Leaf blower to dry my car?

Funny you should ask... Hubby washed my C for me yesterday and was painstakingly drying the eggcrates in the grille when I said " I have an idea". I grabbed the air compressor hose with the blower attachment and quickly cleared the grille of all traces of water or spots. We have extremely hard water here. I then did same across all the seams where the water collects and tends to drip out after you've already dried. This worked well, especially along the window trim.

I see no reason why you wouldn't have good results from the leaf blower as well. I'd just make sure it's very clean first and keep it well away to prevent contact with your beautiful ride.

good luck

Been there ,done that! Works very well, just as hemee said make sure the nozzle end is free of debris!

Since I moved, I don't need a leaf blower, glad I did'nt sell it, going to give it a try. No swirl marks to worry about.

Just be wary if it is gas powered that it can spray oil/fumes on the car. Also be careful when using it that it does not suck up some sand or grit and sandblast your car. I have used a compressor to blow out the water from the window trim, door edges and whatnot. It seems that otherwise they drip for a long time after the wash and leave water spots.

C-Man said:

Just be wary if it is gas powered that it can spray oil/fumes on the car. Also be careful when using it that it does not suck up some sand or grit and sandblast your car. I have used a compressor to blow out the water from the window trim, door edges and whatnot. It seems that otherwise they drip for a long time after the wash and leave water spots.

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Good point C-Man!! I didn't even pick up on the fact that he stated it's gas-powered, ours is electric and I think I'll give it a try! I'm little and it's a pain to have to haul around the stepladder when I clean the car myself plus I worry about leaning across it. (Don't have that problem with my Corvette though, I can reach that one! )

On Zaino's website they say a leaf blower is a handy tool to dry your car in under 5 minutes. I think they recommend a Toro Electric 215 mph. (And obviously, if you use it for blowing your car dry, do NOT use it to SUCK up leaves as well! ) I think Electric would be a tad better as well for the reason of wondering if there is possible fumes and gas and stuff that could spray out. I do think personally that you would probably be alright with either.

-Nathan

Mine is gas powered and there are no fumes/gas/oil blowing out! Also it can't suck up anything if it's in the blower mode! I agree though for this purpose that an electric one would be better because of the lighter weight.

Harley/ motorcycle riders have been using ELECTRIC ONLY leaf blowers for years the two stroke oil issue has already been noted. Harley Davidson co. even sells a $200 blower. One word of caution when forcing water off of your vehicle you also may force water in were it doesn't belong.

Krock43 said:

Mine is gas powered and there are no fumes/gas/oil blowing out! Also it can't suck up anything if it's in the blower mode! I agree though for this purpose that an electric one would be better because of the lighter weight.

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Kroke43 - We know it can't suck up anything in blower mode! What we mean by that is if you have used the unit to suck up leaves and gravel in the past, that junk could still be stuck in the unit inside. So...when blow drying it a peice that got stock when sucked up could blow out and chip your paint.

Not only do I dry my car with mine (electric), but I blow the house out with it too...my neighbors don't know what to think of it - but it works.
After you vacuum your interior, open all the doors - blow out your interior and see what your vac just missed.
Life would not be the same without the good ol' leaf blower - and there are no trees with leaves at my house.

I've been using a blower to dry off my motorcycle for about 7-8 yrs.

I do however prefer to use a silicone squeegee (did I spell that right?) to dry off the car and truck. Simillar to this:

http://www.calcarduster.com/autoOriginalCaliforniaWaterblade.asp

It works very well.

I've been using the electric leaf blower for years on my Viper and will continue with the 300C

Sears has electric leaf blowers on sale this week. My local one had 3 models between $30 and $50. I just picked one up and I'm heading outside to wash the car and try it out.

I ordered some more Zaino this week from the SoCal distributor and the gal there was asking me how I dried my cars and started telling me how good using a leaf blow is. I used my air compressor previously for trim, mirrors, etc, but this should work a lot better.

silverC said:

I've been using a blower to dry off my motorcycle for about 7-8 yrs.

I do however prefer to use a silicone squeegee (did I spell that right?) to dry off the car and truck. Simillar to this:

http://www.calcarduster.com/autoOriginalCaliforniaWaterblade.asp

It works very well.

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Does the squegee really not scratch that you posted the link to? I've seen these work, but am still paranoid of scratching my beautiful black.

Mr Clean Auto Dry

Saw this advetised and decided to give it a try on my 300C. The product is unbelievable. No water spotting anywhere on the car. Sure beats chamosising . see www.mrcleanautodry.com

The Mr Clean is excellent for leaving you with a spot free rinse, but does a poor job of washing. I now only use my Mr Clean for the drying phase. I still use my 2 buckets and mitts to hand wash my car and truck, then I use the Mr Clean to spray the spot free rinse. Park them in the garage overnight and wake up to a perfectly clean spot free vehicle. The way the sun sets on my house, I have to wait until late evening to wash my vehicles, or else put up with very bad dried water spots. This actually works good for me, when I'm done with all my errands & "honey-do's" for the night, I wash the vehicles, park them in the garage and I'm done. This process saves me about an hour on each vehicle.

Fast4Door said:

Does the squegee really not scratch that you posted the link to? I've seen these work, but am still paranoid of scratching my beautiful black.

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I've been using a similar product for many years. The squigiee I have is more like a "T" handled yellow and black silicone one. I've had it for so long, I can't remember who got it or from where. I've used it on 2 black vehicles, a '96 Impala SS, and my '01 Excursion.
Never had any scratches from it yet. In fact the only scratches that have occurred have been from small grit caught in the washing mit. But they are easily removed with McGuiar's Scratch "X".
http://www.meguiars.com.au/Products.htm
I just used it to remove some surface scratches on the 300C which were put there by my 6 yr old and his notorious partner in crime a.k.a. "the bike".