This is my tip of the week...

After you wash the car...Give it a complete rinse...WITHOUT the nozzle...You want the water to come out of the hose and get very close to the car so you dont have any splashing...This will dramaticaly reduce the number of water beeds, you want the water to flow down and start from the roof....Also what i do is then take my leaf blower...Yes LEAF BLOWER...and blow the crap out of the car, especiall the spots where water can lay likje the grill, mirrors, emblems, wheels.., around the doors ETC>..this way when you use the Chamoi use a great one or a Great synthetic (always keep it damp in a container) ... You wont have water dripping down from those areas, and its a snap to dry with very little water on your car...

Yes i am ****..[:-]

 

I've heard of people using leaf blowers on their cars to dry them, but I would personally never do it. I start off with the Water Blade, then I use my air compressor, never set above 60 psi to get around the windows (especially the back ones), mirrors, grille (upper and lower) and around the trunk, fuel door, and all body "seams", and in around the lug nuts and around the wheels. Then I use the Absorber (or something like it) to wipe it all down. No streaks, no scratches, no lint.

 

An old 100% cotton towel works great as long as you shake it for any dryer lint......and yes, I have black too. Will have to try the air trick for the grills. Good idea!

 

Remove the nozzle and "sheet" off the water.
Use a waffle weave MF towel.

 

I agree with stickman. The less you touch your car the better. Black is a b_tch...I own 2 black cars. I have a small blower to get the crevices. I sheet most of the water off and gently use a microfiber towel.
Black shows every swirl, scratch etc. If you get a chance....take a halogen light and shine it on your car(up close) when its dark out. You'll be amazed at all the scratches and hazing(which dull your finish). I'm still in the process of polishing all the fine swirls out of my car.

 

yeah black is mad hard!

 

razor blade

 

I've heard bad things about using forced air to dry paint. Any kind of dust, grit etc. that's in the air is going into the blower,andcoming outhitting your paint at 90+ mph.
As far as chamois, real or artificial, they tend to drag the wax off.
I've been using the california blade for years, works great. Just wipe the blade between passes with a chamois and blot up the missed spots.

 

I'll agree with the forced air to dry it...Not to mention that there can be moisture that comes through the air, which kind of defeats the purpose of drying. For those who don't believe me on that, check out an auto paint professional's paint gun/air line. You'll usually see some sort of moisture separator and/or dessicant filter to help strip out moisture from the line. I get this a lot from my air compressor when I'm trying to use my sandblasting cabinet to strip paint off of parts.

And with the chamois, I don't get what you're talking about with dragging the wax off, especially when you say that in the next sentence you use the water blade and then a chamois to wipe off the excess. Doesn't that also drag off the wax?

Me, personally, it doesn't matter, because anytime I wash my car, I also wax it, after I've dried it off, with the chamois.