Drying a Vehicle's Paint Surface

From DetailingWiki

Drying Paint Surface Techniques:

If you’re using softened water I see nothing wrong with using an electrical leaf blower dry off your car (just be careful not to bump the hard plastic nozzle against the paint) but if you live in an area that has hard water, it seems that you’d only be accelerating the evaporation process and that those harmful and often damaging alkaline minerals that cause ‘water spot’ damage, would be precipitated out as the water evaporates and must therefore be collecting somewhere, in the seams or crevices perhaps?

My other concern is that these high speed electric (I would be wary of gas powered as it may spew oil) leaf blowers typically have an outlet velocity of 250+ mph. Now if a grain of sand or other small dirt particle were to get ingested in the inlet, it would exit and strike the paint surface at a very high velocity, the same would be true for any internal fragments or components such as a screw that might come loose from vibration. Just my opinion but I’d prefer not to take this or any other shortcuts either when it comes to drying.

• This is my preferred method of drying a vehicle paint surface; On the final rinse of the washing process remove the nozzle from the hose and ‘sheet’ the water, this greatly helps in the drying process. I have tried many products over the years for drying but I finally found what really works the best, a micro fibre waffle weave drying towel. When they are wet they’re very soft and super absorbent, and glide easily over the surface, the ‘pockets’ in the weave ‘hold’ any dirt or surface debris unlike some other super absorbing products that trap dirt between the towel and paint surface with the potential to cause so serious scratches (never use it when it’s dry and stiff – it can potentially scratch) That goes for whatever you use for drying, including cotton towels. Ensure that the towel is really wet and then wring it out thoroughly before using.

Mop up as much water as you can, wringing out often to keep the absorption efficiency up and wringing out also those harmful minerals in the process. When the only thing left on the surface are tiny micro beads of water (really noticeable on a black car), which I easily wipe off with a pass or two of the highly absorbent waffle towel and leave the surface bone dry. This drying technique is excellent for black cars (the ones with ‘soft’ single stage paint that show every surface mark) but look so good when they are properly detailed.

This process never includes scrubbing, rubbing or applying any pressure whatsoever. The only time that pressure needs to be applied to a paint surface is when you are polishing.

Information resource-

• “Automotive Detailing Inside & Out, A Knowledge Base for the Perfectionist"– by Jon Miller