Potential *pit marring* from blow drying

M

mobiledynamics

New member
With the DD all prepped for winter, and thinking about the possible winter regimine ....

Preface: Cars are always washed outside and blown dried outside.
I don`t even like blow drying the cars inside the garage and it will just blow dust, etc everywhere that might settle back indoors.....


Back on topic. During the winter, the air is so laden with salt, you can literally breathe/smell it in the air.
When I blow dry the cars, I hold the nozzle pretty close to the car, as I chase every droplet around the window trim, etc, etc..
Which got me thinking. From a micro/macro standpoint, is there a possibility I may be causing more harm than good doing this in the winter with the ~debris in the air~....Maybe I`m better off just doing traditional towel drying, which has it`s own issues in itself....
 
didn`t mean to sound like a smart a$$, I blow dry my truck every time its washed or gets wet and haven`t seen any evidence of piting or marring.
 
Unless you`re holding the blower right on the dirt..... I can`t imagine sucking up enough grit to get through and damage the paint.

Moreover.... if you`re drying it where you washed it, then the ground around the vehicle shouldn`t have ANY available foreign matter that would be airborne.

JMHO of course, but I`ll blow dry with 160 MPH air 1000 times before I`ll drag towels over the surface a dozen. ;)
 
Slightly off topic...

But do you guys use any specific car blow dryer out there... or do you just use a standard leaf blower, etc?

:confused:
 
metro air force blaster -- or the mini one of theirs for bikes are good ones

Those little mikita and milwaukee ones are what I use mostly

I wouldn`t use a gas/oil mix powered leaf blower
 
I have driven 120+ mph on a track. Trust me the junk that hits the car at that speed is abrasive. The windshield gets peppered with micro chips.

I will also tell you that I have used what I think is the Alpha Preditor or automotive drying the 8hp Metro blower and I have not seen and damage caused by using it. Before I owned that I used a toro leaf blower. While not as convenient or safe as the mounted /rubber topped nozzle of the metro it did not cause any damage either.

I`d say you can rest easy and continue to blow your car dry. You stand a far greater chance of a spec of sand getting into your MF and damaging the finish in my humble opinion. .
 
If you are potentially damaging your paint by blowing "salt dust" onto it, think about what happens if you take your towel, and press all the "salt dust" into the paint then dragging it. lol

I towel dry because there isnt a cordless drier that is easy enough to handle. ... so.. yeah.
 
Ray -

We talking weight or what re: handeling.
I`ve got a Echo Backpack blower....

But I love my Dewalt 40V blower for this application. I would not say it`s heavy , but it`s not exactly light either....that`s the price you pay for battery weight..Maybe 15 pounds as a wild guess. I am running them with either 6AH or 7.5AH batteries, which are considerably heavier than the 4AH. I just pick it up, squeeze the trigger and go. Run time is hit or miss, depending on how you use them. I would say you could do a whole care with a 4AH battery before needing a recharge. Run times are not spectacular....analogize them as like running a I6 vs. a V8 - gas guzzlers.

No extension cords to mess with, etc. No need to smell like gas, exhaust, 2 cycle hotness with the latter type of blowers.
 
The master blaster has a filter on the intake, that said unless you have the blower on the ground you should be fine.
 
well, I was hoping to find something compact so i lessen the chance of banging it against other things (like another car).. Do they make something at the size of a 3401 polisher or just very slightly larger? I didn`t look too deep into it, I`ve read a lot of battery powered blowers just doesn`t push enough air/dont last long enough so there is a lot of battery swapping.
 
