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      12-21-2020, 04:17 PM   #1
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Mission Impossible: Drying a G20 After Washing

My car is black (BSM), ceramic coated, and I three-bucket-wash it at a local self service car wash facility. After I do the final rinse, I use a leaf blower to remove about 95% of the water. I then use a waffle weave towel to sop up what's left. I use quick detailer on the whole car for shine, to remove water spots, and complete the drying. I make sure to clean and dry the door jambs, the fuel cap area, and the trunk seals. I then do another walk around with the leaf blower. At this point, there's still a surprising amount of water that gets blown out of random places. I do one last walk around with my waffle weave towel to catch any errant drips. After all of this, without fail when I drive a block to the gas station or half a mile home, the car has dried lines of water that dribbled out during the trip. I guess it's a good thing because the tolerances are tight? But seriously, wtf? Has anyone cracked this Sisyphean feat? Or should I just accept my fate of having water marks all over the **#$%,¥[£?!! car?
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      12-21-2020, 07:45 PM   #2
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It's the same in all cars. Mostly leaks out from the outer rear view mirrors, door handles and other crevices. It isn't specific to the G20!
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      12-21-2020, 08:02 PM   #3
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Yea, it's the same with all Cars. The best you can do is to use that blower to hit the door handles, the Side mirrors, and around the license plate frame to blow out the trapped water. Some water will come out still from little crevices but just use a detail spray with a microber towel to hit any missed spots once you get home. I always have some Adams Detail spray with me and I use that as a lubricant when drying. Gives a great shine as well.

Your main issue might be the car being black and making water spots a bit more visible, unfortunately.
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      12-22-2020, 08:06 AM   #4
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Thanks for the comments. This car is definitely harder to dry than my F30 was. Oh well. I guess this is my life now with a black car.
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      12-22-2020, 10:12 AM   #5
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Mission Impossible: Drying a G20 After Washing

Try folding in your mirrors to get more water out with the leaf blower, and there always seems to be a surprising amount of water under the door trims which is a pain to get out

You can also try holding the door handle open to blow more water out
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      12-24-2020, 09:00 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SportySpice View Post
Thanks for the comments. This car is definitely harder to dry than my F30 was. Oh well. I guess this is my life now with a black car.
I think your frustration is warranted for those of us who really detail our cars. I don't always use forced air drying just because I got to the point with the newer cars that you could spend another two hours trying to get every bloody drop of water out, and you never really do.

Agree with the others. Do the best you can and use the drive home as God's way of getting the last few drops out and detail spray it immediately when you get home and then you will be done. I have had two black cars, and now I go all white because even if I miss a few drops it doesn't show as badly LOL!
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      12-24-2020, 11:27 AM   #7
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Open hood, trunk. And fold mirrors opposite direction (towards front of car)
Blow all roof areas first work your way down,
Door jams, handles. Open and close all doors during process. Make sure every panel seam is blown well, close trunk blow behind plate well, continue that way.

I do this with all my cars, and my client vehicles never have anything remaining. And almost never need a towel, 100% contactless drying.
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      12-24-2020, 11:35 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Preciseyyc View Post
Open hood, trunk. And fold mirrors opposite direction (towards front of car)
Blow all roof areas first work your way down,
Door jams, handles. Open and close all doors during process. Make sure every panel seam is blown well, close trunk blow behind plate well, continue that way.

I do this with all my cars, and my client vehicles never have anything remaining. And almost never need a towel, 100% contactless drying.
How powerful is your blower? I use one but I can never rely on a blower alone since too much water remains.

