Another Air Wand Thread (my review)

Accumulator said:
Eliot Ness- I don't know for sure, but I'd *strongly* suspect that they never improved the thing and I'd be surprised if they still off an Autopian discount, but you could always ask nicely ;)



The advantage the AirWand has over a regular leaf blower comes from the design of its nozzle. I didn't do much experimenting/comparing as a regular leaf blower didn't seem to work well for me, but I'm still using the AirWand at every wash and each time I use it I get a little better at employing it with the maximum benefit. It's sorta like the foamgun in that no matter how many times I use it, there's still a little tweaking of the technique that occasionally comes to light.



No question about it, I'm absolutely sold on the thing. But I still need the compressor to blow out the nooks and crannies ;)



Easy for me to spend *your* money ;) but I'm sure glad I bought mine.
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I have contacted them about the discount and will report back if they respond.



Since the leaf blower didn't work well for you either, but you seem to like the Air Wand, I might just order one and give it a shot. I've got a compressor for the tight places, but it would be nice to speed up the drying on some of the larger cars around here..... like the wife-mobile mini-van.



I had some friends come down from Columbus last month for a local car show and after dinner I washed one of their cars (a '57 Nomad) with the foam gun....... they were quite impressed. I later gave the owner of the Nomad's wife the link to a foam gun at Danase for a Christmas gift idea. Next year maybe I can whip out an Air Wand, if for nothing else just to see their reaction :chuckle:
 
Can you use a regular 2" vacuum hose with the air wand? I would like to use my detachable ridgid blower with about 10-15 ft of heavy duty vacuum hose, which I can purchase locally. Or is the hose a "special" diameter? D
 
ebpcivicsi said:
Can you use a regular 2" vacuum hose with the air wand? I would like to use my detachable ridgid blower with about 10-15 ft of heavy duty vacuum hose, which I can purchase locally. Or is the hose a "special" diameter? D
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I'm not sure, but if you go to their installation page it shows that the hose "locks" into both the blower and the Air Wand. That leads me to believe it might be tricky using it with a vacuum hose or a leaf blower with a different way of locking the attachments on.
 
Eliot Ness said:
I'm not sure, but if you go to their installation page it shows that the hose "locks" into both the blower and the Air Wand. That leads me to believe it might be tricky using it with a vacuum hose or a leaf blower with a different way of locking the attachments on.
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yes, I saw that--I figured that it was proprietary. :D
 
ZoranC said:
Newb wonders what's the BCC? :nixweiss
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BetterCarCare.com, they’re a sponsor here. They used to have their own forum but it got severely hacked and all those discussions are gone. They now have a slot here in the sponsors’ forums area.







ebpcivicsi said:
Can you use a regular 2" vacuum hose with the air wand? …
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With enough duct tape you can use anything. :D





PC.
 
If I didn't stress this before, using a slick LSP makes a big difference in how well the AirWand works. When I use it on something with a "dead" finish it doesn't move the water off very well but man does it work on something that has Collinite on it.



IIRC (haven't thought about it since I put the thing together), the hose fits with a graduated/stepped, friction type of fit as opposed to some fancy proprietary locking mechanism. Nontheless, I just bought the whole kit with the dedicated blower, seemed like the best option for *me*. I'd get a long electrical cord and dedicate that to the application too, beats connecting/un all the time (you gotta wrap the cord around a fitting so it doesn't come unplugged). The package works well, like the blower, hose and nozzle are just right for each other, but then I have kinda short arms and I can imagine somebody with a longer reach wanting a few inches more hose.



Noting that I take forever to wash anything, the combo of foamgun/BHB and airwand is really super for quickie washes, especially of the beater-Blazer. And yeah, the airwand is worth it just for the job it does on the minivan.
 
POTENTIAL DANGER WARNING: Please be advised that when I go to AirWand's site Windows Defender alerts me of Win32/Wmfap security exploit in it. Thank you!
 
ZoranC said:
POTENTIAL DANGER WARNING: Please be advised that when I go to AirWand's site Windows Defender alerts me of Win32/Wmfap security exploit in it. Thank you!
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I haven't had any problems going there with Firefox, but I just tried it with IE 7 and my McAfee screamed about some Trojans it deleted.
 
Sorry to bring up such an old thread, but I couldn't find any old threads on it. How does the Air Wand perform on like the door panels and surfaces that aren't as linear as the hood?
 
Sylverlee said:
Sorry to bring up such an old thread, but I couldn't find any old threads on it. How does the Air Wand perform on like the door panels and surfaces that aren't as linear as the hood?
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While it obviously works best on smooth/flat surfaces, it works fine on the doors/etc. as well, you needn't worry about that.



That's as long as the LSP is remotely healthy though; every now and then I do a service loaner or something else that's been neglected, and the AirWand is next to useless on an unwaxed finish.



Oh, and I still have to use the air compressor to get water out of nooks and crannies and I still have to dry with a WWMF. Much as I do *really* like the AirWand, it's not a miracle worker and I wouldn't want anybody to have unrealistic expectations. I use it every wash though and wouldn't be without it.
 
sorry to resurrect an old thread, but Accumulator... do you still use the air wand and has the quality build gotten worse?



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BigAl3 said:
sorry to resurrect an old thread, but Accumulator... do you still use the air wand and has the quality build gotten worse?
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You bet I still use it :D IME there's a learning curve to the thing..how to hold it, how to direct the airflow. It's not like it's tricky or anything, but there's a world of difference between "just blowing the water off" and doing the same in the optimal manner ;) Sorta like a foamgun or a polisher if you get my drift. Without real *thought* behind it, it's simply another gizmo that you can do without (not that the requisite thought will cramp your brain or anything :chuckle: ).



