or an electric rechargeable leaf blower (I do). Many gas powered leaf blowers actually put the engine exhaust into the blowing air stream, and you don't want that contamination on your car.

 

All drive drying does is put the road dirt back into the water spots, I normally let it sit dry after wiping it down to get it completely dry, but I like the leaf blower idea too. .