Review - DP Turbo Car Dryer

The Guz

The Guz

Mike
I went ahead and purchased this during a sale over on AGO. It was hard to pass up for $100 shipped to my door.

I have only used it twice since I am doing my part to conserve water here in California by doing rinseless and waterless washes.

It's a powerful machine that works very well. I have a Master Blaster Sidekick that I would use mainly for blowing water out of the seems of the car and the wheels and tires. With the DP car dryer I can blow the water off the surface, seams, wheels and tires effortlessly with the DP dryer. It has a lot of power.

I carry a towel with me as I am blowing the water off the surface to clean up anything left behind. There is no strap and I don't think a strap would be beneficial. With the strap I could see it banging and clanging around while using it. Now if it was worn like a back pack pack then maybe that would be better. But then the power buttons are inaccessible using it like that.

The air hose is long so it has enough length when one's arm is extended out reaching out over a surface. The power cord is long and it's definitely a plus. No need to pull out an extension cord with this one.

I found this review to be very helpful on how to hold the dryer and the hose.

Review: DP Turbo Car Dryer - Auto Geek Online Auto Detailing Forum

I don't have any action shots with it. But I do have photos of the actual dryer.

Comes packaged in a nice box.

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Has a sticker with the specs.

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Here is what is included in the box.

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The attachments

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Close up of the hose ends. They are both different. This end goes into the unit.

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It attaches via this coupler. It takes a few twists to lock it in place.

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This is the end that attaches to the attachments

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The handle and the attachment assembled

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There is a zip tie lock included to keep the hose attachment from coming lose.

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Here are images of the dryer

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The side with the On/Off buttons

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The other side. There is a filter so it is filtered air coming out of the unit.

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I'm just being nit picky but the quality and alignment of the stickers was a bit off. See the bottom of the sticker. I don't know how long the sticker will last over time.

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Here's another under the On/Off buttons. The alignment is slightly off and it did not stick on the lower part of it as it has a bubble in it.

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Close up of the power buttons. These are easy to press.

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This is supposed to be the serial number of the unit. It's an incomplete etch. There is actually a white sticker on the unity that has the number. Looks like a price tag sticker. Seen above on the filtered side of the dryer.

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Final shot of it completely assembled.

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Overall it's a good unit. Has plenty of power to blow water off the surface. Power cord has plenty of length as does the hose. There have been some folks noticing that the hose attachment has been coming loose while using it over time. I will see if that happens to mine over time. It does what it was designed for and it's hard to beat for the price especially when a 20% off sale comes by. Pick one up and give it a try.

DP Turbo Car Dryer
 
Have you had any issues with the hose staying connected to the blower? Mine won't stay on and gets frustrating at times.
 
Thanks for the review, Guz. If I didn't already own a MasterBlaster, I would have jumped on DP's turbo dryer. Bummer about the hose issue some are having.
 
Mine has blown off the unit a lot. Gonna try some trim adhesive to keep it on.

Also I took the handle piece off and go straight from the hose to the nozzle. A little easier to control for me.
 
Could you drive a few long screws through the units housing and into the hose to keep it in place? 3 screw spaced evenly around the tube connection point might do the trick?
 
Angus said:
Could you drive a few long screws through the units housing and into the hose to keep it in place? 3 screw spaced evenly around the tube connection point might do the trick?
Click to expand...

Actually I think the hose may tear at screw points after a while. (I think)
 
How long can this be run without issues? It gets pretty hot after a while. I hold mine differently and can access the on/off buttons with the hand i hold the unit in. My ser# is hand etched in and the number does not match the price tag looking sticker. No hose blow off issues so far. I did give the hose and connections an IPA wipe down to remove manufacturing solvents/oils.
 
Has anyone found a solution for the hose blowing off the unit?? It has happened to me a few times before but like once every other use. Today it was impossible to keep it on there so I ended up just removing the hose and using the unit without it. Extremely frustrating considering the cost if this thing.
 
