Does any one know how to make a homemade California Duster? I remember a long time ago, my dads friend made one and it worked good. But he passed away 2 years ago. So does anyone have any ideas on how to make one, or what oils to use?

 

All I know is that the cheaper knock-offs do nothing but leave fibers all over your car!

 

I know. One good deed leading to a bad one.

 

I refrained from the duster for a long time, then I saw owners of cars with mega-dollar paint jobs using them, so I took the plunge. Mine's so dirty it's black. They're cheap. Why not just purchase one?

JamesC

 

Because my job pays me $8.80 an hour, I have 3 kids, married, pay rent, insurances, bills, and Im a full time student. So I dont have much money. If I can invest and make my own, then I figured that it'll be good in the long run. Kind of like EPROM programming. Why do we do our own tunes? Why not let a DYNO shop do it? Its less of a hassle for T.G. owners. Just a thought.

 

Cool. Gotta do what you gotta do.

JamesC

 

I swear by mine. Been using one for at least 10 years. I have seen them at the Flea market for cheap but maybe those are the knock offs. They really are not that expensive. I think I would bite the bullet and get the real thing so I don't mess up my paint job. But that is just me. You do you.

 

I have been using the same California Duster for 15+ years on a daily basis and it was and still is a good investment.

 

15 years!!! Well then,,,, a $10 Cali Duster aint that much of a big deal then. Ive made up my mind. Just gonna swollow my pride and go buy one. Peace guys.

 

I bought one. The secret is that it has paraffin wax.

 

i use mine in the house more than i use it in the car; i've got a mini one that does a great job cleaning off the entertainment center stuff

 

You could always just buy one of those large microfiber drying towels; they can be machined washed and used for both drying and dusting.

 

you can buy the original California Duster at Walmart for $12

 

I bought one at Autozone a few weeks ago. It claims that the dirtier it looks, the better it works.

 

I second autozone. Mine was 9 bucks on sale here. It's worth the hour of work it'll take to afford it :-)

 

easy for you to say. My 1 hour of work consists of carrying 20 to 50 lb boxes up 10 ladders. Definitely not worth it for me.

 

they collect dust then it scratches your paint..makes swirls like you wouldn't believe ..micro fibers do this too...100% cotton towel is what you want.

*detailer...

 

I saw this done years ago. It changed my mind
get a blank, scratch free cd. get a cotton towel, and a microfiber towel
rub the cd with the COTTON towel on one side, and the MICRO towel on the other
one will scratch the cd, one will not. have fun~~~~

 

Thanks for the tips guys. My Iroc is in real need for a new paint job. Until then, CA duster will do. I'd imagine that the 100% cotton towel needs to be replaced every so often right?

 

No comments from the peanut gallery here.....

Glad you jumped on getting the real duster, they work great. It would cost you more money to make one that works as well yourself than just buying the real thing.

 

x2.

I had a California car duster when I was younger, in reality all you are doing is rubbing dirt into your paint, causing micro-marring.

Also, after a while, all it does is leave smears of the paraffin wax all over your car. It'll almost look like smeared raindrops all over your car in the light, and you have to wipe those off anyway with something else.

Since I've gotten heavy into detailing, I definitely disagree with the poster who said that a cotton towel is better than a microfiber.

The trick is to get GOOD microfiber, not the crap at Vatozone that's $12 for 24 of them. You need Microfiber that comes from Korea.

This IMO is the best MF on the market and amongst professional detailers seems to be the de facto workhorse MF, and googling them in comparison to any other brand, this one far and away seems to get exclusively positive reviews compared to the totally mixed reviews you'll find for brands like Cobra, Viking, etc.

http://pakshak.com/micro-fiber-towels.html

 

to each there own..facts is what i presented

 

Hahaha. Vatozone! I myself am a Vato from Sur Califas. But don't get me wrong. I'm not in the 64 Chevy' nor the Low Low Buick Regals. I'm proud of my IROC and I never ever will throw on some 80 spoke True Knock Off Dayton Wire Rims. I'm IROC all the way. Anyways. I didn't even know that there was a difference in microfibers. What about the ones that look identical to the California Duster? They are grey and are sold at Target. Ill get a picture tomorrow.

