Impossible to properly dry by hand ;-)

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2019 CX9 GT AWD
Some Sunday humor....

I've been hand-washing my CX 9 a few times since the purchase. I think it is impossible to hand-dry this car well. It has too many tigh spots where water likes to gather. Around door seals, mirrors, front grill areas, rear of the car, etc. It is just hopeless, once you dry the surface the sneaky water droplets just appear out of nowhere lol.
I have to buy a powerfull leaf blower and give it a try.
 
I use a backpack leaf blower to dry a majority of the vehicle. I cant get at the roof area with the leaf blower since its a backpack one. I then use a synthetic drying towel to get the roof and the residual moisture. Cuts drying time by a lot using the leaf blower and minimizes touching of the vehicle.
 
Sounds promising crikey, I need to get one. Do you use round exhaust or the narrow air exhaust aka air blade?
 
I use a backpack leaf blower to dry a majority of the vehicle.
I use my leaf blower to clean the inside of my Pathfinder. No, I'm not kidding.
I empty the truck of all my tools and materials, and anything else that's loose in there, and then open all four doors and the tailgate, and have at it.
It blows all the dust and crap out from under the seats, etc, that a vacuum cleaner would never get.
I do this about twice a year. Works great.
 
I use a tiny leaf blower (by Milwaukee tools) to get most water out of cavities and spots like seams, door seals, headlight edges, roof rails, etc, then just using a regular microfiber towel. Never had a problem with this method. Note that a leaf blower will not be very effective if your paint hasn't been waxed for a long time.
 
I usually enjoy washing my vehicles but this is a tough one. It's large, tall and has many crevices that hold water. I do use a leaf blower on it but nothing beats micro fiber and detail spray to finish it. It just takes a lot of time and patience.
 
Sounds promising crikey, I need to get one. Do you use round exhaust or the narrow air exhaust aka air blade?

Mine just has a round exhaust. A blade one might work better but its also dependent on how strong the blower is.
 
Note that a leaf blower will not be very effective if your paint hasn't been waxed for a long time.

Makes sense, it should dry quicker if water just beads off. I did wash 2 cars yesterday, the just waxed CX-9 and my sons 12-year old VW GLI and used the same blower drying method. I didnt notice a difference but it could be that one is quite smaller than the other, so they dried at approximately the same time.
 
I can relate. I've also been hand washing/hand drying the CX-9 since I bought it. After nearly two years, I've figured out my problem spots - the side mirrors (articulating hinge), and the liftgate (on either side of the license plate area). I have a Worx leaf blower that can push water off the car, but it doesn't have enough of a narrow opening to force air into the problem areas. Usually I just dry as well as I can, then wipe off any excess water/water spots with a microfiber the next time I go to the car.

These problems spots are why I try to use a waterless wash whenever I can :) If I do an actual wash, it'll take me 45 mins to an hour, but if I do a waterless wash, I'm done in 20 mins.
 
There is a nice 600 CFM blower on Amazon, but only has the round exhaust, I can see it would be better to have both.

Do you think 600 CFM is fine or still too weak?
 
Husqvarna sells a backpack leaf blower that blows 900 CFM at 200 miles per hours. If that doesn't blow the water off, I don't know what will lol.

Another trick I use is after the final rinsing I "wet" the paint. It's another rinse but with just the open end of the hose and slow water flow. What it'll do is pour a sheet of water over the panels and rinse off most of the water beads. I use one 16x24 towel to dry the entire car and have never had to wring it once.
 
There is a nice 600 CFM blower on Amazon, but only has the round exhaust, I can see it would be better to have both.

Do you think 600 CFM is fine or still too weak?

The Worx WG520 I have is a 600 CFM blower with a round exhaust. It's fine for blowing the majority of the water off the car, but to force water out of the crevices you really need something with a narrower stream IMO. I'm thinking about modifying the round exhaust to be more narrow by heating the plastic up to reform it, but that's a job for next summer.
 
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