if i'm using a micro fiber cloth or chamois, do i go up and down, or left to right, or circular? i'm not sure how to properly do it.

if i'm using a micro fiber cloth or chamois, do i go up and down, or left to right, or circular? i'm not sure how to properly do it.

Direction doesn't matter much. Best technique is a very light touch. Pressure is what causes those little scratches and it doesn't dry the surface any better. It seems like "modern" paint is particularly susceptable to scratching. Glad I got white!

George

Go to Home depot or lowes and get a cheap leaf blower.
I bought one for less than 30.
Never scratch your car again.
It works great.

I forgot the name of it but I use this rubber feeling towel.

Go to Home depot or lowes and get a cheap leaf blower.
I bought one for less than 30.
Never scratch your car again.
It works great.

Great idea!

I use the California waterblade.
Then I finish her up with "The Obsorber".


I am in now way affiliated with or working for California! :D

The blower idea is a good one alright. See, no matter how we wipe to dry a car, if there's a bit of sand or grit in the wiper or on the car's surface a scratch may result. A plain cotton terrycloth towel freshly washed and dried makes I think as safe a wiper as any and costs nothing except the surrender of your least favorite bath towel.

You folks all know that for dishes in the dishwasher, that "Jet Dry" promises a spot-free shine. It works as a surfactant. That is, it destroys the surface tension normally present in water. And so the water sheets off smoothly instead of clinging onto the surface as droplets.

Lately I see on TV commercials a similar system for cars: marketed under the Mr. Clean name. I'd bet a Scion this is practically the same surfactant as Jet Dry. It consists of a hose sprayer and the surfactant agent? Have not looked it up or tried it yet. But when I get my new Scion I volunteer to guinea pig the product.

Still I like the blower idea because the blast will blow water from crevices that might streak out on the drive immediately following a fresh washing. Consider using the Mr. Clean method -and- the blower for the ultimate, safe, easy, spot-free dry job? I think I'll try them together.

Use the water blade it is amazing. Dont buy the cheap one either buy the 15-20$ one it works really good

water blade followed by chamois

If you'll use a leaf blower, why not just drive around the neighborhood then? Or crank up the stereo, to shake the water loose? :D I've been a cheapo in the past, self-serve car wash, putting in quarters as I go, then drive it dry. 5 minutes and $1 later the car's clean on the outside. I have the chamois to get most of the water clear before driving off though, I just don't get on all 4 looking for drops here and there.

Just use that new mr.clean washer that doesn't have to dry it works great...!

only problem with mr clean is that the filter goes with two washes... so you gotta stock up on them. i use mr. clean every once in a while, beats drying the car, that's the worst part of cleaning the car for me. can't stand water spots. especially on black, white is so easy to get away with spots and dust. black is sorta ____ing me off, everytime i wash my car the next day it's got dust all over it. :evil:

With microfiber, go in a straight line (I'm partial to front to back or back to front) and wipe SLOWLY with little or no pressure. If you slow down the water will be sucked up into the nap of the towel by capillary action and you won't get as many spots.

only problem with mr clean is that the filter goes with two washes... so you gotta stock up on them. i use mr. clean every once in a while, beats drying the car...


OK- I just bought the Mr. Clean yesterday. Have yet to use it. But now I expect the short filter life you mention because the life is a function of water hardness. It is filled with ion exchange resin. Our local water is fairly hard. So i expect this'll be a problem for a lot of us.

Does it take much rinsing? If not, sloshing distilled water over the soaped car would do the trick, too. Most distilled water is not actually distilled, but purified by the very same method as Mr. Clean: reverse osmosis.

Kind of a worthless post from me. Just thinking aloud. :?

i suggest mr clean wash and dry... water disapates no need to dry..i washed scions with it and all ineeded to wipe was the windows.......works great

[/b]ok well first get the mr clean auto dry car wash and wash the car as suggested and then watch it dry spotless and then grab yourself a really good car duster i got the california car duster it works great it has wax on it that doesnt streak it takes every last dirt partical off the car and the more you youse it the better it works so the dirtyer the better

Lots of good ways to dry a car, just don't use any towel though. Make sure any terry cloth towel you would use is 100% cotton (excluding microfiber towels).

I personally use a California Water Blade and follow-up with a good quality microfiber cloth.

If you want to get serious about detailing, check out www.autopia.org - great bunch of car nuts that are serious about finishes.

You folks all know that for dishes in the dishwasher, that "Jet Dry" promises a spot-free shine. It works as a surfactant. That is, it destroys the surface tension normally present in water. And so the water sheets off smoothly instead of clinging onto the surface as droplets.

Lately I see on TV commercials a similar system for cars: marketed under the Mr. Clean name. I'd bet a Scion this is practically the same surfactant as Jet Dry. It consists of a hose sprayer and the surfactant agent? Have not looked it up or tried it yet. But when I get my new Scion I volunteer to guinea pig the product.

I suppose Rain-X (that stuff marketed for your windshield in rainy conditions) would work the same, and is probably made to come in contact with car paint and such.

waaax ohn, waaaax ohf, waaaax ohn, wax ohf
pain da fence, pain da fence
sand da flo
hai danyo san

I suppose Rain-X (that stuff marketed for your windshield in rainy conditions) would work the same, and is probably made to come in contact with car paint and such.