 

I don't know how hard pressing down on the duster would take to create swirls/scratching the clear but for me its just a light touch,barley gliding on the car. I give it a light shake out of the duster between wipes. Thats all it takes for me. Also if it dose create light scratching any thing you would use would scratch. The dust dose not care,its still there no mater what you use . Personally I think I "would" go mad if I could not dust off the car.

 

Lol, well how much higher up the food chain is Target compared to Vatozone? Therein lies your answer.

There is *definitely* different grades of MF towels, different fiber counts, different nap lengths, and different sources. As you can see from the link I posted, there are also different prices--the stuff you get at Target may be 24 for $12, whereas ONE good MF from Pakshak can cost you $6-$8 for a 16x16...needless to say, MF adds up very fast. I hopefully will be making a large order from PakShak later this month.

Nowadays, just the thought of gliding even light dust across even a freshly waxed/sealed surface with a dry material makes me cringe. I think you'd be *much* better off using a quick detailer and a MF towel since the quick detailer acts as a lubricant. That said, that method isn't perfect either and I really prefer to avoid any quick detailing at all, and I prefer to use a quick detailer as a drying aid when washing the car (when the car is wet, before drying, I mist the whole car with quick detailer which helps lubricate the drying towel and makes it easier to dry).

That said, I too used a California Duster for a while on the advice of people who were stuck in the '70s (parents, etc., same people who recommend Armor All), but the truth is there have been way better advances in the last 30 years in terms of auto care and detailing.

 

Think about the dust/dirt/gravel/bugs/etc. hitting your car at 65mph on the highway! I can't imagine a duster being worse than that.

 

What I find funny about the California Duster is the "The dirtier it is, the better it works" slogan..

So I would assume if you brush it along dry dirt on the ground and wipe your car down that it would work better than when it was new? Never did understand that concept..

 

I have 2...the parrafin wax streaks only last the first few times you use it then it goes away. I keep one at work to do the showroom cars, and one at home.

 

How come you want to make a homemade version? They don't call all that much in the stores..

 

With 3 kids and wife and 8.80 an hour...a duster should be the least of his concerns. Never understood this concept, you can hardly afford anything at all yet you still find ways to dump money into a camaro. Nice logic.

 

I wanted to make the "cheap home made version" to sell to the members of a small local car club that Im in.

 

This is not relevant to my thread. But since you wanna comment on my personal life and affairs, then Ill hand it to you like a mom gives her baby a pacifier. If you wanna get nosey (not to mention that you already are since you commented on my family), then dig deeper into my account. You may find that I got a couple of pictures of me sitting in a Kiowa Bell Chopper with a side mounted 30 mm cannon. With that said, you may notice that I'm wearing BDU's. Dont know what are BDU's Stevo? Then get nosey again. Google it. Now get nosey again and look at my avatar. You may see that it says "full time student." Since I'm close to getting my Major in Computer Information Systems, I receiving $1,450 a month for attending college courses. That was possible because applied for the Montgomery GI Bill. Not to mention, I did serve while the events of Sept 11, 2001 occurred. Now this $1,450 is paid to me by the taxes of the American people. So to all in this thread to witness my gratitude, I would like to say to Stevo thanks for helping me buy my parts for my Camaro by giving me a small percentage of your taxes. You are so kind Stevo. With out you, all active duty, reservists, and national guards would not be able to take a portion of your taxes to help pay for the future education. Thanks Stevo . So to clarify this topic (which you Hi-Jacked) my hard earned check covers my bills, food, kids clothing, and everything else that is needed for my family,,,,, ALL WITHOUT FOOD STAMPS or government assistance. As for the remaining amount of money for my college classes, well thats what goes to my Camaro.