Water Blade - Recommend? Yes/No?

[JAGOWNER1981]

Forrest had a great analogy that he used the other day re: CWB.



Take a piece of paper and place it on your fingertip. Put about 2 pounds of pressure on it - how does your finger feel?



Now, take a sharpened pencil, and place the tip on your fingertip. Put about 2 pounds of pressure on it - how does your finger feel?



Think of the pencil as the CWB (very finite edge - pressure is dispersed across a very thin surface), and a towel as the paper (large surface area, displaces the pressure across a broad surface).



No CWB for me.

lol this question was asked months ago and I responded pretty similar to you Steve, except recieved tons of flames from mettalic mike and jngr. But yep the water blade WILL push dirt into your paint. Steve makes a good point about the finite edge, do not forget the force the waterblade exerts on the paint because it is being elastically deformed when you are using it.

 

[rstype]

Maybe I'll use it on a ricey, white Honda, but on any nice car, there are simply too many risks involved.



If you live across from a park, or any other dwelling that has a seeming aversion to dust-free cars, you know how a wet car is a dust magnet. Once these particles of dust take hold of your finish, any swipe (be it a cotton diaper, MF, CWB) will cause scratching. The greater the “pores,� the lesser of a chance the contamination is to be stuck between the paint and the drying material. And the CWB is nearly a frictionless surface, so dust is more likely to dig into finishes via surgical grade silicone than a micro-fiber.



Unless you spend hours carefully washing a la puterbum, there's dirt between your lights, window jambs, body-welds, mirrors, door handles, etc. This dirt seeps down from their respected locations, mixes into a water bead that can either be a.) scraped off/into with a CWB or b.) blotted away with a MF towel. I’ll choose the latter.



Brian also has an excellent point. Once you proclaim to have mastered the CWB, you feel more and more casual. You begin to clean it less and let the plastic handle scrape more. It happened to me. And Forrest’s analogy is valid enough to be the conclusion of this discussion.



Still, it’s an excellent post-wash tool on that swirled vehicle you’re detailing. If it’s gonna get SMR’d anyway, you could save some time from the drying stage.



But if you think of it, will you drag “the blade� down the custom painted fenders of your 1967 Pebble Beach winner Ferrari? I won’t. You won't see Brad using it on his old, classic Jaguar either...

 

[Jngrbrdman]

Maybe I'll use it on a ricey, white Honda, but on any nice car, there are simply too many risks involved.



If you live across from a park, ...

I know you weren't talking about my ricey white Honda or the park that I live across the street from. The surgeon general has determined that its bad for your health to say stuff like that.

 

[Rowani]

I use a CWB on my dark blue car and haven't seen any problems from it. I agree that the car needs to be properly cleaned beforehand, however, that applies to any drying method IMO.



Regarding Geekysteve's analogy, consider: When using a towel to dry, you use your hand to put pressure on the towel as it passes over the paint. The surface area to consider, therfore, is the surface area of your hand multiplied by the pressure it exerts (not the entire surface of the whole towel unless you drag it across the paint like a chamois). I suspect that the actual pressure delivered to the paint surface is actually less with the CWB.

Rick

 

[shaf]

I forgot to mention something that I do when I use the CWB. Just before using it I give the car a complete rinse, then blade the horizontal surfaces first. This makes me feel a bit safer about the dirt issue.

 

[MnRiverman]

EDIT> I use a leaf blower and a MF to dry my cars, After the blower there is so little water on the paint it isnt funny, but then I use that crappy Z polish too

That's exactly what I do, except I just use a regular cotton bath towel. Works wonders, and my towel barely gets damp.



The zymol wax sure dissipates the water extremely well, although no one here likes Zymol except for me.

 

[imported_Intermezzo]

Maybe I'll use it on a ricey, white Honda, but on any nice car, there are simply too many risks involved.

I use it on my semi-riced up silver honda...which hides swirls and scratches even better than white. I don't dare use it on my black BMW though. Although I can't be sure, there are a few long scratches that look suspiciously "CWB-Induced"!



Haha, whenever I need a confidence boost in my detailing abilities, I just break out my supplies and get to work on my silver car and stay away from the black car for a while!

 

[SoTex]

Forrest had a great analogy that he used the other day re: CWB.



