picked this up the other day at canadian tire for 20 bucks. works awesome. removes almost all of the water from your car and is softer than using terry cloths. perfect for the roof, hood and everywhere!

 

i use it, also look up the water sheeting method it leaves very little for even the blade to remove.

 

its called water blade

 

Make sure the car is CLEAN. You can run into a risk of scratching your car if there's something on the car.

 

:inbeforeshawnstalksabouthisblowdryingtechnique:

 

Water Blade:
The best-known US brand the Original California Water Blade (equivalent UK Autoglym Hydra-Blade) is made of medical-grade silicone so it should not scratch. It can be used to remove water after washing the vehicle without causing scratches by applying very little surface pressure with the blade, wiping with long strokes in one direction only.

If there is any grit left on the car after washing, the blade may pick it up and drag it across the paint, much the same as a towel would, this can be avoided by wiping the blade with a clean damp towel after every pass.
The water blade should be protected when not in use. If it is crushed in storage, the edge may take a set and leave a stripe of water on the car, the water blade comes with a protective plastic case, use it for blade storage.

Like any tool, the water blade does require a little bit of technique and practice. The first few times I used mine, it tended to chatter on the surface, resulting in incomplete drying.

It turns out this is eliminated by using just the right angle and pressure on the blade. Smoothness can also be affected by the surface condition of the paint (wax, sealant oxidation, etc.) and any coating that might be on the water blade itself.
Caution: do not use a water blade to remove rainwater as there could be road grit on the paint surface or the rain may contain impurities that could scratch the paint.
JonM

 

I just got one of these, and I guess I need to improve my technique and find "just the right angle." Tried several different ways and all of them ended up with the same result:

1. *Grrrreeeeeeaaaaankkkkk* across the glass (man I hate that noise, it's actually embarrassing because my neighbors can hear it, loud)

2. The water is sort of spread around the car and broken up into smaller droplets, but not really removed very well.

Guess I need to get the hang of this thing...

 

I get the occasional ugly scream from it... But once you get the angle, WHAM. Good stuff... I only use it to get about 85% of the water off and use two small towels to remove the rest...

 

 

I use it too, love it 90+% of the time. Just be careful if your using it when outside temp is around 50 f.

I used mine for an early spring wash and the only thing I can assume is that the silicone was too cold and somewhat rigid. I got a few straight line micro-scratches. Fortunately it was right before a full detail and they polished right out.

Also, check the blade, mine has a slight bow to it. If your going against the curve that might explain the skreetching

 

Thanks for the water blade tips, guys. I'll be giving it another go this weekend when I put a couple more coats of Zaino on my car.

(BTW, I loooove what a Zaino treatment -- 1 coat of Z-5 and a second of Z-2, with Z-6 in between coats and then topping off with Z-8 -- has done to my car so far. Looks glass-smooth and great!)

 

ROFL... Smart a$$......

Pics my man...

 

Pics hopefully coming soon -- I need to figure out my new Verizon webspace first. Their My Webspace website is corn-fusing me, forcing me to click on a SiteBuilder link which is a dead link , and other stupid mumbo-jumbo. All I want to do is throw a few pics into my webspace; how difficult does that have to be? Oh well, I'll figure it out...

I actually wasn't trying to be a smartass...that was just supposed to be a factual description of the process and the products I used so far.

 

I bought that thing, tried it once and took it back. I did not like it at all, would rather just dry it with a towel. It was junk as far as I was concerned.