Car Dryer: Leaf blower

Hey guys,

Any of you use a leaf blower to dry a car? If so, which model and what should I be looking for?

 

None, use a master blaster. I have one an wont ever go back.

 

Not a leaf blower but I have used the Blower of my Rigid shop vac.Then a Sidekick but now use a Master Blaster and as stated above I will never go back.

 

I use a gas leaf blower. Just be aware that some gas/oil mixes don't run clean and you might get little oil stains on the paint. I use the Amsoil mix because it runs really clean and it doesn't stain paint.

There's a handheld Husqvarna being sold at Lowes that is strong enough to the vehicles and heavy leaves. Would love to run a dedicated drying system for the car, but I can't afford it right now.

 

I too use my shop vac to blow dry, but am looking to get a used electric leaf blower on the "Used (where you live) " web site....$20-$30

 

Leaf blower is woot, now if only the cars weren't so dirty to enable some water sheeting.

 

I use the following http://www.homedepot.ca/product/homelite-70a-blower-sweeper/910245

I bought it on sale at the end of the season last year for $20 when they were clearing them out. It does a decent job and is fairly light. Probably not the right tool for a pro, but it is great for my needs.

 

thanks guys for your input

 

Why wouldn't it be for pro? What is the downside of using that leaf blower?

 

The main reason is that the air is not filtered. For my own car it is fine, but if I was looking after clients cars I'd want to use filtered air.

The other downside is that if I was going to use it on a daily basis I would want to go for a better form factor. Something smaller and easier to use.

 

if I understand, air not filtrered can have debris that can hurt the paint?

Thanks, I haven't thought of those negative points.

 

Debris is exactly what I was thinking of.

 

I just got Metro vac side kick for wheels and other smaller hand to reach areas. I plan to use this with drying towel.

 

Granted I am not using it on a daily basis and just a weekend warrior, but I've been using a Snapper 150mph electric leaf blower for years and it works fine. Dry paint, wheels, door jambs, engine bay with it. I only use it for drying cars, so blowing out debris is not much of concern. The unit still looks brand new after 3-4 years. You could wrap a piece of t-shirt type cloth around the air intake cap on the bottom of the blower to filter debris if you're that paranoid. Something that wouldn't restrict the air flow too much. My gas blower vents its exhaust out the blower nozzle so I would not use that one to dry cars or I'd have an oily film on left the cars. Someday when the blower dies I'll fork out some cash for a Master Blaster.

 

30.00 leaf blower from sears. 150 MPH, works awesome, but I will admit its cumbersome. Id like to get a metro, whatever the small hand held one is. Not becuase I think its better, but its smaller.

 

Sorry, there is no way debris is going to get sucked up through your blower and shot against the car! That is unless you are blowing your car off on a gravel road and someone just drove by and caused a huge debris cloud to rise at the same time. :shakehead:

 

What about pollen? This spring there was so much pollen here it could be seen blowing through the wind like big clouds of yellow green rain.

 

I'd be super hard pressed to think that something as lite as pollen would inflict damage to a painted surface *if* if got sucked into the inlet of a leaf blower.

Thinking out loud in an extreme case.... I could see someone nearly touching the ground with their blower sucking up loose pebbles and hitting the car for it to cause any kind of significant damage. Imagine all the light dirt/sand/salt that gets blasted at your front end that never causes damage?

 

Totally on board with David Fermani on this ---

I dried vehicles for years with an electric hand held blower that I cut about half of the long nozzle off and lined it in the foam backing used for A/C duct work, so that the nozzle would not scratch the vehicle if I accidently touched the paint...

In all the years of using this, I never - ever - blew dirt or rocks, debris, etc., out of the blower onto the paint..

Think about this for a second.. You just washed and rinsed the car, right? There is a lot of water all around the car, right? The water ran down the driveway, right?
Most if not all what little dirt you may have on a paved driveway is also gone, the driveway is still damp, there is hardly any chance of sucking up anything in a machine that you are holding over 3-4 feet off the ground that will get sucked into the intake and blown out the exhaust...

Unless you are drying your car in a sandstorm, I just dont see how you are going to get anything on the car...

In all the years and hundreds of Black vehicles alone, I have Detailed, I have never had an issue with blowing dirt from a blower onto a vehicle..

Good luck with this !
Dan F

 

Excellent explanation Dan!