Drying your car properly...

**Diesel917** · 01-20-2006, 01:04 PM

When using WW MF towels, do you use a lot of pressure or do you simply lay it along the paint and then drag it lightly???

Im asking this because Ive read good things about the Sonus Ultimate Drying Towel and it didnt work very well for me at all by using very light pressure in fear of marring the paint.

**BobD** · 01-20-2006, 01:12 PM

You shouln`t need to use pressure to dry the car.

Did you wahs the towel first?

**Diesel917** · 01-20-2006, 01:32 PM

Yup... no fabric softener... dried on low... the Sonus WW is like paper thin... Maybe thats the reason?

**z400** · 01-20-2006, 01:40 PM

Could be the towel. I usually use 3 towels to dry my 5 series. I first take the nozel off of the hose so I can sheet the water off. Then I take my first big towel (a poorboys ww) and get most of the water off. Then take my 2nd poorboys ww towel and go around again. Once that one gets kind of wet, I will take my meguiars ww towel and some spray and wipe and spray some of that on and then wipe the car down. It gets rid of any water left behind.

**paperchaser** · 01-20-2006, 02:34 PM

I`ve never had any luck drying vehicles with 1 or 2 towels and since its not uncommon for me to do 2,3 or even more cars in a day I use a synthetic chamois first and then do a Quick wipe down with my drying towel (I use a waffle weave microfiber). Though I must admit I`ve never tried using the free flowing water trick. I don`t know if that`s the info you were interested in but I hope it helps!

**shortspark** · 01-20-2006, 03:00 PM

The free flowing water does help and I also use a Sears blower to get rid of most of the water. Then I go over it with either a couple MF towels or a synthetic chamois. Never a problem.

**zippymbr** · 01-20-2006, 03:09 PM

I use a pakshak WW and just glide it over the surface. One car dry my entire van. I use a second to touch up the parts that did not dr the first time.

**White95Max** · 01-20-2006, 03:34 PM

I use two Excel Monterey WWs to dry my car. One picks up the majority of water, and then I take the 2nd one to just pick up any leftover streaks I can find.

I`ve noticed that some WWs are softer than others, and the stiffer ones do not lay on the surface as well. The Monterey WWs are very soft, which is why I like them so much. I don`t use any pressure on them. The wax/sealant is repelling the water beads, and the microfibers are pulling on the water beads, so you shouldn`t need any added pressure to soak up the water.

**a.k.a. Patrick** · 01-20-2006, 06:03 PM

You should be able to dry a 5 with one WW. I do my Expedition with one 24x36 WW. And its also a good habit to QD during/or after. If your leaving streaks, the QD`ing will erase any trails. The water sheeting method is a real time saver also.

You`ll also find the WW will get better with use, as the fibers relax more.....

**Accumulator** · 01-20-2006, 06:19 PM

Washing and drying, the least pressure necessary to do the job. And yeah, some WWs are a lot softer than others.

FWIW, it just took me three WWs to dry the S8 after first blowing most of the water off. Plus two cotton towels for the doorjambs/wheels & tires/etc.

It took one BBT just to dry everything under the hood. Lots of water gets under the cladding, for instance. By the time I was finished under there it was utterly saturated to the point that wringing it still left it wet.

I suppose I could`ve left a little water if I was gonna QD it, but I prefer to just dry it thoroughly.

**paperchaser** · 01-20-2006, 06:34 PM

I`ve always been told that using leaf blowers or any unfiltered air for that matter could be damaging to your paint in that your essentialy blasting it with dust from the air, thats why they make specialty dryers anyways I`ve never tried so I was just wondering what you all thought? currently I just dry as described above the about a half hour later I go through with QD and clean up any drip marks (from mirrors, door handles ect.)

**HardcoreHehaw** · 01-20-2006, 06:46 PM

I use the California Water Blade then touch up with a regular MF.

I can usually do about half a panel and then I have to wring it out.

Drying my truck takes about 15-20 minutes

**White95Max** · 01-20-2006, 07:08 PM

The California Water Blade is a big risk to your paint. One little piece of dirt is all it takes to grind a nice scratch in your paint. There`s nowhere for that dirt to go, so it just gets pushed along by the water blade. While the silicone blade itself will not scratch, any harmful particles that get trapped under it WILL.

Regular MF towels aren`t even close to WWs when it comes to drying ability. Grab one of the Monterey WWs from http://www.exceldetail.com and see what I mean.

**imported_Neothin** · 01-20-2006, 09:57 PM

I use a leafblower to dry my car. With the constant presence of a fresh layer of wax on the car, water beads up whenever it gets on the paint. The leaf blower gets this water off easily. The leaf blower also allows me to get water out of the cracks between panels, mirrors, etc etc that would otherwise leak out later and form waterspots. After blwoing the car off, I`ll QD the car.

**Accumulator** · 01-21-2006, 10:23 AM

paperchaser (any relationship to the film/TV series? John Houseman

: ) brings up a good point about making sure the air you use to blow off a vehicle is clean. I have two filters on my air compressor (one at the compressor and one at each hose hook-up) and I use a dedicated leaf blower with my newest gadget (an AirWand). I don`t think I`d use an (unfiltered) leaf blower at all unless I knew the work environment was clean.

What I`m doing now is- Use the AirWand to get most of the water off, finish up with WWs, blow water out of crevices/etc. with the compressor. Then I spend forever doing the doorjambs/underhood/etc. areas...yesterday I spent over 40 minutes

drying the S8`s nooks and crannies *after* getting the basic body of the car dry.