Hmmmm.... Rain-X is a very different animal. It is a form of silicone (i think) in a solvent of isoproyl alcohol. Rain-X seems to operate by making the water break into smaller beads by making the surface so slippery that big beads can't hang on long enough to get big. Main concern against Rain-X on paint is the possible bad long term affect of isopropyl alcohol on paint. Rubbing alcohol (same thing) does on harm that I can see to any household or auto surface. Yet, long haul it can affect at least one kind of acrylic plastic that I know about: piano white key tops, which commenced crazing and cracking about one year after alcohol was used to clean them. (i am a piano technician)

Our paint is not acrylic based. But just ot be safe I'd say nix rain ix :lol:

Go to Home depot or lowes and get a cheap leaf blower.
I bought one for less than 30.
Never scratch your car again.
It works great.

TORO TORO!!

i thought the california water blade will scratch the car or maybe clearcoat?

The only thing I have used for around the past 4 years has been the "Absorber"

But I do like the leaf blower idea alot!!


So with the Mr. Clean Wash Kit, you are telling me you have no water spots at all? I just find that hard to belive.

I use the absorber also, with a gentle rub... (sounds perverted :oops: )

black is sorta ____ing me off, everytime i wash my car the next day it's got dust all over it. :evil:

I agree with you on the dust thing. I have a BCP tC and it's my first dark colored car so I'm having the same problem. However, I bought that California duster which looks like a hand mop but has some type of coating on the strings and it works GREAT for that "next- day dust". Try it out, I really like it!

:D Heidi

I have been using a leaf blower for about two years now. It works great, takes off about 95% of the water. Just a little wiping down with a towel to finish the job.

How long does a leaf blower take?

The blower part is about 1-3 minutes, then a couple of more for the towel part.

The blower part is about 1-3 minutes, then a couple of more for the towel part.

God, It takes me like 45 minutes.

Absorber all the way. Then I spray on some wax and buff it with a white terry cloth towel.

only problem with mr clean is that the filter goes with two washes... so you gotta stock up on them. i use mr. clean every once in a while, beats drying the car, that's the worst part of cleaning the car for me. can't stand water spots. especially on black, white is so easy to get away with spots and dust. black is sorta ____ing me off, everytime i wash my car the next day it's got dust all over it. :evil:

I've used the Mr. Clean system and have had no problems with it! It is an incredible timesaver not to have to dry your car.

Replacement filters are suppose to last 10 uses. The original one only lasts 3 supposedly. Results probably vary greatly depending on how hard your water is. I only use water through the filter for about 5 minuters at the end of the wash and am hoping it last longer than 10 washes.

I've been thinking about the leaf blower idea, and I purchased an inexpensive one to use on the car. Cut the drying time in half. Great ideas in this forum :D :wink:

Replacement filters are suppose to last 10 uses.

Doesn't the filter only come into play when you are using the "dry" function? Otherwise the water is just coming straight through, right? I just run around the car like you're spray painting, from top to bottom... takes 3 minutes, I can't believe the filter wouldn't last longer. I used my starter filter for 5 washes instead of 3 and still had no water spots, the Mr. Clean system works great.

I tried the leaf-blower idea out a couple weeks ago. My girlfriend and I washed our cars. She was drying hers when I finished washing. She looked at me a little funny when I went and got the blower. When I started drying the box, her eyes widen. When I finished, in about 5 minutes, she walked up and wacked me.

Her: "Why didn't you tell me I could dry the car with that thing?"
Me: "Uhhhhh, I wanted to test it first. You know, in case it hurt something...."
Her: "Riiight, like you'd test that out on your brand new box. You just wanted me to dry my car by hand. ___."
Me: *laughs really hard*
Her: *hits me again*

It was damn funny. But in all seriousness, the blower works great, and it's fast as junk. And like mentioned previously, it gets all the water out from around the mirrors or gas door instead of it streaking down over your nicely dried car.

Oh, and I used to drive around to "air dry" it, and this works much better.

-john

sup-

i saw a thread earlier that said new cars should not be waxed during the first two months, since the paint has not fully cured yet. if this is true, then is washing good enough? just wanna make sure i get this right so i can take care of my baby. :)

also, do polishing and waxing go together? cuz if you're using mr. clean and it doesn't require drying, i guess you wouldn't be polishing it either?

I suppose Rain-X (that stuff marketed for your windshield in rainy conditions) would work the same, and is probably made to come in contact with car paint and such.


Hmmmm.... Rain-X is a very different animal. It is a form of silicone (i think) in a solvent of isoproyl alcohol. Rain-X seems to operate by making the water break into smaller beads by making the surface so slippery that big beads can't hang on long enough to get big. Main concern against Rain-X on paint is the possible bad long term affect of isopropyl alcohol on paint. Rubbing alcohol (same thing) does on harm that I can see to any household or auto surface. Yet, long haul it can affect at least one kind of acrylic plastic that I know about: piano white key tops, which commenced crazing and cracking about one year after alcohol was used to clean them. (i am a piano technician)

Our paint is not acrylic based. But just ot be safe I'd say nix rain ix :lol:

i've used rain-x and its FU*KING AWSOME looks like i'm in a fish tank the way that water beads right off, doing 60 mph!!! no need for dim wipers :D

So what is the biggest place water hides on the xB?

I know on my Cavalier, regardless of how dry I think it is, there will be this nice puddle of water that hides in the rear view mirror just waiting to wreck my hard work.

I use an Absorber as well. Had the same one for several years with the Cav. Wash it every couple months and keep it in a zip lock bag. Probably outlast the car.

Just tried Mr. Clean car wash on my girlfriend's new BCP Tc and damn it is good, didn't have to dry it by hand and not one water spot. I have found my new favorite wash!