I am getting sick of drying my TL since everytime the water cant stop coming out after i finish washing & drying her, especially the mirror part, no matter how hard to air sprayed that sucker, there still water comes out while i drive.....

how about you guys, any solutions to share?

 

Mirrors: Swivel them in. A lot of water will come out.
Doors: Open them.
Front bumper grills: Take the car for a drive. After drying it.
Front grill: same as above.

 

I have an Accord. For the trunk, water streams out the two corners of where the trunklid meets the rear bumper. I stick a couple of paper towels in there. For you, wedge a napkin/paper towel between the mirror and the mirror holder, and drive. If it's soaking when you remove it, simply replace with another piece. Good luck.

Other places I can think of to wedge paper towel: gas lid, between certain body panels. I don't have a TL so I can't say for sure.

 

I just keep coming back to the mirrors . by the time I finish the rest of the car, vacum, tires (and the car is level) - usually by then the mirrors have stopped dripping down the doors

 

hope i can explain it clearly.

slide the mirror so that it is 'closed'. your side mirror should now be facing your side window.

now, watch it start dripping water... there is a crevice that you can slide the edge of your towel or shammie (length wise) inside. you will need to move in a left-to-right fashion. it's hard to explain but hopefully i can take a picture later.

 

Well I have a NBP TL also and whenever I dry it, I fold the mirrors in to let the water pour out, and I open the doors and the trunk.

 

Wash your car, take the nozzle off the hose for the final rinse. Let the water run off the car. Dry your car with a MF waffle weave towel. The purple passion from autopia store works great. It comes with a big one for the main drying and smaller one for the mirrors, door jams, etc. The big blue II drying towel works great also but costs more.

I use bounty paper towel for the gas lid, area by the trunk lid, door jam. I use the smaller MF waffle weave towel for the mirrors. The MF ww can be used for the gas lid, trunk lid area, and door jam also. Taking off the nozzle for the final rinse really does make a big difference.

 

I am not trying to be funny, but go out and buy a Toro Ultra 225 leaf blower. I use one. It cuts drying time down to a matter of minutes and you'll never have to worry about excess again. I'm a detailing nut, so I don't mind looking crazy as the neighbors roll by.

 

I wash my TL once a week. Last week I washed her 3 times. My neighbors driving by giving me weird looks.

 

you just made me a day man!!!!! CLASSIC!!!!

 

I have a perfect solution for you.........

























































get rid of ur NBP and get SSM

 

Hehe....its like having your own personal hurricane for drying the car!!!

 

My neighbors think I'm crazy, but I use an electric leaf blower to dry my car. It will get the water out of the mirrors, gas cap area, and down along the door sill's. What I do is use the blower to get most of the water off the paint, then use 100% cotton towels with the labels removed to finish drying the car. The blower will get 99% of the water off the car and not cause swirl marks. I've owned 3 black Acura's and this method works!! Also, if you open all 4 doors and use the blower inside the car, it will get all the dust and debris from under the seats where a vaccuum won't reach. Try it guys...it looks stupid, but it works.

 

Leaf blower works great for me as well.

 

I dry my car with my microfiber towel. Making sure to do all door jams and around the inside of trunk lid and around inside of hood. I then take my car for a quick ride around the block to get the reamaining water off and to get the rust off the rotors. And then finish wiping off any water runs with my damp microfiber towel.

This works great for me and I don't have to have the neighbors looking at me for blowing my car off with a leaf blower twice a week.

 

gas powered leaf blower here also. I still fold the mirrors in when I use it. Another spot is the the atena nub on the roof always seem to hold more water than you think it would

 

I've got a NBP, as well. Love using my Toro electric leaf blower to dry the car. (Drying my car is my only use for my leaf blower.) Cuts drying time. Just touch up with some detailer after blowing the water off, and you are done, my man. Like Republican TL, I am a bit of a detailing freak.

 

WARNING - if you use a leaf blower for your yard as well as on your car then YOU ARE BLASTING DIRT INTO YOUR PAINT.

a synthetic chamois works wonders, you can make pointed folds to get in under the side mirrors, and you can open the gas door for drying. a few drips of water while driving won't hurt anything. and like HondaOnly says, you need to open the doors/trunk , etc. to get in places where the water likes to "hide".

 

The best solution I can offer would be after washing it, take it quickly around the block and park it in a shade so it doesn't dry to fast. This should eliminate most of the dripping, however, you want to keep a towel in the car for when you drive off again just in case. These cars arint the easiest to wash but man they look good when they are clean. G'LUCK!