I did this some time ago. I wasn't going to post the pics as they aren't really very good and they'd just been sitting on my phone. Migue asked and I was going to text them to him but thought someone else might want to see them even though they are poor quality.

A few simple parts
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Drill bit though you wouldn't know it from the picture
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Drill
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Pilot Hole
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Screw, washer installed
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Ron didn't want my screw to blow out, gotta think about those things as a Vettw owner :)
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Applicator ;)
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Ready to smear, truth is the silicone is likely overkill
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Finished product
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The hose is secure and the screws aren't going anywhere.
 

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Nice fix Gearhead. This is exactly what I had in mind too.

Q: How come you didn't glue the fitting to the unit before driving the screws? I realize it makes everything more permanent but on the flip side it may put less stress on the screw points/ distribute the stress more evenly across the connection.
 
Angus said:
Nice fix Gearhead. This is exactly what I had in mind too.

Q: How come you didn't glue the fitting to the unit before driving the screws? I realize it makes everything more permanent but on the flip side it may put less stress on the screw points/ distribute the stress more evenly across the connection.
Click to expand...


Thought about it, had it (3M adhesive) in hand, just doesn't need it. Wth the screws installed it sucks the sides in and makes it slightly oval. The hose won't spin this way. Like I mentioned, it isn't going anywhere. I also thought that If I ever squashed the hose (can see myself doing that) it would be easy to replace. No doubt you could use the 3M Weather Strip adhesive by itself and achieve the same end result of keeping the hose in place but it could also be a problem if you want it to come apart. I probably wouldn't use a silicone sealant as the adhesive.

Angus, if you go this route, try it before you glue it down and see what you think.
 
GearHead_1 said:
Thought about it, had it (3M adhesive) in hand, just doesn't need it. Wth the screws installed it sucks the sides in and makes it slightly oval. The hose won't spin this way. Like I mentioned, it isn't going anywhere. I also thought that If I ever squashed the hose (can see myself doing that) it would be easy to replace. No doubt you could use the 3M Weather Strip adhesive by itself and achieve the same end result of keeping the hose in place but it could also be a problem if you want it to come apart. I probably wouldn't use a silicone sealant as the adhesive.

Angus, if you go this route, try it before you glue it down and see what you think.
Click to expand...

Looks like a pretty good fix. Did you drill pilot holes as a precaution or because the plastic seems weak? I just ask because you used self-tapping screws.
 
RDKC said:
Looks like a pretty good fix. Did you drill pilot holes as a precaution or because the plastic seems weak? I just ask because you used self-tapping screws.
Click to expand...
Good catch, was going to use some other screws but decided they were short. They went through but ended on the taper. Drilled then looked in the screw rack to see what I had.
 
GearHead_1 said:
Good catch, was going to use some other screws but decided they were short.They went through but ended on the taper. Drilled then looked in the screw rack to see what I had.
Click to expand...

Good to hear. I've been contemplating one for a while so I can get away from towel drying so much. The DP dryer might be slightly pricey but it's cheaper than a big enough air compressor to use a blowgun.
 
Thanks a lot Gearhead,

I was thinking about using screws or adhesive but was worried about the hose not being able to rotate, however, I am willing to eliminate hose rotation (don't really see much of an advantage) to ensure the thing stays in there securely because it really drove me nuts when I used it last time.
 
Migue said:
Thanks a lot Gearhead,

I was thinking about using screws or adhesive but was worried about the hose not being able to rotate, however, I am willing to eliminate hose rotation (don't really see much of an advantage) to ensure the thing stays in there securely because it really drove me nuts when I used it last time.
Click to expand...
In theory that piece isn't designed to move during use once installed. The designers assumed (bad call) you could press it in and it would stay put. The hose still swivels on both ends. It's simply an extension to which the hose attaches, the hose ends swivel.
 
Honestly it's the biggest piece of crap. The hose pops off every time I use it. There's nothing that I can do no matter what I try that makes it not pop off. Essentially a $140 paperweight. I bought a mini metro blaster and that works just as good and is 100X better design.
 
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