Water blade or plain Microfiber towel to dry???

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snakey51389

New member
I washed my car that is black. My friend usally uses the CWB to dry off most of his car then something like a cheap MF towel to dry the rest. I told him that the water blade leaves scratches and i didnt want to use it with my new car. He says how can a water blade be worse than rubbing you car dry with a MF towel?? I used a few small MF towels i bought from walmart to dry of the car. Do you think this is ok? Im trying to avoid scratches and need to know the best way to do that? Is just rubbing the car dry with a towel bad in general? I seem to get water spots all over the car and i usually just rub them off while i dry. Is this ok? What to best drying method to avoid scratches and quickest to avoid water spots???
 
Hey welcome to autopia.



The WB itself won't scratch the paint but if there is anything on the blade it just gets scraped across the paint which will scratch. I usually rinse the car off often while i'm washing to reduce spotting and then sheet the water off at the end. Use a steady stream of water and let it "sheet" off. Then you can either spray with a quick detailer while you dry or just blot dry the last few spots with an MF.
 
Yeah that seems to be the thing of, rubbing until the water spots are gone....So this is a big no no! right? QD's are best for taking out water spots or what? So water blades really arent a good start here huh? Mostly likey the blade will catch something.... so the "water drench method" seems like a good one for the end.
 
Rubbing gently is ok but when you really rub hard you risk marring the paint and then you're better of claying to try to get the water spots out. I've found that qd'ing while drying helps a little bit and it saves you having to dry and qd separately. A water blade is fine as long as you make sure nothing is on the blade or paint that can get caught.
 
Will QD get rid of water spots all together with a good wipe??? its seems i need to invest in a WW micro towel also, instead of the cheap walmart ones. So kinda passing on the blade to prevent "possbile scratches" is probably best.
 
snakey51389 said:
Will QD get rid of water spots all together with a good wipe??? its seems i need to invest in a WW micro towel also, instead of the cheap walmart ones. So kinda passing on the blade to prevent "possbile scratches" is probably best.
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Do yourself a favor and get at least two or three of the following WW's:



Blue Perl Drying Towel



Excel Monterey Waffle Weave Drying Towel



MICROPAK 25" x 36" Ultra-Soft Waffle Weave Micro Fiber Towel



All three of these are made from a super soft WW material and are by far my favorite towels to dry with.
 
Is it ok to just dry though??? will these towels scratch at all???? or can i just dry the best i can, then go over the car with some QD to get rid of water spots?
 
I still have a water blade, but after someone talked about how a piece of dirt was stuck to the blade (You can imagine what happened) I stopped using it, except on glass. Even then, I'll rinse off the blade before it touches the glass. Those towels will not scratch, unless you're applying a ton of pressure.



snakey51389 said:
Is it ok to just dry though??? will these towels scratch at all???? or can i just dry the best i can, then go over the car with some QD to get rid of water spots?
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Ok thats good. What about the water spots part??? i washed my car yesterday and i had tons of water spots...I dryed my car with small MF towels i got from walmart and kept rubbing with a moist MF and then wiping it dry with another one. Is this ok to do or bad? im just thinking the rubbing part is bad. Will QD be a good thing to use to get rid of water spots?
 
Here is what I do to try to minimize water spots. After I rinse the last section of paint of any suds, I'll take the nozzle off and do the "sheeting rinse". I'll use my water blade to do the windows, and then use a couple of towels (The Blue Perl, as previously mentioned) to remove the majority of the water. Then I'll quickly pull the car into the garage and finish wiping down the car.



For your situation, I would try using distilled white vinegar to remove the water spots. If that doesn't work, you're going to have to step up your efforts.



snakey51389 said:
Ok thats good. What about the water spots part??? i washed my car yesterday and i had tons of water spots...I dryed my car with small MF towels i got from walmart and kept rubbing with a moist MF and then wiping it dry with another one. Is this ok to do or bad? im just thinking the rubbing part is bad. Will QD be a good thing to use to get rid of water spots?
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snakey51389 said:
.........What about the water spots part??? i washed my car yesterday and i had tons of water spots...I dryed my car with small MF towels i got from walmart and kept rubbing with a moist MF and then wiping it dry with another one. Is this ok to do or bad? im just thinking the rubbing part is bad. Will QD be a good thing to use to get rid of water spots?
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You can try a QD if the water spots are very mild and very recent.



If a QD doesn't work try some distilled white vinegar ..... be sure to rinse well. If that doesn't work you'll have to use an abrasive polish to get them out.
 
Whatever you're using (and this'd include *wash* media too), don't do long, sweeping motions where you go a long ways uninterrupted. If (more like *when* ) you get something trapped between your [whatever] and the paint, a long motion will result in a long scratch. If you just use short, interrupted motions any marring will be a short little scratch, that won't show as readily.



Whenever I see some 4" long bit of marring (let alone anything longer!) I think "eh...crappy technique...just asking for trouble" :nono



If waterspots are a big issue, I'd consider a CR Spotless or something like that (no, I haven't tried mine out yet :o ). Even a water softener will offer a big improvement.



I'm still getting most of the water off with the AirWand, and then getting the rest with WWMFs, usually spritzing some QD at the same time. (Regulars here know that I can no longer do the sheeting-rinse due to my spigots/pressure.) I'm not even using my CWB for windows, as scratches in glass are forever and I know that *someday* I'd get one, even as careful as *I* do my washes.
 
ok so the "sheeting method" seems good to get rid of alot of water without drying. Do i just "glide" the MF towel over the rest of the water?? Or just wipe until its dry. Like i said i usually have water spots and just rub them gone with a moist mf towel. I guess i dont want to do that anymore huh?? I just want, after i do a good buff job to not have any swirls again after i wash and dry again.
 
snakey51389- First, CD-test your WWMFs, some are a *LOT* softer/safer than others.



Then, make sure you really get the vehicle clean, so there's no residual dirt to rub into the paint.



Then, if blotting with the WWMF is too big a PIA (and yeah, I do understand that!), try to dry in short, gentle motions, whisking the WWMF across the paint with very little pressure.



Try spritzing some QD on the still-damp paint to provide some added lubrication as rubbing *anything* dry against dry paint sorta gives me the willies.



And yeah, get *waffle weave* MFs for drying, they work a lot better than the regular ones.
 
Microfibre cloths, mitts and pads will make up the most essential part of the kit you use for cleaning your car. Twice as fine as silk and one hundred times finer than human hair, microfibre is a man made fibre that is ultra fine yet provides superior strength, a gentle drape and amazing softness. We have searched the globe to bring you the very best quality microfibre cleaning cloths.
 
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