Iceter

If you’re worried about scratches, smooshing particulates between a microfiber towel in your hand and your paint is a great way to scratch the heck out of your clear coat. All the spray wax and instant detailer in the world won’t prevent a scratch if there is grit in that towel.

The whole point of the duster is to lightly brush off the dust, not grind it like sandpaper into the finish.

When my Mustang is sitting on the show field, I don’t have a twenty seven mile long hose to wash the car like I would want to do. And frankly, washing the car every time it gets a layer of pollen on it is impractical, time consuming and silly. The duster is much safer than a microfiber towel and spray wax.

tomc_mets

Bingo!! And, the faster you drive, the more dust blows off! Or not, but at least you'll be having so much fun, you won't care that your car isn't in concours condition.
T

linderpat

OK, seems everybody has weighed in on this one, so what oil do you recommend?

SoCal RJ

cosm3os

I don't use those, either! 😉

cosm3os

Oh, you want to get into proper MF towel care now?! That's another 3 steps!

cosm3os

We're having some fun, but this is flat wrong.

Tcc1999

The best solution for this, if you don't mind yellow, is to buy a yellow car. Hides the pollen - but then it will attract every pollen searching insect for miles around - so you trade pollen dust for insects! I once had a SY 911 and never appreciated this until I didn't (have a SY car).

Allowing the dust to blow off would be a great idea, but, hating to state the obvious, first you'd have to apply some anti-static coating to your paint (and rims too to keep brake dust at bay). Air passing over the surface of a car generates static electricity which then acts at dust/pollen glue.

nwGTS

What we need is an oliophobic, hyrdophobic, ferrophobic, petraphobic, anthophobic, entomophobic, amathophobic,... heck just panophobic coating for these cars.
Anybody here work at DuPont or 3M?

Iceter

Nope, it's true. Think about the pressure you use wiping down a car with a MF towel and then compare it to the almost weightless fronds of yarn of a duster. If the amount of grit is equal in both, the towel is going to do way more damage.

Iceter

I'm considering sandblasting my cars and letting them rust. Once I get a good base-coat of oxidation, nothing will be able to hurt the car.

And as a bonus, matte finishes are the in-thing nowadays. You just have to accept that there is only one color available for steel and one for aluminum.

cosm3os

Nope. The lubricant encapsulates the dirt, and the towel sucks it up into the pile.

Don't get me wrong . . . Bxstr has it right--best thing to do is a proper wash. But if you must, you have to have a lubricant and a MF towel.

nwGTS

If no suspension medium is introduced you are 100% correct. There are two other variables though.

1) If done properly an MF towel is clear of debris every time it is used (goes back to cosm3os comment that we could go on for days about the details of MF care but we'll skip that for now and assume every towel used is cleaned properly). However, a CA duster is designed to NOT be cleared of this debris. The coating on the 'fronds' of a duster are merely an adhesion medium so it picks up the material and avoids simply spreading it around. Nothing is in suspension. So the first time it's used will be the only time it does not reintroduce any previously removed material from the car. However, every time after that first time, you're just wiping material with more material. A clean MF does not reintroduce material.

2) Like mentioned above there is no suspension medium with the CA duster. Once surface material is suspended like in water or spray cleaner, it's no longer on the surface and doesn't touch the paint/CC as it's lifted with an MF. Now, not ALL of the material is suspended. That would be wishful thinking but you'll get most of it in suspension and more than using a CA duster since a CA duster doesn't suspend at all.

By design, these methods are not equal which some are purporting here. They are both good at clearing material from your car. They are both intended as quick cleaning techniques between washing and fall into the same car-care category.
A CA duster will make quicker work of clearing material than a spray and clear using MF towels but, inherent to its design, will introduce more scratching. Some people are fine with that. I'm not arguing to do it or not to do it. I'm just defining what each does to your paint. And while this may be taken as me trying to convince someone, I don't use a CA duster.

Iceter

That's silly. The liquid makes you feel good and temporarily hides the scratches you make as your grit-filled towel grinds into your clear coat.

But what do I know? In the end, I'm just a random internet poster and you can use whatever methods you like on your car. The OP can take my input and weigh it however he likes.

If we were talking about a Chevy or a Ford, I would say it doesn't matter as the finish can handle either method. It does seem like the clearcoat on my 997 is especially soft and fragile, so I find myself being extra careful when I touch my paint with any products.

dkmesa

I've never had an issue with occasional wipedowns on vehicles with layers of sealant. Unprotected paint, I have absolutely seen swirls appear.