Cali car duster, what's your take? advice pls.
 

I was wondering what your guys opinions on the California car duster and what is the proper way to use it? I have to park my mini on the street under trees and I often have little bits of this and that fall out of them and onto the car. It drives me crazy! I come out of my house every morning to see a thin layer of dust and small bits of bark. Do you guys think a cali duster would be a good way to remedy this? I keep the car waxed up with hydro pretty much all the time so that's the protection I have.

Dan,
I would just use a quick detailer and skip the duster. The QD is a nice way to have some added lubricity between your paint, the dust/bark, and the dusting tool(towel).

aye but that takes to much time at 7:45 before going to work :razz: But maybe that's the way to go. See you saturday!

60k miles and never left home without it...in fact, I have 3 altogether...just keep it shaken well between every other strokes and don't apply pressure...if you Mini is very dusty, best to blow it off first with air compressor...you can wash the duster 1-2 times a year in cold gentle cycle and they'll be good as new...:)

I prefer the duster to QD for removing loose dust. The duster is great when the car has been washed recently, and just has some dust on it. If the car is dry, and the air is dry, the duster is great.

If your car has something like dried waterspots from morning dew, or if the air is damp, the duster will leave lots of streaks on the paint.

Cover & Duster
 

If you are leaving your car out over night, get a good cover and a duster.

A good cover will keep the large stuff off and leave you only needing to dust before you cover your car. Then when you take the cover off it will be nice and clean.

This is what I do with parking outside each day. Before I leave the garage at home I dust the car. It looks great.
Once I get to work the cover goes on, it only take about 30 sec.
End of the day cover comes off and I still have a clean car.

For you, just adapt to covering when you park at night.

i do not use calduster on my commuters for 2 reasons.

1) it will scratch your surface if your finish is dirty...meaning, morning dew, light rain, etc. will make your surface sticky to the point calduster will not
glide smoothly resulting in fine hazing type scratches.

2) i am lazy. i just wash the car every weekend when i can. :razz:

I use it, but find it has limited use on a hatchback that is prone to lots of dust and dirt on the boot. The roof and bonnet are the places for this, but often, the boot is too dirty for the duster to make a dent.

Also, don't use it if your car has been sitting in the hot sun. The duster's fibers have been infused with wax to pick up the dust. When the body is too hot, it will melt that wax, leaving gummy streaks on your paint.

If it is in the shade, then it should work fine.

Looks like I'll have to just stick to the QD and monster fluffy

I assumed everyone knew this but:

1-Caliduster is for clean cars with light road dust
2-never use duster if there's water/sap/bird crap on the surface
3-use caliduster as a prep for quick shine
4-don't use pressure and shake the duster often while dusting
5-don't use duster on extremely hot surfaces such as parked cars under hot sun...

you should try the platinum MF from DP. that's why i use most of the
time especally for QD.

That is the only MF I don't have from them (expect for the big new monster) You prefer it for QD over monster fluffy? You think the monster soaks up to much product or something?

side note, I love the DP trying towel for my hydro applications.

yah, the platinum is the workhorse MF for me...it's got plenty of pickup
with QD and does not scratch the finish at all. i had my flood light right
up against the paint when i was polishing and just for the hell of it pushed
pretty hard into the paint with platinum MF. no hazing. :thumbsup:

i find myself using the platinum when removing wax more so than
monster fluffy. :nod: :) i got like 15 or so of them in my garage. :grin:

I use the Platinum for drying (no waffle weave yet... next DP order) and Hydro. Then Monsters for wax and polish removal, final buffouts, and Slick.

never use on a black or dark car... it will add more swrill marks to the paint :(

I use the Platinum on our black 325i (BMW has relativly soft paint) and I have never had a problem with swirling.

i think she's talking about the cal duster on dark colored cars.

it's true, i use calduster on my IB/B MCS after each drive and it does
haze the paint a little. you can tell a night/day difference when
you polish. and im careful with my paint not to put pressure on the
duster and shake it often, but it has its limits. :)