 

I never blow it off outside. I blow it off in my garage, and my garage is verrry clean. Good point, though.

 

its true, SSM owners dont have such a severe issue with waterspots!!!

 

Well you and I have alot in common:
We both live in NY
I have been using the "leaf blower" tactic since my first new car ('83 Mustang GT)
Our President won!

Take care,
Bucky

PS: The trunk is more of a PITA than anything...the side channels hold a ton of water if the car is at all nosed down, as my car would be sitting in my driveway.

 

You could always turn it around the other way. Or does that cause other problems?

 

i have a black car, i have the same problme. i do find the mr. clean car wash thing to work out quite nicely. and good info for the mirrors, for the trunk ijsut lift it up.

btw, shouldn't this be in the carwash section.??

 

I think this was more about 3rd gen TL, thats why i posed here.

BUT GREAT JOBS GUYS! THANKS FOR ALL YA INFO!!!
I AM GLAD I CAME HERE!!!

 

i mean if yu use it on your yard then there WILL be dirt in the blower, even if you use it on your car in your clean garage.

 

I call it labor of love. And, it's lot of labor so I must love my car a lot.

I fold the mirror in and run shammie back and forth on the crack. Then I slip the end of shammy into the housing where the mirror actually sits. This gets most of the water, but I still get some water mark on the side after I take it for a drive. I also get water marks on the rear from the plastic part (behind the license plate). Labor of love.

 

IM SORRY I OWN AN ACURA AND I DONT SEE THE LITTLE PROBLEMS LIKE THAT. WHEN WE HAVE TROOPS FIGHTING A WAR AND TERRORIST RUNNING LOSE, OUR OWN PEOPLE IN OUR CONTRY ARE STARVING, THERE ARE CHILDREN BEING ABUSED. DID YOU GUYS KNOW THAT OUR TROOPS HAVE TO DIG FOX HOLES TO SLEEP IN SO THEY DONT GET SHOT WHILE THEY ARE SLEEPING. THERE ARE SICK PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT CANT DRIVE A VEHICLE ANYMORE, WE ARE LOSING OUR FAMILY MEMEBERS TO CANCER AND ALL KIND OF ILLNESSES. AND YET WE STAND THERE AND GET UPSET ABOUT WATER DRIPPING FROM OUR MIRRORS, IM SORRY I JUST CANT JUSTIFY THAT.

 

I have a really big air compressor that I use for my air tools. I just use the air nozzle to blast the water right off my car at 170 psi 

 

hahahaha....crazy guy


I usually wax my car after I wash so by the time I'm finished, the mirrors and trunk are dry.

I'm gonna try that mirror tilt thing, sounds good.

 

This is a car forum. People talk about cars. Plain and simple.

Yeah, the world is full of problems and I am concerned about it. But, do you expect all of us to stay awake every moment of the day thinking about these things? Other than giving to your local charities, should I stop eating and taking care of my self to share others pain?

 

Agreed. As I said in my first post, I only use this Toro blower for drying my car...no yard work.

 

wow, take it easy there sports.

 

Don't use a gas powered leaf blower, the 2 cycle engine blows out oil along with the air and will get on the finish. As for dirt blasting on the car from the blower...hogwash! The leaf blower sucks in clean air and just blows it out. Unless you have a filthy leafblower that's got crud inside, the air coming out is clean. I've done this for years with 3 black cars, and have never gotten any dirt or scratches from the air. You're way more likely to scratch the paint using towels unless they are absolutely clean. Even the stitching on cotton towels is synthetic, and will cause swirl marks unless you cut it off. Blowing air on a car can't possibly cause scratches...even car washes use air to dry...then they ruin the job by using filthy towels to finish the drying.

 

No Thats Not Expected But Atleast Be A Man And Dont Cry About Water Dripping From Mirror, We Spend To Much Time Worrying About The Little Things.

 

Man you made my day! I am so glad now I didn't buy NDP. I hope the Anthracite isn't as bad! So far I haven't owned it long enough to have to wash it yet (14 hours and counting).

At least all the ideas here are worth trying if I have that issue though.

 

That's funny. I can actually now see someone using a garden blower to dry their car after these posts. That's classic.

I was out washing my car yesterday and the gardner had his blower blowing dirt and grass all over the place. I wish they would outlaw that and only use it for drying cars.

 

I have a leaf blower just to dry my vehicles. You should give it a try.

 

I'm buying a toro leaf blower on homedepot.com..under 30 bucks...hope it works..also i got that poorboy WW MF towel..it works better than anything else I have..

 

I have tried MF but never got good results. Maybe I should try the WWMF.