Drying Techniques-What product to use?

[Striker]

Drying seems to take forever with a chamy. What do you guys recomend for the fastest and most effective way to properly dry a car? Im just sick and tired of having to rinse of the chamy every two-three swipes.



Any suggestions?

[BigAl3]

many on here use waffle weave or microfiber drying towels. using the sheeting/flooding method greatly reduces the amount of water left to dry up as well...



http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/autopia_2003_7395249

[Striker]

Is there a specific one that seems to work the best?

[Accumulator]

Is there a specific one that seems to work the best?



My current fave is the Ultra-Soft from Aloha & Welcome to Our Oasis for All Your Auto Detailing, Auto Detailing Supplies, Auto Detailing Equipment, Auto Detailing Products, & Auto Detailing Accessories for all your Automobile Detailing (http://www.pakshak.com/index.html)

[03k20a2]

a lot of people are gonna say the ones that they use but almost any waffle weave drying towel will work



what i like to do is once i dry my car i use some quick detail spray to go over it to remove streaks and water that i missed

[BigAl3]

Is there a specific one that seems to work the best?



i only like to use the ultra-soft waffle weave drying towels, and patrick/exceldetail (exceldetail.com) has the best pricing on them. not to mention... his service is tops as well! :up



Excel Monterey Waffle Weave Drying Towel (http://www.prestostore.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?ref=exceldetail&ct=29280&pd=133820)



also... at your local k-mart/kragen, you can pick up the viking x-large microfiber drying towels. they have 2 sizes (25x36 & 24x24)...



http://www.partsamerica.com/product_images/img/vik/837100.jpg

http://www.partsamerica.com/product_images/img/vik/988400.jpg

[steelwind101]

Personally i recommend the large microfibre drying towels, why? They are soft and and you can move them around paintwork. WW are more for placing on the paintwork and patting dry. If you happen to get some debris blown on your car then the WW has no pile in which to take the debris away from the paintwork and reduce the chance of marring.



I would also get a non-wax and non sealant based QD. Applying this on to the wet car will do help disperse water. Secondly, it will add shine. Thirdly, the if you have debris trapped on the car or some dirty water leaks out of a body work crack etc. the QD will do its usual action of picking it up and suspending it away from the paintwork. With the large MF drying towel it will be wiped away safely and easily!



Geoff

[pampos]

Sonus waffle drying towel & Miracle drying towel are great for me!!!

[jswift2000]

You can use a leaf blower or microfibre towels - do a search for the towels - tons of threads.

[htodd]

I just bought some of the waffle weave from PakShak and was absolutely stunned at how well they dry.

I`ve used other waffles, plain mf, absorber, water blade, and leaf blower. Nothing worked as well as these.

[ALAN81]

I use GG super big waffle weave towel. I can dry a large suv only ringing out the ww once.

[citizen arcane]

Leaf blower & ww here - leaving enough water to dampen the towel and give a few squirts of AW per panel, immediately wash the ww afterwards. Use an electric w/ GFI and rubber soled shoes if you do not want to prove Darwin`s Theory.

[Evenflow]

Meguiars Water Magnet, one of the best drying towels hands down. Its OTC too.

[SOCALEXO]

I`ve never jumped on the waffle weave or MF towel bandwagon simply because 100% terry cotton towels work best for me (not the paper thin cheap ones, we`re talking human bathing quality towels). I use the following combo:



http://www.the-absorber.co.uk/ekmps/shops/mjmarinesolut/images/lrg_mixed_absorbers%5Bekm%5D300x300%5Bekm%5D.jpg





http://www.oceantowels.com/images/RenaissanceEgyptianCotton_White.jpg



The absorber sucks it up and the towel finishes it off

[Accumulator]

Yeah, after I get most of the water off with the AirWand, a little spritz of QD and those PakShack WWs just work like magic :xyxthumbs






I`ve never jumped on the waffle weave or MF towel bandwagon simply because 100% terry cotton towels work best for me ..The absorber sucks it up and the towel finishes it off..



This isn`t an :argue as I can appreciate that approach, which I used for a long time.



My worry with the Absorber is that with no nap/indentations there`s nowhere for any missed/residual dirt to go, which can lead to marring if the wash isn`t 100% effective (also, I sometimes get dirty water seeping out from behind cladding/etc.). Still, OK...blotting/etc. can solve that if you`re conscientious.



I also kinda prefer a cotton towel`s absorption over a WWMF`s adsorption...it just seems better to me in some ways (OK, that`s mighty subjective, but hey, so what :D ). My biggest problems with cotton towels (assuming they`re nice and soft to start with, gotta do that CD-test!) is that mine always seem to eventually get stiff and coarse to the point where they won`t pass the CD-test by a long shot. This even happens with my high-end bath towels in the house, which I have to replace on a regular basis. Probably my water or something, but I`ve been struggling with this for years and it just keeps happening :nixweiss



But as long as you`re not having any of those issues, I *do* think your somewhat old-school approach can be perfectly OK.