[Mutilator]

This afternoon as I was unloading my 4 new Kumhos from my hatch (Yes I fit all 4 tires in there! ) I looked at my car and noticed how damn dusty it was for some reason.. I just washed it 2 days ago! My sister goes "What's that?" and kinda smeared some off. That got me thinking.. hmm... if I ever needed a reason to buy a california car duster this is it so I headed down to walmart and grabbed one. It worked pretty damn good.. especially if you keep your car clean and don't have waterspots and stuff it definatly gets all the dust off. Highly recommended... right up there with the California waterblade.. perhaps higher.
$10 @ Walmart, go buy one!

 

[YOGURT!]

i second that, as well as the california waterblade

 

[AmkreadGTO]

i have 2 Cali Dusters and 1 Cali water blade~

 

[Darktrail]

What is the water blade?

-Jeff

 

[Venom]

I have a California Duster that's over 8 years old. The thing still works pretty good!

 

[RacerX_GTO]

Waterblade - Its like a glass squeegie but for auto finishes. I have a nice glossy black finish on my car and Im anal about swirl marks on my paint finish, so no blade for me!. I use the duster too, theres a fine balance of that dust oil that is pretreated with each duster, that you must re-apply when you wash the duster.

 

[Mutilator]

I have a nice glossy black finish on my car and Im anal about swirl marks on my paint finish, so no blade for me!

Err.. no blade for you? How can you make swirls with a straight line motion?
Towels are much more likely to scratch then that soft silicone bastard.
I use both... waterblade first then towel dry whatever is left.

 

[Czar]

WARNING - Don't ever use a terry cloth towel on your car especially if it's black. My car is totally buffed out and if I take a towel and wipe it with just one swipe I CAN SEE THE SCRATCHES that the towel left.

Pep Boys has a product made by NicSand that is an extremely high density soft cloth. You can find them with the other polish/buffing pads and such. Yellow and green are the softest. They work excellent and can be laundered to use many times.

I use Showtime spray and then just wipe it off with these cloths to clean. Off course this is just for maintenence after I clay barred, machine polished, and sealed my paint with Yellow Wax.

Edit - You will not get anywhere close to a good machine polish if you try doing it all by hand. I have two machines, a 9" for the main areas and a 4" for getting into all the curves and corners.

 

[RacerX_GTO]

The money I saved up throwing newspapers for my neigborhood and ended up going for the shamiose drying towel, its like softer than Britney Spears skin and does a sweet job of drying. But it sure cost alot! Just like booking Britney for your party! LOL

I have this bucket full of detailing stuff, like Lexol, Wax Shop Slick Stuff, Chrome Cleaner....etc that I use like a ritual after washing my car. It is hand washed and waxed! No machines!

Edit: I agree! Terry Cloths suck the big one!!! Use diaper soft cloths or detailers grade polishing cloths.

 

[Mutilator]

Actually if you use the expensive high quality 100% cotton towels that you buy @ department stores (NOT AUTO STORES) they're a lot safer than something smooth like shammies and diapers because they pull any dirt into the fabric rather than smearing it around on the surface of your car. When I use my towels I don't put ANY pressure on them (unless I'm buffing off zaino) I just glide them along the surface using their own weight to keep em on the surface.

 

[Czar]

Actually if you use the expensive high quality 100% cotton towels that you buy @ department stores (NOT AUTO STORES) they're a lot safer than something smooth like shammies and diapers because they pull any dirt into the fabric rather than smearing it around on the surface of your car. When I use my towels I don't put ANY pressure on them (unless I'm buffing off zaino) I just glide them along the surface using their own weight to keep em on the surface.

You are right about diapers (will still scratch) and shammies (nowhere for particles to be absorbed). I promise you though, you cannot buy a 100% cotton towel ANYWHERE that is as soft as these new NicSand clothes. They have the same loops to absorb like towels do but they are the most unreal absorbly soft synthetic cloth you can buy. If you check these out you will be amazed and never go back. Even the best quality 100% cotton towels feel like sand paper compared to these. Everyone I know that has seen them has converted from whatever else they used.

Well I'm not trying to harp or get carried away but let me put it this way. These towels and a clay bar are the two most important products in my book for getting an ultimate car finish. My car is the proof to me.

 

[Mutilator]

I'm gonna take some new pics of my car soon... sucks that it has swirl marks and stuff from the previous owner but it's shiney as hell

 

[Darktrail]

Is that Yellow Wax worth it? The Yellow Wax 26 by meguiares Thats the only things besides Zaino I haven't tried.

I use some microfibre towel from autozone and it is the only towel I have ever had that didn't leave swirl marks. It was about 4 or 5 dollars for one but it is extremely soft.

-jeff

 

[Andrew Caple]

><i>theres a fine balance of that dust oil that is pretreated with each duster, that you must re-apply when you wash the duster</i>

(1) How do you people wash your dusters? The mop part does not come off the handle, so you can't just toss it in the washer. And don't tell me you don't wash them - the thing is full of dust.

(2) Where did you get this "pre-treating" oil stuff from?

(3) I can't find a web site for these California clowns. Anybody know one?

 

[Mutilator]

Andrew,
Ask and you shall receive
http://www.calcarduster.com/
(I didn't even know they had a website, I'd never seen it)

 

[Andrew Caple]

Well, the web site didn't help any. No mention of this re-oiling kit. Wonder why I couldn't find it with Yahoo?

 

[Mutilator]

I've never heard of the re-oiling kit before either... I just know that "the dustier it gets the better it works" (kinda like those oil filters ) and I believe you just wash it in the sink with water to get the dust out (atleast you do with the dash duster). I can check when I get home tho I'm sure it has a little tag w/instructions or something on it somewhere.

 

[ShawnE94sL]

I also use the duster, however it leaves little Red hairs on my car, nothing I can't brush off with a 100% cotton cloth. Still a great product. I do not own a water blade, but I have used it. I like it, and will probably end up buying one in the future.

 

[Mutilator]

My dash duster has red hairs... the car duster has blue/grey ones... I had one fall off when I snagged it in my windshield wiper but that's about it
I just thought I'd recommend it since it seems like a good thing to have for a quick 45 second clean up in a dry/dusty environment
(Hasn't rained here in 22 days so things are getting just a little bit dry )

 

[Andrew Caple]

This "the dirtier it gets, the better it cleans" slogan sounds like crap, sort of like the current "your oil filter cleans better when it's dirty" discussion.

The more you use it, the more dust there is covering the hairs on your brush. This will eventually mean two things:

(1) any dust already on the hairs from the previous cleaning is going to scratch your paint job; and

(2) the hairs eventually reach saturation point and cannot hold any more dust, at which point using the brush means your just pushing the dust around on your paint job and scratching it up.

Really now, think about it - what would you say if Delsey advertized toilet paper this way - the more you use it the better it works?

To date, I hand-wash the thing in warm water with a bit of liquid tide. It usually takes about 6 wash/rinse cycles before the water no longer turns black, and I find it really awkward to immerse the red hairs in the water and agitate the shit out of it while keeping the rest of it high and dry.