jmrichards

There seem to be many opinions on using dusters between car washes. The link below indicates that Jay Leno's garage uses one (see the 5 minute mark). What do you think? Also, a big shout out to the Audrain Museum and their great car show in Newport each fall.

J Irwan

I used them (California car duster). Between that and waterless wash spray. ( if you haven’t try waterless car wash you should give it a try). When the car get too dirty that when I do hand car wash myself.

jmrichards

Some detailers worry about marks on the paint, but if the cotton only lightly touches the paint (as in the video) I'm not sure is that is an issue.

shrimp money

My car has full PPF, but I use a Swiffer Duster after each drive.

kilyung

I have full PPF and use the California Car Duster regularly.

neil.schneider

I have the California duster and I was not that impressed. I still have it, but I never use it.
I thought of using a swiffer, but haven’t tried it as yet
My car is completely covered in Xpel. as such, if I feel it’s just dusty I just use a microfiber cloth and just dust it. I’m always surprised at how dirty the microfiber cloth looks after doing this. The car clearly picks up dust just from driving.

J Irwan

The duster when its new, its not that great and will leave some wax mark, which can be wiped off. I have been using the "california car duster" since 2005 and I used them on Black cars, Carbon Black, silver, Grey, white, etc..

I still remember back then were told that the more you use it the better, and the more you use it the wax mark will dissappear.

Risley

If you have self healing PPF which heals light scratches from heat a duster is fine, but I would never dust just the clear coat!

J Irwan

That's fair, everyone has different level of risk assessment based on their experience.

Everytime something touch the paint there is always probability mark/scratches introduced. How light/heavy it will be depend on the few factors.

Even the most careful hand-washing techniques cannot produced zero marks.

What I can offer is my own experience (not affiliated or endorsing folks to buy the california car duster) that when I was new to California car duster I have done many experiment with my own car (jet black color) to undestand how much marking (if any) the car duster create.

Thus speaking from experience, right ouf of the bag/packaging the car duster does perform right away. (hence, back then I was told to use it more often right away).


The car duster is not a substitute for a car wash. If you have clean car, then you take it out for a drive, and come back with a little dust, then its the perfect application for car duster.
But if your clean car got rained on, then I wouldn't use car duster.

Its one of the detailing/cleaning tool in my arsenal that is very conveient to use and help keep the car always looking its best.

F8T and 911T

ONLY use a duster IF you have full PPF… otherwise, you’re best to use a blower if you have one. Rather than rolling out your car blower (I use BigBoi), I also bought a handheld chargeable powerful little blower that fits right in my hand from Amazon for $80– works really well for blowing off garage dust on body and blowing out interior too.

RJT

I was the general manager of Beverly Hills Motoring Accessories back in the 80s. We brought the first "magic dusters" to the market in '87.
There is a difference in dusters.
The ones with a wooden handle are the best and the wax is baked into the strands. The plastic handle dusters have the wax sprayed on and are less expensive and do not perform as well.
They do get better the more you use them!

jmrichards

I have now tried the plastic handle duster, and am returning it tomorrow. It leaves huge amounts of red lint all over the car, and when it touched my targa top it dropped even more lint. Do not by this version of this product.

Matt(inMA)

The thought of dragging contaminants across my car, PPF or not, is not for me. These dusters dont "pick up" the contaminants, they drag them along. I'd rather my car is dusty between washes. Just my $.02