Anyone used a garden leaf blower to dry the car?

[Herbie]

As per title really.

I know there are dedicated car air dryers available but I'm not interested in those and I'm just curious if anyone has tried using their garden blower.

[Spacewagon52]

Chamois leather Herbs?

[bigglesfllesundone]

Hair-dryers are great for getting barbecues going.

[cruisermark]

3 minutes ago, bigglesfllesundone said:

Hair-dryers are great for getting barbecues going.

and drying out misted headlights (bmw in this case)

[rich1068]

1 hour ago, Herbie said:

As per title really.

I know there are dedicated car air dryers available but I'm not interested in those and I'm just curious if anyone has tried using their garden blower.

I have. Cumbersome springs to mind.

[Herbie]

37 minutes ago, rich1068 said:

I have. Cumbersome springs to mind.

But did it actually work and give the desired results?

I'm only curious because there's currently an offer on for a 'Sovereign' brand at half-price, £20 instead of £40.

It's one of those things where we don't have a leaf blower, we don't really need a leaf blower, but for £20 I'm sure I could use it for something - and that's when I thought of using it for drying the car.

[Spacewagon52]

2 hours ago, Herbie said:

But did it actually work and give the desired results?

I'm only curious because there's currently an offer on for a 'Sovereign' brand at half-price, £20 instead of £40.

It's one of those things where we don't have a leaf blower, we don't really need a leaf blower, but for £20 I'm sure I could use it for something - and that's when I thought of using it for drying the car.

Go for it for £20! Some other use will come to mind if it does not work.

[Las Palmas]

If it can blow leafs away, raindrops should not be a problem. There should be some kind of filter on the intake so you don't blow anything more than air on the car.

[steve2006]

I have tried this method but it failed.

[Thackeray]

14 hours ago, Herbie said:

It's one of those things where we don't have a leaf blower, we don't really need a leaf blower, but for £20 I'm sure I could use it for something - and that's when I thought of using it for drying the car.

Bear in mind that some leaf blowers are so noisy that they are really annoying for neighbours! Particularly if they're used every week.

For £20 I don't suppose this is a very powerful one but some are so noisy you can hear them from the other end of the street.

[steve2006]

5 hours ago, Thackeray said:

Bear in mind that some leaf blowers are so noisy that they are really annoying for neighbours! Particularly if they're used every week.

For £20 I don't suppose this is a very powerful one but some are so noisy you can hear them from the other end of the street.

Apparently Lexus do make a quiet and refined model of leaf blower 😀

[Las Palmas]

10 minutes ago, steve2006 said:

Apparently Lexus do make a quiet and refined model of leaf blower 😀

Did you forget to say - expensive - as well?

[dutchie01]

how about parking the car outside for 10 mins? and for the 20 quid you buy a nice brandy can watch it dry whilst enjoying yourself!

[rayaans]

Theyre only really good for a car thats well protected. Otherwise the water wont really blow off. Many of them dont have any particular filters on them so will blow a lot of dust onto the car in the process

[ciao_chao]

So I did do some research into this, and two things are a necessity,

1) air filter, otherwise it’s going to make things much worse. 
2) To quite Mr Clarkson POWERRRRRR!!!!!! If the leaf blower is on the asthmatic side, probably not gonna work. 

Now...that first requirement will be hard to fulfil because most people don’t care about that and so it’s rarely listed on the specs, so watch out if you’re going all amazonhappy.

source: https://drivedetailed.com/using-a-leaf-bower-to-dry-your-car/

[rayaans]

1 hour ago, ciao_chao said:

So I did do some research into this, and two things are a necessity,

1) air filter, otherwise it’s going to make things much worse. 
2) To quite Mr Clarkson POWERRRRRR!!!!!! If the leaf blower is on the asthmatic side, probably not gonna work. 

Now...that first requirement will be hard to fulfil because most people don’t care about that and so it’s rarely listed on the specs, so watch out if you’re going all amazonhappy.

source: https://drivedetailed.com/using-a-leaf-bower-to-dry-your-car/

https://www.slimsdetailing.co.uk/products/metro-vac-master-blaster-sidekick?variant=35352638193820&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=CjwKCAjwkN6EBhBNEiwADVfya4zSqeDIgddbOR7A0XZR-_zASiA6Y9xsiJ61N04uV5D-057gOO4eWxoCcuMQAvD_BwE

May as well invest in this. A dedicated car blow dryer. This does have a filter which can be changed/ cleaned

[-Error-]

Anyone considering a leaf blower over a filtered air blower (pet dryer, can pick them up on a cheap) risks a lot however it's all relative to your normal detailing practices. If you do not use 3 buckets and separate mitts for different car sections - wheels/upper chassis/lower chassis & sills then a handheld leaf blower will do little damage compared to your washing technique. Yes you may blow some dust onto your paintwork but trust me cross contamination will already have done the damage. Power output wise don't expect the dedicated detailing blower to scare all the water away if your paint isn't in the greatest shape - water will have a lot of resistance on poor paintwork.

On well prepped and protected surface the best thing I found before obtaining a dryer myself was an open hose rinse as I always go over the whole body with a top up coat anyway - that's when the water from door handles and mirrors would get absorbed by some microfibre contact.

That's unless you live in a hard water area - then I would suggest looking into spotlesswater.co.uk - very cheap way of obtaining DI water that dries with no spotting.