So I order the California Car Cover and the guy on the phone asks, do I want to buy one of the famous California Car Dusters? OK, so it arrives.

I didn't do my homework here 'cause I thought it would look like a giant angry cat's tail or ostrich feathers or something, but hey, 20 bucks, how wrong can I go? But this thing looks like an dangly elongated mop head with a short wooden handle.

The mop part feels greasy or treated. Sure enough, the booklet says it's treated with a special paraffin wax. And they imply it is SUPPOSED to look dirty, the DIRTIER it looks the BETTER it works. Like DIRT all of a sudden is GOOD and DUST is no longer ABRASIVE. This thing, like an oil and salt rubbed iron skilllet, gets seasoned with continued use???

The booklet goes on to say if "you feel the need to wash the 'Original' California Car Duster for any reason" you can wash it by hand. Oh yeah, the first few uses may leave streaks, but I shouldn't worry. Heck, I'm worried about scratching paint all the time.

Help me out guys. I've got less-than-concours family cars I can use this on if need be. I can even return it, but I hate returning stuff in general. Is the California Duster a godsend or is it anathema, to be loathed and avoided like the plague?

Paul

You need a Michigan car duster. A California car duster won't work there. How about a Plymouth Duster?

Seriously though, they work fine, but only on light dust. If you go over a car that has sat for 6 months, it just sort of moves the dust around.

I use one and it works well, I haven't noticed any scratches but... I do know you

are to use it with a light touch.

Thanks for the replies, but do you ever wash it (the duster, not the car)?


Paul

No, I just shake it to dislodge anything that wants to fall out, slip it into a plastic

bag then into its cover.

It works better the dirtier it gets, right? So cleaning would be counter productive. Actually, when I first got it it was clean and hardly worked at all. After burying it in the sand for a few weeks, it works so well it sucks the dust off the car without even touching it!

I shudder to think what would happen if you were to do something extreme, like throw one in a septic tank. It would probably form some sort of white glove black hole and put maids out of business worldwide.

The question is what kind of dust. If the dust is just saw dust powder than it won't scratch but if its granit dust, ooooh ya, its gonna scratch. I bet there is some fine print on the instructions.

I've been using my present CA car duster for a few years and I'm noticing its getting pretty dirty and was wondering about residue "scratching" the dusted surface and how I would clean the duster. A detailer friend recommended I switch to Griot's microfiber duster - looks like its very easy to clean periodically by washing. I bet the guys over in our concours room would have some ideas too.
Later,

I use on and it works very well. However, I only use it on the interior as an initial wipe down. My friends dad who has a concourse '71 Mustang Mach uses one on his paint though. When he drives somewhere he pulls his car in the garage, wipes it down with the duster, and then he covers it. His paint looks amazing still, and the paint is about 10 to 15 years old.

I use mine all the time and have never cleaned it. In 15 months I've only washed the zambeziteen 4 times, and then only when it's really dirty. The rest of the time I just dust it off.

I use one all the time on interior and exterior, and boy is it starting to look pretty foul, and yes I'm guilty of thinking about putting it through the wash....I guess I will rethink that....

Don't use it on a car that has been sitting in the sun for too long. The hot surface will melt the parafin.
Cheers, Elliot

I've been using one on my motorcycles for about 15 years, although I've only used it a couple times on my 914 paint, as silver doesn't show dust all that much. I wash it 2-3 times a year (the car; I've never washed the duster in 15 years). Usually just the targa top shows dust from taking it on and off. My stuff isn't concourse to start with, but this thing never seems to scratch. I've even used it lightly on a brand new plexiglass windscreens with no scratching.

I use it on my black cars, it is a life saver.

Just shake it out to clean it. Don't use if the paint is scorching hot. And the secret it, only dust very, very lightly with it. It's a duster, not a scrubber.

It'd be very hard to own a black car without one of those dusters.

You Barbarian


The "California" duster is not as effective after you wash it.
Try and hit all of the dust off of it.

I have one too and it works great. Others have even asked me how often I wash the car (maybe once/year - I don't get to drive it very often) b/c it always looks clean. If I have driven it, usually the next day I'll go over it with the duster and clean the glass and bumpers of bug residue, then put the cover back on.

Alright, I gotta ask: What about "spider web scratching" with these dusters?

I'm talking about the super-fine scratches that surround the reflection of the sun in the paint when you look at it.

I've never been able to get rid of them myself, but when I had the Boxster done professionally a couple of years ago, poof! they were gone. Looking at the paint, it looked seriously deep (this after years of neglect) and the sun just appeared as a bright yellow/white spot with no "spider web" scratches around it. Beeeeeautiful.

I learned to wash the car with a fairly easy method (I'll only go so far...) that maintained the depth and lack of scratches...

But, if a CA duster can remove dust without adding ANY scratches, I'm all in. I'd be curious to hear more from the black-car contingent!

Thanks!

pete

I have a few black cars, and they are quite challenging, because I don't like swirls and fine scratches.

IMO, the Cal duster has the net effect of having fewer fine swirls. Any time you wash and dry the car, no matter how careful you are, you are going to introduce some minor imperfections. That's just the nature of putting any kind of friction against black paint. The duster helps to reduce the number of times you have to wash and dry the car. It reduces my washings by a factor of probably 4.

If used properly (light touch, cool car, only to remove light dust on it, not to try to clean off heavy dirt), I've found that the duster does not introduce noticeable swirls, even to black paint.

Very good to know. Makes me want to try a CA car duster. The less often I've got to get my 914 wet, the better.

FWIW, I've found that I can avoid the scratches and swirls by:

1. Washing with three different sponges kept seperately (top, middle, and bottom surfaces)

2. Sweeping sponges front to back in one motion from the front of each panel to the back, then doing it again next to the last sweep

3. Re-soaking sponges after one sweep per side

4. Drying by using soft terry towels laid down and then patted or "swept" by hand without moving the towel on the paint.

Sounds complicated/anal, but it adds zero time to my washing procedures once I got it down. I think the key to the improved results was steps 1 and 2 + the lack of draging a towel or chamois across the paint to dry it.

pete

I'm sitting here wondering how you guys keep your cars clean enough that one of those silly dusters can do the job! My cars typically change color by 3 shades when I wash them. Of course I do park outside most of the time.

Well, I am driving a limo part time now to take up the slack at the port and each of the limos has one in the trunk and they have been using them for years. A quick once over each time you pick up the car to take it out and they look clean and polished. It works great.