# Waterblade or squeegee?



## HikerToo (Nov 8, 2014)

Any thought on using something like this "Waterblade" for the initial pass to remove excess water after washing, and then following up with a good drying towel?

I have a dark blue E90 with perfect paint, no swirls and want to keep it that way...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00II5YADC/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2TGY5I53GXLLY

http://www.griotsgarage.com/product...z-pSd5jXB6bA8kMjZ9wTVGMZglMP8jAgeqRoCjGTw_wcB


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## Johnz3mc (Jan 5, 2005)

Dark blue. It's going to show imperfections way more than white or light grey. I'd actually stay away from both the waterblade and the squeegee type of products. 
The first little bit of crud trapped on the blade is going to put a huge longitudinal scratch in your clearcoat and you're going to throw that waterblade into the next county.
Safe drying can be done a couple of ways -
a) a good drying towel. The Dry Me Crazy from Car Pro or other sites works very well. Apparently there's a Dry Me a River too. Catchy names but they work extremely well for drying.
b) electric leafblower plus a drying towel like the DMC. 

The better the wax/sealant you have, the easier/quicker the leafblower works and the extra benefit is that wheels, cracks, nooks, crannies, also get dried at the same time.


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## frank325 (Dec 29, 2005)

I've used that same water blade in your photo for about 9 years on jet black paint. I haven't noticed any scratches caused by it. But, if you choose to not use it and just dry with a towel, you can minimize the amount of water on your car once you're done washing to make drying easier. Take off the hose nozzle and just let water stream down out of the hose very close to your car so that there is no splashing. Water will sheet off the car that way (compared to if you were to just spray the car from a distance, small water drops would be everywhere).


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## UnderEstimated (Jun 25, 2014)

I would never use anything like that across my paint! I can only imagine if a small piece of debris was caught inbetween the blade and paint...

If you're washing the car with a standard hose, why not just sheet the water off? I do it all the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCeyTHyFbck


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## crazy4trains (Mar 30, 2011)

Yes, sheeting the water off works very well. Works even better if you orient the water flow from high on the car to low. For example, orient the hose so that water flows from the top of the hood at the cowl toward the headlights. This sheets off much more water. Also, a good wax and/or sealant helps.


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## Silver Shadow (Dec 12, 2014)

+1 on the leaf blower, works for blowing off snow too. A big backpack gas blower works even better than a wimpy little girly man electric blower.


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## jaybarr (Aug 16, 2016)

I would prefer getting a squeegee . Though it is one of the most conventional methods of cleaning, it is more efficient. I bought a squeegee from better living dispenser. It costed about $25.


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## CGP (Sep 18, 2013)

Get a Dry Me Crazy towel. When I have used traditional waffle weave towels I have had to use several towels to dry the car. With the Dry Me Crazy you only need one towel. There is no need for a blade. You will not believe the difference this towel makes.


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