My Drying Technique Sucks - Need Some Tips

[jsoto]

No matter how great I get the finish to become after polishing, it seems like I always end up with slight linear drying *scratches*.



The car is black and I don`t really blot......I do more a traditional wipe. My technique is to first use my WW on the windows and then use the WW on the paint. The reason I do it this way is because I find that my WW doesn`t really absorb water until it`s *primed* with some water in it.





Or is the answer more along the lines of...you`ve got black paint it shows everything..............

[Pats300zx]

Everything you need....



Perfect Drying Technique (http://www.autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5120)

[imported_Yosemite Dan]

99% of people have some marring or swirling on cars, the other 1% are liars. Don`t sweat it, even if you`re blotting while you dry, you`re still wiping when you wash and wax. As long as the towels are clean and you`re sensible with your technique you`ll keep it to a minimum. Even if you polish all of it out, in a month it will be back.It`s inevitable, as long as your car looks great in most conditions be happy. With a black car you could give yourself a coronary worrying about it. I`ve never seen a perfect marr\swirl free car on the road, I`ve got a better chance to win the lottery. That`s why I love silver, it keeps my blood pressure down. Out of sight, out of mind.

[ericthebikeman]

It doesn`t dry the entire car but if you take the sprayer off the hose you can just hose off the soap. Allow it to sheet off and that will get most of it without even touching it. Use your towel to get whatever this missed.

[Accumulator]

Well, I wouldn`t say it`s impossible to keep a vehicle marring free- I kept the S8 perfect for over two years while driving it year-round. Any kind of lighting, magnification, etc. etc. there were no swirls, cobwebs, *nothing*. And other Autopians have marring-free vehicles, too. Heh heh, no lie ;)



If you wash/dry carefully enough, frequently enough, and if you keep a good layer of a slick LSP on the vehicle, you can keep it marring-free. Easy? No, not at all. Possible? Yes, definitely.



jsoto- you sorta answered your own question:
I always end up with slight linear drying *scratches*...I don`t really blot......I do more a traditional wipe



There`s part of the problem. If you don`t move your drying towel across the paint (I assume your MF is a *very* soft WW), then you won`t get drying-related scratches. That`s why blotting works best for avoiding marring. But I can`t help wonder *what`s* scratching the vehicle. If it`s been washed, you should be able to touch it with a (soft-enough) towel without marring it. Maybe there`s still some (abrasive) dirt left on it after washing, or maybe your drying towel isn`t soft enough, or maybe you`re marring it when you wash (I suspect the latter).



Do a search for "Accumulator`s Non-marring Wash Technique". IMO, the real trick to avoiding marring is to get the dirt off the paint without grinding it it. Think about how tricky this is- the dirt has to move over the paint to get off (it won`t all stick to the mitt, and even then, once you move the mitt across the panel it`s the same problem). How to do this without letting the dirt scratch that paint when it moves across it? Answer: lots of high-lubricity shampoo and water- you "flush" the dirt off the paint, only letting the mitt touch the paint enough to do its job. If you wait (either to wash or refresh your LSP) until the dirt sticks to your paint, then you`re gonna have trouble.

[kpounds]

Yes read the Perfect Drying Technique posted above by Pats300zx. I couldnt believe it at first but the author had such conviction I had to try it. I did try it and things didnt look too hopeful until about 3-4 minutes later when I looked again and almost all of the water was off the vehicle! Its a miracle of modern science...or nature, havent figured it out!

[jsoto]

On my next wash, I may just revisit the synthetic stuff like the...absorber / P21s Towel.



I have my P21S sitting somewhere.....time to give this another round. I used this exclusively prior to MF/WW towel.....