Picked up the Metro Blaster Sidekick

[Eidolon]

So in my last order of refills on products and new wash pads, I also picked up a Metro Blaster Sidekick to help with the drying process.

 

Good grief, it's a vacuum cleaner in reverse! As more or less expected, it is somewhat loud, though not unbearably so. But it does pump out a solid, forceful stream of tangibly warmed air that, in a few seconds, will dry off water on trim and tires. For that it works very well.

 

Of course, if your car decides it wants to keep leeching water out of every orifice as my G8 does, blowing water out of the cracks doesn't help much. So my hope of eliminating all the water dripping out from the lip spoiler and side mirrors didn't quite pan out. Still, there's many cases in which it did help. For instance, I used it to blow water out from around the lug nuts on my tires and then dry them off so I could put VRT on right away.

 

Great little product, really. Doesn't get everything out of the cracks, but it does help. Only two tips I'd have that I'll follow myself for next time.

 

 

1. Blow water out of the cracks before toweling off the rest of the car. The Blaster evacuated quite a bit of water from some cracks, such as around my side mirrors. The result was that I had to re-dry some panels I'd already previously toweled.
   
2. Wear ear protection! It's not that the device itself is so loud, but the sound the blast of air makes on some trim and tire lugs was piercing.
   

Thanks, Adam!

[DP 08 GXP]

The grille on my G8 is especially bad for water. It may be the same for your Grand Prix. A word from the wise: pop the hood and towel off the top of the grille before you try to air dry it. Otherwise all you'll do is dry the water that's visible and clear the way for the rest of the reservoir behind it. *nods*

 

thanks for the heads up and thanks for the info Dylan!

[Eidolon]

A little advice...

 

Blow off the bulk of the water from surfaces and get as much as you can out of the trim, badges, nooks, and crannies.

 

Then towel dry with TONS of detail spray. The stuff you blow out of the trim will often times have small amounts of grit and dirt in it trapped during the wash process.

 

After the car is dry blast all the trim, door handles, badges, and bodylines again to get the remaining water out.

 

Towel dry these areas with heavy doses of detail spray or waterless wash used as a lubricant.

Good idea. Sounds like a two-dose/two-step method rather than fully towel-drying and then using the blaster, which is what I did yesterday.

 

So, in summary: blast, DS&towel, blast, DS&towel.

 

I always take 2 passes with the blaster to get everything, water has a tendency to hide all over the place, the G8 is especially bad just b/c of the body-lines and angles.

Agreed. I found the grille and front fender trim to be the worst. It seemed like I'd get it dry, walk away to do another part of the car, and I'd come back to somehow find more water running down the headlights or front grille pieces! Argh!!

[Eidolon]

i have one on the way also. cant wait to give it a whirl.

The grille on my G8 is especially bad for water. It may be the same for your Grand Prix. A word from the wise: pop the hood and towel off the top of the grille before you try to air dry it. Otherwise all you'll do is dry the water that's visible and clear the way for the rest of the reservoir behind it. *nods*

[Team Adam's]

A little advice...

 

Blow off the bulk of the water from surfaces and get as much as you can out of the trim, badges, nooks, and crannies.

 

Then towel dry with TONS of detail spray. The stuff you blow out of the trim will often times have small amounts of grit and dirt in it trapped during the wash process.

 

After the car is dry blast all the trim, door handles, badges, and bodylines again to get the remaining water out.

 

Towel dry these areas with heavy doses of detail spray or waterless wash used as a lubricant.

 

I always take 2 passes with the blaster to get everything, water has a tendency to hide all over the place, the G8 is especially bad just b/c of the body-lines and angles.

[DP 08 GXP]

i have one on the way also. cant wait to give it a whirl.