A continuation of THIS thread.

Well, I couldn’t wait until the weekend to try the new toy out.
I washed the car tonight and used the new 140-MPH electric Leaf Blower to dry it off.
That thing works GREAT.
With a good coat of ZAINO underneath, the water just “dances” off the surface.

It took 22-minutes dry time start to finish.
I think I can reduce that to about 15-minutes once I get a good system down.
It’s so powerful that I needed to go over some areas more then once because the water was blown there from elsewhere.

Completely dries all of the “trouble” areas like the door handles, mirrors, under the rear wing, front grill and others.
It even blasts the water out from under the doors and inside the edges of the trunk without opening them.

It blasted every drop of water from the calipers to the lug nuts on the RIMS.
COMPLETELY dried the wheels too.
A HIGHLY recommended product for the ANAL car detailer like myself.

You guys who have been using these things for a while, please share some tips you’ve learned.

Shawn S

PS…….
Apologies to Red Rider for BRAGGING again.
I TOLD you not to click on my threads

 

Man I got home in the rain today and was SO gonna break out my dad's electric leaf blower in the garage to dry off my car and test out your theory but the nozzle on his is round, not that nice wide square shape I was hoping for so I decided why bother. It still probably would have worked. Ah well

 

Shawn YOUR NUTS!!!

 

What a lazy ass.....























Goes to the store and buys a leaf blower

 

at least you're honest Shawn ;0

 

Shawn, I wonder what your neighbors think of you

 

The garage door was CLOSED.

Shawn S

 

haha good lookin out

 

Damn Shawn...that sounds great....no more drying with the absorber....so chance of swirl marks...no back-breaking trying to get all the cracks on the bottom. I might just have to visit the local Home Depot...thanks

 

When I first read this thread, I thought...what is Shawn doing with a leaf blower? Well, to make a long story short, my friend put a leaf blower inbetween his CAI and throttle body, powered off his battery, and mounted switch inside his car. I really dunno if it actually helps any, but it makes a nice leaf-blower noise.

 

Devil Advocate's turn!!

now that Spring's here, and the pollen is kickin in soon, do u really want 140MPH worth of dust, airborne dirt, pollen, yadda yadda yadda to b "dancing" all over the car?? :shakehd:

i know i wouldn't!! especially if the car's wet where all these bad things get forced into the Zaino b/c of the sheer velocity and wind up dulling the Zaino or possibly even SCRATCHING the finish!! i don't care how many coats of Z u got, no polish/wax on this planet can withstand 140MPH flying dirt!!

sorry, Shawn, i've been against this idea from the start, but it's your baby

 

Shawn,

Yes you are crazy, but it makes sense to me.

On the way to my local Home Depot to 'observe the pricing' on them. Hell, I park in a garage at work and at home, so screw them damn airborne pollens and other allergenics - I don't have any allergies!


If it works for you and others, it'll work for me too!

Thanks for giving me the confidence to be as nutty as you!

 

Sweeeeeeeeeet!!! I'm getting my ass to Home Depot this Friday and picking one up. I'm just waiting for the day to come where I'm drying my car with my chamois and I put a scratch in there because a foriegn object gets lodged in the material.

NO MORE baby!!!!!



Scooter - I highly doubt the car will get scratched due to the shear speed (you said velocity which is incorrect, as velocity has a direction and a magnitude ) of the air flowing out of the leaf blower. Remember, the car 'should' be wet, hence dirt particles will be in the water droplets; less friction... No worries...

I need more sleep...

 

haha yeah well im up at 4:30 every morning, so i can relate

i hope u're right bout the water droplet thing...o, and i was right bout the velocity thing, cuz im taking the standpoint of dirt being slammed at the body in sharp angles at that magnitude, despite the aim of the blower being more indirectly over the car...know what i'm sayin??

but what happens when the droplets are gone, and u're still blowin the car (get yer head outta the gutta )??

 

Well... If dust particles can scratch our paint, then I'll eat my shoe.

It's DUST, not rocks or other crap that one encounters on the highways traveling 65+mph. Granted it's no 140mph, but it's freakin' dust.

I certainly see your concerns, but I really think the risk is minimal. I'd take my chances with a leaf blower versus a chamois.

What does everyone else think?

 

Man, I agree with scooter 100%. There is no filtration or anything else that occurs on that blower so you will be accelerating minute paticles at your paint at insane speeds that will EVENTUALLY take its toll!

The first time youre blowing the lower portions of your car and you kick up some dirt, suck it in and then shoot it at your car you'll be sorry!

Sounds nuts to me.

 

I've been using a leaf blower all the time during the winter for several years now. A cheap pair of ear protection goes a long way to keep the noise down, especially in the garage.

The round nozzle attachment does not work very well. I have an angled, flat attachement that works great. I attach this directly to the leaf blower (no extensions used), so it keeps it small and managable. For a filter on the leaf blower, buy a home heating system filter and take it apart. The element can be secured by placing it between the intake grill and blower.

I do a quick run over the car with the cali water blade for the larger puddles.
With the leaf blower, I start with the tires/rims first, if you do these last the water gets blown back on the car. I then hit the seams in the door/hood/trunk/handles/wipers crevices. They usually need 2 passes, so this eliminates any post drying drips.
For the main body of the car, I start front to back at an angle and use a small sweeping motion.
In the winter in a garage, it goes quickly and no ice has a chance to form.

 

After a closer inspection this morning while parked in the sunlight outside at work, I see that there were a few (two or three) water marks on the car from some spots I missed.
I took care of them easily with the absorber I carry in the trunk.
The lighting inside my garage is less then perfect at night and I may have just missed these areas.
Or maybe I blew some dirt out of the cracks that then dried on the car.

Either that or I will need to do a quick 2-minute wipe down with the “absorber” after the “BLOW DRY” to ensure that everything is SPOT FREE.

The wheels look SPOTLESS and I think this method works best for them.

Shawn S

 

As for the DUST PARTICLE damage theory...........
Interesting thought, but I’m not too worried about that.

Think of it this way.....
How much dirt & pollen are getting “BLASTED” on the paint when you’re driving 80MPH down the highway?
The air inside my garage can’t be worse then what I get when following behind an 18-wheeler driving down the interstate.

Shawn S

 

Couldn't agree with you anymore Shawn. And if you put some type of a filter on it (like fast_daddy did), I think the risk of damaging the paint is minimal.

My $0.02...

 

u'd b surprised by the number of paint chips i get on the car from going between 70 and 120MPH...something else to consider as well...don't forget, this isn't a BMW paintjob

 

Make sure the bloody thing is spotless and use it in a garage or in still air. Around my area, there is a lot of traffic and when the wind blows, I'm in agony picking bits of $hit out of my eyes (my wife's contacts can get unusable).

My detailer (as noted in the previous thread) uses a HUGH shop vac (or this Griot like blower) to blast the water off the car (works quite nicely).

As a note: He is in a clean, spotless room; he also cleans the unit like crazy and it has a filter (which won't due any good if the vac if filled with $hit).

The pollen is not the problem. Tons of small abrasive particles float around when the wind gets going (how much wind is the question). It is a "tool" and can be used or abused. I could sandblast the paint off my car with a leaf blower if I found the right area and conditions...

BTW -- there is one bummer for a few of us (regarding the blow-a-shitload-of-air-at-the-car method): if you have wheels with center caps with "marginal sealing o-rings", the high velocity air forces a ton of water into places that aren't too happy with trapped water (it would take a 10-minute discussion on why this is a problem I stumbled into)...