Sue Esponte

I was thinking about picking up one of these; the corded one -- not the cordless unit.

I've got a wet dry vac in the garage that is sometimes cumbersome and our old Electrolux, which was slowly retired to garage duty, just broke its last legs and isn't worth repairing. Anyway, these Metrovacs have always kind of intrigued me.

Does anyone have any experience using them?

-Eric

Gator996

I have several Metro's in my arsenal. Good little units and quite powerful for their size. Two issues: the hose will constantly come loose from the vac. You will need to clamp it on somehow. Two, get the longest hose you can from Metro. The standard one is way too short.

All on all, I recommend them.

Sue Esponte

Thanks!! How about the vacuum bags? Do you go through them often? I'm thinking that the two bags that come with the package probably won't last that long.

-Eric

Gator996

I empty the bags out to save on buying new ones. They can tear pretty easy if you aren't careful. I usually go through about 3 bags a year so its not too bad.

Metro has great customer service too and is a U.S. based company. I like that.

Sue Esponte

I like that, too.

Good idea on the bags. I found a decent deal on a Vac n Go with all of the attachments including the turbo vac (VM6B500T) plus it sounds like the 6 ft hose attachment makes sense. I'll probably also pick up some extra bags, too, just in case.

Thanks again for the thoughts!

-Eric

AceLucas

For a wet/dry vac I have a Craftsman wall hung unit. It has a 2 stage motor so it's super quite and powerful. It also has a remote to turn it on and off and a 21' hose so I can basically vacuum anything in my garage and never take it off the wall.

Gator996

Eric, if you are really OCD about car care like me, the Vac n Blo is awesome. I don't dry my car with towels and only use forced air to dry...to minimize marring. Its not cheap but as a dual device it is sweet. Damn thing blows 200 mph and will still vac like my Shop Vac. Either way, you cant lose. The 500T is a great unit.

Sue Esponte

I safely fall within the OCD end of the spectrum when it comes to my cars' cleanliness.

I've got a wet/dry vac that doubles as a blower. I've been using it to clean the car since my Electrolux went the way of the Dodo. It does a great job of picking stuff up but it's just kind of big. I think the blower puts out something like 180mph wind.

I've toyed with idea of using it to dry my cars for a while but I keep getting hung up on the amount of dust and debris I fear it will kick up. I know the ground will be wet down so it shouldn't be too bad but I'm not sure which is worse; the dust or the marring from the drying towels. Maybe I'll give it a shot this weekend. Sadly, this kind of crap keeps me up at night! lol

-Eric

Gator996

I am glad I am not the only one that loses sleep over detailing! You should be fine blow drying outside right after the wash. I have never had an issue. Inside the garage is a different story. I can never get it dust free so I don't risk blow drying in there.

Sue Esponte

Consider me one of the converted! I had the leaf blower out to clear a portion of the driveway before washing the cars. I decided to take on the task full bore with the blower rather than mess with wet dry/vac. I can't believe I've never tried it in the past. Drying the car is probably the part of the job I hate most because while other parts might be more time consuming they also show more results. It cut the drying time by 75%.

-Eric

Gator996

Glad to hear of your conversion Eric! I was blow drying mine last night after a nice bath. Don't you love that water will no longer drip for hours from the lights, mirrors and other hidden places? Time saver indeed and no marring!