Distilled or De-ionized water as a drying aid?

[Jacob Harrod AutoClean]

OK guys, it looks like there's a lot of options available for drying aids. It seems to me that the most logical option would be to figure out what what kind of last standing protection is on the vehicle and then match the correct drying aid.

But what if you want a drying aid that won't act as a booster for your LSP, or your booster requires that the car be dry before applying?

What if you want something that leaves nothing behind?

Could you use Sonax Glass Cleaner as a drying aid?

Based on your experience are drying aides really necessary if your using a clean, contaminant, and scratch free towel?

Also I know there is the technique of laying the towel flat over the panel and then gliding your hand over the towel to dry rather than rubbing the towel on the panel.

One other idea I had is to mist your drying towel with a little distilled water and then either mist on with a sprayer or you could set your garden hose sprayer on mist and then mist the pannel with some filtered de-ionised water then dry.

 

[2black1s]

What I usually do for drying... Blow dry followed by Meguiar's D115 (4:1) used like a quick detailer.

I don't see distilled or DI water as any benefit unless you're doing a complete final rinse with either, and then followed by your normal drying routine. Time permitting, you could just let a vehicle rinsed with distilled or DI water air dry. But as a drying aid, it's just water, so I don't see any benefit. It will not provide any lubricity, protection, streak resistance, or any of the other [real or perceived] benefits of a drying aid.

As for the air drying if rinsed with distilled or DI water, I've only done that one time as an experiment to see how well my DI final rinse works. Even with a DI water final rinse, I will typically blow dry as a minimum.

 

[Jacob Harrod AutoClean]

What I usually do for drying... Blow dry followed by Meguiar's D115 (4:1) used like a quick detailer.

I don't see distilled or DI water as any benefit unless you're doing a complete final rinse with either, and then followed by your normal drying routine. Time permitting, you could just let a vehicle rinsed with distilled or DI water air dry. But as a drying aid, it's just water, so I don't see any benefit. It will not provide any lubricity, protection, streak resistance, or any of the other [real or perceived] benefits of a drying aid.

As for the air drying if rinsed with distilled or DI water, I've only done that one time as an experiment to see how well my DI final rinse works. Even with a DI water final rinse, I will typically blow dry as a minimum.

Thanks! It looks like the Meguiar's D115 is a cost effective option. It definitely could not hurt to give it a try.

 

[Mike Phillips]

So much of my work is Prep Wash that how I dry the car is simply not an issue.

The most important thing for me is speed and I have an article coming up for this topic.

 

[Jacob Harrod AutoClean]

So much of my work is Prep Wash that how I dry the car is simply not an issue.

The most important thing for me is speed and I have an article coming up for this topic.

Nice! I can't wait to read it!!!

 

[Mike Lambert]

The idea behind a drying aid or better called a drying lubricant, is to prevent the marring from drying. If you don’t want any protection, use a rinseless like the new Makees.

 

[Jacob Harrod AutoClean]

The idea behind a drying aid or better called a drying lubricant, is to prevent the marring from drying. If you don’t want any protection, use a rinseless like the new Makees.

I checked our that McKee's rinse-less wash. I will give it a try. Thank you!

 

[Darrell L]

If it's a maintenance wash on a protected vehicle I use DI water and leverage surface tension of water to get rid of most the standing water. I use a cut off garden hose and a gentle stream of water, surface tension pulls most the water away. Electric leaf blower for a few water drops/rims. What little is left over I let it evaporate. I never touch the paint for drying in maintenance wash.

Prepping for paint correction, whatever you find is fastest for you.

 

[Jacob Harrod AutoClean]

If it's a maintenance wash on a protected vehicle I use DI water and leverage surface tension of water to get rid of most the standing water. I use a cut off garden hose and a gentle stream of water, surface tension pulls most the water away. Electric leaf blower for a few water drops/rims. What little is left over I let it evaporate. I never touch the paint for drying in maintenance wash.

Prepping for paint correction, whatever you find is fastest for you.

Thanks! I actually just installed a DI system!

 

[Mike Phillips]

If it's a maintenance wash on a protected vehicle I use DI water and leverage surface tension of water to get rid of most the standing water. I use a cut off garden hose and a gentle stream of water, surface tension pulls most the water away.

That's a great way to get most of the water off a car's finish that is regularly maintained. I never seem to have the patience for that technique. I think Richard Lin once shared how he used a large plastic picture, like for tea or kool-aid, and did the same thing and for some reason it seem to work better than the water hose but I don't remember why?

Electric leaf blower for a few water drops/rims.

Agree. For drying cars as a part of a Maintenance Wash, a powerful leaf blower is the way to go.

Sometime in the future I'll have something on this technique.

 

[Darrell L]

That's a great way to get most of the water off a car's finish that is regularly maintained. I never seem to have the patience for that technique. I think Richard Lin once shared how he used a large plastic picture, like for tea or kool-aid, and did the same thing and for some reason it seem to work better than the water hose but I don't remember why?

Using the surface tension of water and the garden hose is a technique I've been experimenting with. I've noticed slowing down the hose movement to keep the water tension intact on the stream edges makes a difference. I suspect using a pitcher to deliver a higher water volume may play a role in keeping the edges of the stream in tact. I will experiment with that next time I do a maintenance wash.

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