bbs993tt

+1 on silicone squeegee and leaf blower

cgfen

she may well be correct, but who cares if it makes you happy.

Craig

sbarracl

X2 with the California Water blade followed by cotton towel to finish up.

JPP

Really? This seems like such a 'radical' departure from everything ... does it really work?

x50type

JPP

I feel like Jon Paul too --- this is giving me a headache.......................

Quadcammer

the water blade works very well (better on flat surfaces obviously), but you better be damn careful about how clean it is. It picks up any grit, and you will be sorry.

1pcarnut

Here's my take on this stuff:

I buy the Costco microfiber towels, use them once to buff off the wax or detail and then either throw them away or use them for dirty jobs. (Be sure to pull off the little white tag they put on each one and don't rub the edge of the towel on the paint.) I generally loathe to waste stuff but a bag lasts a whole years so no big deal. What I don't like about microfiber is that it will pick up and retain dirt particles and other nasty stuff, large and small. So if you put one down on your bench everything will get caught in the fibers and of course that is the last thing you want to rub on your paint.

For you guys using the silicone blades, I highly recommend you don't. They were the rage for a while, even at some of our local PCA car care clinics we put on. What I found was, it takes only ONE piece of grit you missed to put a beautiful long scratch the entire length of your hood or fender, BTDT!

You also have to be extremely careful not to bend the blade too far or the body of the blade will also rub across the paint also producing a nice scratch. (I'm not talking about the handle, but the flexible part that the edge is molded to.) I'll bet if you look at the ones in your garage you'll see where the side of silicone is scuffed from rubbing on the paint. I do use the blade to clean my glass, but nothing more, for sure they don't get used on painted surfaces.

For drying I use either a leaf blower or a quality, dedicated fluffy cotton town. And when laundering the towel, don't use fabric softener, it clogs the pores and causes the towel to be less absorbent. And another trick, when you are rinsing off soap, don't spray it off, remove the nozzle and allow the water to flow over the paint, the sheeting action will remove about 75% of the water as it flows off.

bbs993tt

I find that mine works very well. It clearly works best on the flat surfaces but works well enough and prevents spotting. With towel drying I could never get all the way around without spots forming first. If your wax is in good shape, any water left rolls right off with the leaf blower follow up.

Just to be as safe as possible, I try to get as much water as possible to sit on the car right before squeegee-ing.

levtron

Ya... especially on the inside transition between the bonnet and and fender.

I use microtowels, because that what the detailer uses, and I am talking about Rickrack. His recommendation is to use them only once, and to remove the little tag as well. I buy them in bulk at walmart (12 for $10) and that last 5-6 washes. The only issue is that I have a bunch of microtowels.

Here is my car getting done with a full bra.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...7135170&type=3

JPP

Yeah ... but the CGT is MUCH flatter than the 993 ... and much wider .... and much ... well .... just much. Pointing a leaf blower at my car is giving me about as much 'pause' and visualizing you doing the same to your two cars .. Do you have a 'special' blower that you only use for car drying? I'm assuming you do this on a clean, debris-free surface ... I can see the video of me trying this in my driveway on Tosh.O or something ...

Ok .... so I can say 'ditto' to most of this Roger. I buy the Costco towels as well ... and it's taken me awhile to learn their limitations. I, like you, immediately rip off all the little white tags (honestly, what a stupid, stupid thing to sew onto a microfibre towel ...) use them once or twice tops, then either toss them or launder and use for other stuff like wheels or inner areas ... but I've never used a blower .. I guess I'll give it a shot ... so to speak. Like Brian, I also have medium-hard water so I have to get the car dry immediately .. and with all my precautions, I still have to polish out little 'problems' in the clear coat to keep it 9m 'fresh' ....

TheOtherEric

That detailer guy doesn't know WTF he's talking about. Take the rattiest old microfiber towel you can find, and the softest cotton towel, and do the CD-ROM test on both of them. I.e. rub them vigorously on a new CD and look for scratches. The microfiber will still be better than cotton. After doing this test a few times, I would NEVER use cotton on my car.

I use the yellow Costco microfiber towels. Ridiculously cheap, so you can just throw them out every couple years. No reason to throw them out after one use .... again, do the CD test and you'll see they can easily withstand many washings & dryings.

goofballdeluxe

Funny, the surface of my 993 and the surface of my CD-ROMs are not at all the same, so I dunno how much stock I'd put in that test.

Been washing my cars for 30 years with 100% cotton and no scratches yet.

One's degree of ****-retentiveness may result in a different perspective, perhaps?

mongrelcat

MFs from Pakshak or Optimum. Washed with Charlie's powdered soap, plus an extra rinse cycle. I heard about Charlie's on a detailing forum, specifically in regard to MF care, now it's all I use for all wash cycles.

Quadcammer

ha, ever heard of swirl marks? What do you think those are?

Mark in Baltimore

The only thing that I use the California water blades is to get rid of water on windshields and my shower glass door. I tried it once or twice on my cars but always felt like it was a matter of time before I scratched the paint.