Take a piece of paper and place it on your fingertip. Put about 2 pounds of pressure on it - how does your finger feel?



Now, take a sharpened pencil, and place the tip on your fingertip. Put about 2 pounds of pressure on it - how does your finger feel?



Think of the pencil as the CWB (very finite edge - pressure is dispersed across a very thin surface), and a towel as the paper (large surface area, displaces the pressure across a broad surface).



No CWB for me.

I don't agree with this analogy. Think about it...CWB pushes the water along with a very fine edge, whereas any towel-type chamois/MF covers the entire surface dragging whatever is under it with it.



I'll take the CWB over anything with regards to avoiding scratches. CWB uses surface tension to push the water off the car.

 

[Detailing NY]

The water blade is a great tool. You just need to use common sense just like everything else.



Be sure to wash the blade before you dry the car.

Be sure the car is still wet, dont let it dry up on you.

Dont use pressure, just glid it over the car

What ever little spots are left over use a MF to wipe up



I use them all the time on my car and customers cars. I think they work great

 

[tkr128]

I thought the waterblade was a great tool, then I noticed scratches on my paint. This was when I hadn't discovered Autopia yet. Now, I only use it if I need to polish, if I removed any wax/sealant and on the windows. It works great on windows!

 

[billrouleau]

The water blade itself will put less pressure on the paint than a towel...but dragging it along with dirt is still going to cause scratches. NY detailer hit the nail on the head, you have to wash the blade before using it and CONTINUE to make sure no dirt is on the blade.



Now dirt on a towel will probably cause damage as well, but that dirt may embed itself into the towel a bit and cause less damage. The dirt on the water blade sits right on top of the blade and hangs on for dear life (those who have used a blade before can probably relate). Use a water blade improperly on a black car and examine it under lights (or not ). You will most likely see some marring.

 

[tuckerc]

I've been using my CWB on my black car for several months now and I have yet to notice any odd swirls or scratches after drying the car. As many have posted above, make sure the CWB is clean and only use it after you've thoroughly washed your car.



I don't put a lot of pressure down on the blade; I let it glide over the surface to "push" all the water off. I use the CWB to get most of the water off the bulkier parts of the car (roof, hood, trunk, windows, doors, etc.) then I use my towels to go over the finer areas.



IMO, you should be fine with a CWB as long as you don't push hard on it, and if you keep it clean.

 

[CamaroLady]

Unless your car surfaces are perfectly flat, you'll have to do more than just drag it lightly. The less pressure you put on it, the smaller the area it dries... On rounded surfaces, this can be a VERY small path. Apply more pressure and you run a greater risk of scratching.



I tried the CWB once; didn't even like the way it "cleaned" windows, which still required follow-up with a towel. It's a time waster. IMHO, you're better off just going after water drops with large waffle-weave towels and blotting the surface (no rubbing) dry if you don't want to risk any swirls.

 

[dshaw]

Hey Everyone,



I used a CWB for a while and like any autopian I made sure my car was very clean and dirty free before I dried it off with the CWB. I even rinsed the blade ever few strokes. But I guess I missed a tiny speck of dirt because as I took a wipe I heard a sharp squeak and stopped right away to see what caused it. But by then it was too late! I had a 6 inch scratch across my hood. My reason for giving the CWB :down is that is leaves very little room for error. We all wash our cars very well, but you can't always get 100% of the dirty a 100% of the time. I've switched to a leaf blower and MF's now.



Hope this helps!





spin

 

[YoSteve]

Anyone want to do the calculation for a spec of dirt traveling at 30MPH hurtling at your paint?



As for the CA waterblade, I fall under the school of, I have never every gotten my car completely clean (even when spending 2+ hours washing it alone). That is there is always some "dirty" spots on my microfiber towel when washing.



On top of that, knowing that there will always be dirty spots, I would rather clean them up then only pushing them around, even if the CA Waterblade didn't scratch one bit (hope that makes sense).



Later, Steve

 

[Asinner]

I have used one but if every speck of dirt isnt washed off then it will scratch your finish and my car has lots of curves that it jusst doenst conform to. im much happier w/the MF towels--i still use it on myglass though. And they work great cleaning windows in your house.