The first time I washed mine, I noticed that water collected in the black mesh grills both in front and in back, and dripped water down my now clean bumpers for hours.

My tip is to take a wet/dry vac and suck the water out of the grills right after the wash rinse. This not only keeps water from dripping across your just dried bumpers, but it also sucks out the dirt in the grill slots and keeps them looking clean .

 

we usually just blow the water out with a MF towel near by to catch the
drip.

 

Could you shoot a video of that please?

 

sure, but it will include the kenchan handling cost of $500 and tip..

 

This short thread has already got a suck, a blow and a drip.

We're off to a rocking start!

 

Good tip SuperGreg. I often use the shopvac to suck water out of various nooks & crannies such as in the engine bay, body seams & wheels. One thing I would suggest is that you use a microfiber towel over the nozzle so that if it ever comes in contact with your paint there will be no damage.
I use my leaf blower some times as well, but you can't blow dirt out of the under-bonnet material and I don't fancy blowing bug bits further into the radiator fins. So since I vacuum these parts of the MINI almost every time, might as well enhance the efficiency and just use one tool for both.

 

afast drive , drys quick

 

I just use the narrow tip which is plastic, so no harm no foul if it touches the paint. I can't tell you how clean my grills look after sucking out that dirty water Last note is that the grills are solid at the ends, so you can't blow it out. That's why the vac works great for me.

 

I use an air compressor. There are spots around the rear spoiler that collect water as well, dripping in my boot when I open the rear hatch. I now just go around the car with a quick shot of air in all the cracks prior to drying. Also the wheels!

 

yah, but the problem with that is you also accumulate dust over your
wet surface and dripping parting lines.

 

Man, I hate drooping panty lines.

 

...that you don't learn something new. Usually after washing and drying I check the air in the tires. Today I got out the compressor and "blew" away all the water hiding in tough places to dry. I had Hydro and a MF towel handy and found the "blow" job works very well and had no drips, no runs and no spots.

Thanks for the great tip.

 

anyone have a suggestion of where i can pick up a small air compressor, including nozzle to blow out the crevices? Also approx. cost? TIA

 

Pep Boys, Kragen, Autozone, Harbor Freight all sell small air compressors. A cheap 3 gallon pancake compressor can work but the motor will always be on filling the tank up so if noise isn't your thing get a larger one like a 10 or 15 gallon.

 

thx for the input OG.