I also usually use a microfiber towel when I do the doors jams since I feel like the blower is going to blow water into the interior.
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      12-24-2020, 02:23 PM   #9
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Mine is ceramic coated too. I blow out all of the jambs and seams, the mirror caps, the trim around the glass, wheel Wells, and even the barrels of the wheels. I always end up with a few drops after I drive off but I wipe them off with a ceramic detail sprayed microfiber cloth afterward.
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      12-24-2020, 03:08 PM   #10
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Some times I use a detail spray as a drying aide. I also use combination blower and mf towel. Water does hide under hood trunk mirrors and door seems. Also if you roll down the window it gets wet. Water tends to stay in there for a day. Have not figured how to dry inside the doors
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      04-23-2021, 02:08 PM   #11
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After a wash, I spend a good 20mins with my leaf blower, and then the remaining water on the panels, I’ll spray some detail spray as I start the drying process with a clean MF towel. After I’m done drying it, I’ll then take a quick drive around the neighborhood and do a final inspection and wipe down.
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      04-24-2021, 08:36 AM   #12
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I find my G22 very easy to wash and dry with the ceramic coating. If I wash at the local self spray place that has air dryers (in the winter) I wait and do the detail spray wipe down when I get home. When I do it at home I usually just let it sit in the garage a while after washing and blow drying before I drive it. Either way, I’m only getting a small amount of water spotting, mostly from the mirror covers and it only takes a minute to correct.
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      04-24-2021, 09:03 AM   #13
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This works great....gets all the water out around windows, handles, mirrors, etc.
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      04-25-2021, 02:53 PM   #14
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      05-06-2021, 12:13 AM   #15
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Heh try cleaning BMW i3 if you want to se water that keeps dribbling even though you thought you got the last of it out.

And here i thought when i order my i4 later on it will be easier to clean. I thought BMW learned by this point when it comes to draining the water properly from the car.

But as some people already have stated the side mirrors are one of the most ridiculous points where so much water accumulates. Door handles try locking the car put away the key then go to the door and pull the handle and blow it all out of there. When it comes to the registration plates try blowing it all out of there seems like this is one of the points where water keeps seeping from after a wash. Makes me sometimes think how does it look behind it in the mounting holes after a couple of years :S

If you want some tips try looking how the water is draining from the car and follow the natural ways of the water and blow it out that way. Then go back from the other side. Then hope it will be enough. Also open the doors and blow out the water from the crevasse there also, don't forget to open the hood and tailgate to get it all out of there and also the wipers accumulates a lot of water when the wind hits them after a wash they like putting the sweet sweet water marks all over the car.

But yeah in the end if you like a clean car then the black color is a horrible choice to go with :-)
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      05-13-2021, 07:41 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nahlem View Post
Heh try cleaning BMW i3 if you want to se water that keeps dribbling even though you thought you got the last of it out.

And here i thought when i order my i4 later on it will be easier to clean. I thought BMW learned by this point when it comes to draining the water properly from the car.

But as some people already have stated the side mirrors are one of the most ridiculous points where so much water accumulates. Door handles try locking the car put away the key then go to the door and pull the handle and blow it all out of there. When it comes to the registration plates try blowing it all out of there seems like this is one of the points where water keeps seeping from after a wash. Makes me sometimes think how does it look behind it in the mounting holes after a couple of years :S

If you want some tips try looking how the water is draining from the car and follow the natural ways of the water and blow it out that way. Then go back from the other side. Then hope it will be enough. Also open the doors and blow out the water from the crevasse there also, don't forget to open the hood and tailgate to get it all out of there and also the wipers accumulates a lot of water when the wind hits them after a wash they like putting the sweet sweet water marks all over the car.

But yeah in the end if you like a clean car then the black color is a horrible choice to go with :-)
But it's the best color for the 10 minutes that the car is clean.
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      05-13-2021, 01:06 PM   #17
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I open all he doors an trunk to dry well. Also take for a quick drive and water will seep out, dry car again where you see water. Water tends to hide in side mirrors and gas filler door too
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      05-17-2021, 01:12 PM   #18
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I second this. I have the exact blower and this is way better than using leaf blower. I have real good luck with this blower and zero water sipping after. Bear in the mind that U really need to go slow and blow at every trim pieces..

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTF View Post
This works great....gets all the water out around windows, handles, mirrors, etc.
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