As I continue on my recent kick for learning & appreciating car detailing, I’ve found a new method for drying my car that not only takes a lot less time, but is much friendlier on the paint and minimizes the amount of drying you need to do with an actual towel. It’s called “the sheeting method” and basically you dry your car using water, which sounds very counter-intuitive, but it works!
The process is pretty very simple – it does require that you have a good coat of wax or polish down on your car, so that the water beads off. I had my car professionally waxed & polished then sealed with paint protection called Opti-Coat, which has kept my paint looking great so far, even with monsoon season here in Arizona.
Once you’ve got a good coat of polish down, you can let the polish & the water do all of the work.
Take the nozzle off of your hose so that its just free flowing water, and then you essentially flood the car with water, one panel at a time. Start with your roof then work slowly over the entire car to flood each panel and watch the water beads disappear, leaving a nice, spot-free finish. When you’re finished, use your micro fiber towel of choice (like this one) to dry off any remaining water, and voila! You now have a spot free car with minimal towel drying needed.
A huge bonus for this is that since you let the water do the work, you miminize the use of your towel and also minimize the chance you’ll scratch or mar your paint, keeping your car’s paint beautiful for years to come.
Check out this video to show how it works – it’s really quite simple, and as you can see, really quite effective, too.
 
Hmm, does this drying method really work? I guess I’ll try this method out when I get the chance to. Nice post by the way. I’d like to ask if you’ll allow me to share this method on my blog. However, I’ll personally test to see if it dries off easily as you posted before I do so.
It doesn’t get all of the water off, but it gets most of it off. You still need to go over the car with a towel, but this way there is less water on the car for the towel to soak up, and less chance of streaking or water spots as you dry off the car… Glad u enjoyed the article!
Yeah, I’ve read the post so don’t worry. I know that it doesn’t completely dries off. Do you mind if I share this method in my blog?
Sure no problem, although I would appreciate a link back to my original article for credit. Thanks!
Nick, I tried this on my Impreza after I waxed it and it worked great. Thanks!
Very common method we use as well, Is so simple and yet saves so much time when it comes to the drying process of leaving as little water as possible on surfaces. Usually takes one wipe with a chamois and it’s done
This method wastes a lot of water, and particularly now, that water is at a premium – this wont work for me
I hear you. Check out this post on using a low flow electric pressure washer, it uses hardly any water: https://www.nickscarblog.com/detailing/using-a-foam-cannon-lance-with-an-electric-pressure-washer – then just use a microfiber towel to dry.