The build quality...eh...:nixweiss I doubt they're much different now than they were when I got mine. The hose/nozzle attachment wore out (or was it the hose/blower attachment :confused: Sorry, I forget..) and I'm glad I had a firm grip on things!



I ordered replacement parts and now all is well again. Overall it's holding up fine, though the wire loops that the shoulder strap attach to are getting kinda bent up.



Maison- Argh...I can't find my product info and I'm not gonna pull it apart (lest I hasten the abovementioned wearing-out). I eyeball it at around 2.5-2.75" but don't go buying parts based on that as it's strictly a wild-@$$ed guess.



Denzil- I'd sure like somebody to improve on this idea, but IMO the one you linked isn't as good. A few potential issues:



-Having it hook up to a stationary blower would be more convenient in that you wouldn't be carrying the blower around, but the longer hose would diminish the force of the air and hose length could be a limiting factor.



The blower power would be dependent on the shopvac/etc., which might not be as powerful as the leaf blower that the AirWand uses. They mention using a leaf blower instead, and I'd *definitely* go that route. Their shopvac system doesn't appear to be very powerful in the demo.



-Judging by their demo (which I'd expect to show it in a flattering light), it's not as powerful/effective. I bet it's a matter of their rows of holes vs. the AirWand's single slot (as well as the abovementioned hose/blower issues). That pic where they're drying the chrome wheel had me truly :confused: as it looks quite ineffective compared to the AirWand. Note that with the AirWand it's easy to hold your free hand over part of the exhaust slot, thus making the remaining exhaust *much* more forceful; IMO that'd be harder to to with theirs (at least while maintaining a firm grip on it).



-The lack of any soft buffer (not that the AirWand's "MF strip" is great, not by a long shot) would require you to be *VERY* careful not to touch the paint with the thing. I don't care how soft they say it is ;) Holding such a device close without touching is easier said than done... and note how close they're holding it to the vehicle in their demo (much closer than I hold mine).



-Theirs doesn't look as easy to hold/manipulate; I don't hold mine the way you'd first think of doing by looking at the handle, but I do use that handle as a gripping surface in various ways. Theirs looks like it'd give you a good hand/grip workout though :D



Hope the above doesn't come across as some sour-grapes opinion, I just don't think that one looks nearly as good as the AirWand. If I thought it was any good I'd buy one just to find out.
 
Accumulator said:
You bet I still use it :D IME there's a learning curve to the thing..how to hold it, how to direct the airflow. It's not like it's tricky or anything, but there's a world of difference between "just blowing the water off" and doing the same in the optimal manner ;) Sorta like a foamgun or a polisher if you get my drift. Without real *thought* behind it, it's simply another gizmo that you can do without (not that the requisite thought will cramp your brain or anything :chuckle: ).



The build quality...eh...:nixweiss I doubt they're much different now than they were when I got mine. The hose/nozzle attachment wore out (or was it the hose/blower attachment :confused: Sorry, I forget..) and I'm glad I had a firm grip on things!



I ordered replacement parts and now all is well again. Overall it's holding up fine, though the wire loops that the shoulder strap attach to are getting kinda bent up.



Maison- Argh...I can't find my product info and I'm not gonna pull it apart (lest I hasten the abovementioned wearing-out). I eyeball it at around 2.5-2.75" but don't go buying parts based on that as it's strictly a wild-@$$ed guess.



Denzil- I'd sure like somebody to improve on this idea, but IMO the one you linked isn't as good. A few potential issues:



-Having it hook up to a stationary blower would be more convenient in that you wouldn't be carrying the blower around, but the longer hose would diminish the force of the air and hose length could be a limiting factor.



The blower power would be dependent on the shopvac/etc., which might not be as powerful as the leaf blower that the AirWand uses. They mention using a leaf blower instead, and I'd *definitely* go that route. Their shopvac system doesn't appear to be very powerful in the demo.



-Judging by their demo (which I'd expect to show it in a flattering light), it's not as powerful/effective. I bet it's a matter of their rows of holes vs. the AirWand's single slot (as well as the abovementioned hose/blower issues). That pic where they're drying the chrome wheel had me truly :confused: as it looks quite ineffective compared to the AirWand. Note that with the AirWand it's easy to hold your free hand over part of the exhaust slot, thus making the remaining exhaust *much* more forceful; IMO that'd be harder to to with theirs (at least while maintaining a firm grip on it).



-The lack of any soft buffer (not that the AirWand's "MF strip" is great, not by a long shot) would require you to be *VERY* careful not to touch the paint with the thing. I don't care how soft they say it is ;) Holding such a device close without touching is easier said than done... and note how close they're holding it to the vehicle in their demo (much closer than I hold mine).



-Theirs doesn't look as easy to hold/manipulate; I don't hold mine the way you'd first think of doing by looking at the handle, but I do use that handle as a gripping surface in various ways. Theirs looks like it'd give you a good hand/grip workout though :D



Hope the above doesn't come across as some sour-grapes opinion, I just don't think that one looks nearly as good as the AirWand. If I thought it was any good I'd buy one just to find out.
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i never considered a leaf blower (by itself) a total/complete means of drying nor will i ever depend on it to do so. thanks for the info, i may have to look into this... :up
 
BigAl3 said:
i never considered a leaf blower (by itself) a total/complete means of drying nor will i ever depend on it to do so....
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Yeah, IME all the forced-air drying methods leave some water behind, and if your water has stuff in it you'll get a film left on the panels anyhow (even soft water leaves traces of whatever the softener uses for the ion-exchange). But if you use *deionized* water you just might be able to get away with it...



Still, getting most of the water off before doing the regular drying can be a huge help and the AirWand is safer than a CWB.
 
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