Always rinse the car first, to get most of the grit off the paint. That way, you are only rubbing the wash cloth over the body surface with an absolute minimum of potential abrasive grit on it.
The side sill covers in my GTS seem to drip water for a couple of hours, despite my blowing that area out with the leaf blower.
Did you ever blow dry one area of the car, and then when you move the blower over onto another area, it splashes water back onto the dry area?
Start with the areas that hold a lot of water- mirrors, fender grills, windshield wipers, etc. Get those areas blown out first, then do the whole car. You'll spend less time going back over the same areas twice.
Motorcycle shops sell a plastic cleaner/protectant called Plexus. Its great for your headlight covers. Spray it on a rag, then coat the lens, to avoid overspray onto the paint. (It won't hurt the paint, but it shows up as a smear, and you have to buff it out.) It not only cleans, but it fills light scratches, and helps protect the surface from further scratches. Makes the surface shine like new.
Put a good coat of wax on your rims. Then when you take the brake dust off with a few shakes of a dedicated car duster, the brake dust will come off easily and quickly, and the brake dust won't abrade the chrome finish. (Credit- JonB)
