Decent leaf blower for drying car

[chan61922]

Hi guys after recently having black car 4 stage machine polished and getting rid of nasty swirl marks, I’m taking cleaning and protecting my vehicle a lot more seriously. Invested in a new pressure washer and various solutions I want to give a try etc, If I’m honest I’m now scared in coming into contact with the vehicle too much so want to give a good vacuum/ leaf blower a try to dry the panels off after a wash. My question is will it be up to the task? Does anybody use such method and does anyone have any recommendations for a good blower? Don’t want to fork out a silly amount of money on it as I’ve spent almost 500 quid correcting car aswell as buying a new pressure washer and I want to put money into mapping my car and getting the exhaust done and a few cosmetic bits, splitter etc.

Any input appreciated cheers

[aponting389]

A leaf blower will get some of the water off but won’t dry it. You need a drying towel unfortunately just keep it clean

[PositronicRay]

I'd also avoid using the pressure washer, let shampoo do the work.

[FWIW]

PositronicRay said:

I'd also avoid using the pressure washer,

Why?

[steveo3002]

good pressure washer will knock off alot of the dirt without touching it , better than scrubbing it around with a wash mitt

[_Hoppers]

Have you had a look at any of these types of blowers?

https://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/bigboi.aspx

[davidexige]

I’ve got a Bosch ALS2500 leaf blower, got it cheap of eBay as the collection bag was missing, didn’t make any difference to me as I only use it to dry the car, works brilliantly leaving next to no water on the car.

[p4cks]

PositronicRay said:

I'd also avoid using the pressure washer, let shampoo do the work.

I'd tend to agree. Whilst pressure washing the shampoo off is satisfying, it's no better than just using a hose.

Don't get me started on snowfoam either. Total gimmick.

[FWIW]

p4cks said:

I'd tend to agree. Whilst pressure washing the shampoo off is satisfying, it's no better than just using a hose.

Don't get me started on snowfoam either. Total gimmick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmVeTbarlH4

[p4cks]

FWIW said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmVeTbarlH4

Yep. He tells the viewer that he wouldn't use them as a pre-wash and he'd use them in a bucket with a mitt (around 12m mark).

Also, there's nothing scientific about his methods or conclusions. Whilst I like his channel and he does go in to a bit more depth than your average YT channel, calling it 'forensic' but using terms like 'I think' and 'in my opinion' still makes it as opinionated as the next channel.

[FWIW]

steveo3002 said:

good pressure washer will knock off alot of the dirt without touching it , better than scrubbing it around with a wash mitt

thats what i thought

[chan61922]

Thanks for input guys, as I thought some people dislike the idea of pressure washing and snow-foaming and others swear by it. I’ve always been a old school 2 bucket and mitt man myself, I’ve only ever used the pressure washer to hose the vehicle down, although to be fair I had a pretty bog standard pressure washer, recently bought a karcher( yeah I know not the best in the market) but a decent product and brand! My reason behind wanting to snow foam is to use as a pre wash and soften any dirt and grime off the vehicle, before rinsing clean (obviously hose the car down before snow foam too) then just going around with a blower dryer to dry car off? As a maintenance wash/ quick wash I think this makes sense, making no hand contact with car whatsoever so avoiding any risk of swirling and scratching and it’s quick and simple. If you have a black car you know that literally 2 days after washing its filthy again, so to me this makes perfect sense. Also have some meguiars hybrid ceramic wax that is applied to a wet car then hosed down once applied and dryed off (Not sure if this will work without a proper contact wash and drying with a towel/micro though) but if and when I do want to apply any wax or protection I will simply hose car down, apply snow foam , hose off, 2 bucket the car, blower dry, then go around with my wax (dodo juice-purple haze) and apply and clean off with micro fibre cloths?

Is this really a bad idea

[chan61922]

Oh sorry forgot to mention, I have come across the bigboi products on various you tube clips but seems abit steep for what it is, have you any experience with them?

Also come across the Bosch als2500 one on amazon which definitely looks more my cuppa and it looks a decent size, any issues? Is it fully electric ie plugs into mains? Don’t think a battery one would last very long. How long does it typically take to dry off your car?

This is the one is question guys, opinions?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Electric-Garden-Blo...

[chan61922]

This looks decent too

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flymo-9676581-01-PowerVac...

[_Hoppers]

TBH I think you're more likely to add swirls during the washing process. If you use a good quality drying towel I can't see how you can cause any damage to the paintwork?

[davidexige]

chan61922 said:

Oh sorry forgot to mention, I have come across the bigboi products on various you tube clips but seems abit steep for what it is, have you any experience with them?

Also come across the Bosch als2500 one on amazon which definitely looks more my cuppa and it looks a decent size, any issues? Is it fully electric ie plugs into mains? Don’t think a battery one would last very long. How long does it typically take to dry off your car?

This is the one is question guys, opinions?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Electric-Garden-Blo...

Yes that’s the one I’ve got, you don’t need to connect the pipe on the bottom, this makes it easier to use, you do however need to connect the nozzle/pipe on the front as the unit has an interlock and won’t work without it fitted. If you have a decent wax/coating on the car the water just streams off when using the blower, only takes a couple of minutes to do the whole car.

[chan61922]

Hoppers did you mean air drying will cause swirls? I don’t see how? I have good quality towels and water magnets etc etc, I’m OCD I use about 10 micro fibre cloths per wash lol making contact with the car is always going to run the risk of causing damaging. If I can just dry the bugger with a dryer surely that’s a lot safer and a lot more efficient?? The way I see it is I can do a quick snow foam and air dry in between major washes every 2/3 weeks, and a major wash (2 bucket, wax etc) every 5/6 weeks?

Thanks for confirming mate, I think I’m nearly sold lol it’s reasonably priced and looks the business, worst case scenario if it’s no good, pockets not took a hit and I can just clear the garden out in autumn/winter- perfect

[_Hoppers]

chan61922 said:

Hoppers did you mean air drying will cause swirls? I don’t see how? I have good quality towels and water magnets etc etc, I’m OCD I use about 10 micro fibre cloths per wash lol making contact with the car is always going to run the risk of causing damaging. If I can just dry the bugger with a dryer surely that’s a lot safer and a lot more efficient?? The way I see it is I can do a quick snow foam and air dry in between major washes every 2/3 weeks, and a major wash (2 bucket, wax etc) every 5/6 weeks?

Thanks for confirming mate, I think I’m nearly sold lol it’s reasonably priced and looks the business, worst case scenario if it’s no good, pockets not took a hit and I can just clear the garden out in autumn/winter- perfect

No, I meant it's more likely swirls will be introduced when washing the muck off your car rather than when you're drying it.

[chan61922]

Hence why rinsing off, snow foaming, rinsing off, drying with air dryer is a perfect solution making no hand contact with the car whatsoever. And minimising the amount of actual 2 bucket contact washes I do, which would then likely be every 6 weeks, probably closer to 8 weeks when it starts getting colder and wetter

[Dave.]

Wouldn't you be better off with a water purifier and not drying at all, rather than fking about with a leaf blower and having the neighbours calling the men in white coats to come and get you?

As for snowfoam being a con