mobiledynmanics:
You point about "air debris" is a valid one. Ask any mobile detailer who has worked outside on windy day; you just chase your tail trying to keep a vehicle "clean" from air-borne debris being blown about. Up north in the woods it`s even worse, with tree leaves, pollen, and fine dirt. Ever try to wash a car when the neighbors are cutting lawn who do not bag their clippings next door on a very dry day and you are down wind?? You might as well wait until they are done. (Do NOT ask them to wait: you may (will) start a neighbor`s war!)
One of the first things I do is blow off a driveway area that a car is being washed on to mitigate this "problem" when using a leaf blower to blow-dry a vehicle after washing. I also vacuum my garage cement floor and then wash it on a regular basis to try to keep debris from coming up and getting into (interior) and on (exterior) a cleaned vehicle. It seems like a common-sense idea: why do you thoroughly detail a vehicle only to get it dirty/dusty again from sitting in a not-so-clean garage.
I would also point out that those of you who do mobile detailing at someone`s home (or business) factor in time and cost of cleaning a work space (garage/carport/shed/vehicle bay/driveway) before you begin the process of detailing. Little things like this can separate a good detail from a great detail. Call me an obsessive-compulsive detailer.
 
Raymoche said:
well, I was hoping to find something compact so i lessen the chance of banging it against other things (like another car).. Do they make something at the size of a 3401 polisher or just very slightly larger? I didn`t look too deep into it, I`ve read a lot of battery powered blowers just doesn`t push enough air/dont last long enough so there is a lot of battery swapping.
Click to expand...

No way as small as a 3401.
Any decent blower will be sized appropriately re: your CFM needs.

Batteries are a different take.
A 40 4ah will get you to dry a single SUV with maybe 25-33% left on tap.

You can SHAVE off possibly 1/3 weight - 50% in batteries by going with 20V batteries but u will just need to swap more times and specs do have less CFM.

For me, there is no replacement for displacement
 
pretty much sums up why I can sit and wait for a better tech first. For now my trusty towel and pat dry works just fine. Sometimes if I have it on hand I use a can of compressed air to get the cracks. works fine for now.
 
Raymoche said:
pretty much sums up why I can sit and wait for a better tech first.
Click to expand...
It`s just semantics Ray. Good CFM - movement of air, is relative to the blower wheel....

If you want small footprint as per your other post, between cars, master blaster is the way to go....
For me, not a fan of the cord but that`s just due to how I operate it....
 
I have a 30` hose and my MB is mounted. Very easy to handle and very convenient to use.

mobiledynamics said:
Ray -

We talking weight or what re: handeling.
I`ve got a Echo Backpack blower....

But I love my Dewalt 40V blower for this application. I would not say it`s heavy , but it`s not exactly light either....that`s the price you pay for battery weight..Maybe 15 pounds as a wild guess. I am running them with either 6AH or 7.5AH batteries, which are considerably heavier than the 4AH. I just pick it up, squeeze the trigger and go. Run time is hit or miss, depending on how you use them. I would say you could do a whole care with a 4AH battery before needing a recharge. Run times are not spectacular....analogize them as like running a I6 vs. a V8 - gas guzzlers.

No extension cords to mess with, etc. No need to smell like gas, exhaust, 2 cycle hotness with the latter type of blowers.
Click to expand...
 
I`ve been blowing water off cars since forever, sometimes using a compressor with questionable filtration. NEVER noted any incidence of pitting/etc. from it. Not once. Definitely not an issue with my AirWand either.

Similarly, no problems from using a pressure washer when the vehicle is utterly filthy; no evidence that it "marred the paint by forcing the dirt against it".

Yeah, I try to do this stuff at an angle and to work "in the direction of off-the-paint", but I`m sure not pulling it off all the time.
 
mobiledynamics said:
It`s just semantics Ray. Good CFM - movement of air, is relative to the blower wheel....

If you want small footprint as per your other post, between cars, master blaster is the way to go....
For me, not a fan of the cord but that`s just due to how I operate it....
Click to expand...


I appreciate the advice, I don`t actually have a problem without a blower and I am not actively looking for one, and I can spend the time to build one if I wanted one bad enough. I`d like battery technology to move forward. You can tell me otherwise, but I am fairly certain that there is room for battery performance to improve.

Mechanically, I can tell you that there is very little to be done to make a compact high CFM blower that wouldnt compromise on heat, noise, etc. So yeah... I`ll look into a blower when I see something I like.
 
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