Washing the 2010 Prius

Hope you guys are using electric leaf blowers...the gas ones have very polluting engines in them and are likely undoing all the good you're doing driving a clean car. In Los Angeles leaf blowers and lawn mowers cause more pollution than all the planes flying in and out of LAX.

 

You should jump into the tire cleaning thread and tell them all the bad things they're doing using tire cleaners and shine.

 

This data is found WHERE? Or is it a WAG?

 

All two stroke engines pollute heavily. Leaf blowers, lawn mowers, etc. There are no catalytic converters or other clean emission technologies on these products...do a google search for lawn mower pollution or leaf blower pollution.

There was a study done in LA that compared lawn maintenance pollution to what the airport generates. I'm sure it is online somewhere...I listened to discussion about it on NPR a few years back.

P.S. What is WAG?

 

Yeah you don't want to leave the water to air dry. Public water is usually very hard, especially when its been through a rubber hose, and if left to dry on the paint surface it will leave harsh waterspots that will permenantly etch into the paint and will require machine polishing to remove.

If you just refuse to use a towel (and use GOOD microfiber towels, rags and crappy towels will swirl the hell out of the paint) then I reccomend the leaf blower (that works great) followed up with a california water blade, which is kind of a floppy silicone squeegee for the whole car. I general I don't love them because they are capable of scratching the paint, but its better than letting the public water air dry.

 

Jet planes have cat converters? pollution controls?
Who did the study?
Sounds like BS
It also sounds like the Hummer is more green then a Prius crap

WAG = Wild A$$ Guess

 

In LA? I thought we have a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers here.

 

When I lived in newark, you can use a 357 to dry ur car, no one said anything about pollution. lol

 

RE: 32k - They may be banned, but they're everywhere...

RE: LRKing - Feel free to look into the environmental impact of gas powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers... I merely wanted to point out that they are not environmentally friendly and may be overlooked by many as a significant source of pollution, particularly in highly concentrated population areas (14 million people here and a LOT of lawn maintenance crews). On a Prius site I assume at least some members may want to take a minute to think about the possibility and consider alternatives...

 

Just noise pollution, haha....

 

I said nothing about impact of gas leaf blowers / lawn mowers.
I'm saying your statement that they pollute LA more then the jets using LAX is a load of crap.
If you think mowers and blowers are gonna be morethen this?
"There is no definitive answer on flights per day. United Airlines/United Express operates the most departures from the airport per day (210), followed by American Airlines/ American Eagle (126), and Southwest Airlines (123). LAX connects 87 domestic and 69 international destinations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania. Its most prominent airlines are United Airlines (18.24% of passenger traffic, combined with United Express traffic), American Airlines (14.73%) and Southwest Airlines (12.62%). Other airlines with a presence on a lesser scale include Delta Airlines (7.33%), Alaska Airlines (4.74%), Northwest Airlines (3.79%), and Continental Airlines (3.76%) It is the world's fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic and eleventh-busiest by cargo traffic, serving over 60 million passengers and more than two million tons of freight in 2006. It is the busiest airport in the state of California, and the third-busiest airport by passenger traffic in the United States based on final 2006 statistics. In terms of international passengers, LAX is the second-busiest in the U.S. (behind only JFK International Airport in New York City), and 26th worldwide"
And that is only departures

 

"The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a report blaming leaf blowers for “spewing 5.6 tons of hydrocarbon emissions per day into the region” of Los Angeles. Gasoline Lawn Edgers, which also use two-stroke engines, are responsible for 7.6 tons and lawn mowers are responsible for 7.4 tons per day."(96.11.1) “. . . more smog comes from California’s homes than from commonly cited sources such as oil refineries and service stations.. . . By themselves, gasoline-powered lawnmowers, leaf blowers and other utility tools emit a significant amount of VCOs—more than all the aircraft in the South Coast . . . millions of gallons of fuel are spilled a year while home gardeners are refueling their lawn mowers and leaf blowers”. (97.12.1) In a 1993 South Coast Air Basin emissions inventory, lawn and garden equipment (including lawnmowers, edgers, trimmers, leaf blowers and chain saws) produced about “14 tons per day of VOC, 0.5 tons per day of NOx, and 108 tons per day of CO emissions.” (97.6.4).

The Air Resources Board Report explains that “Exhaust emissions from leaf blowers consist of the following specific pollutants of concern: hydrocarbons from both burned and unburned fuel, and which combine with other gases in the atmosphere to form ozone; carbon monoxide; fine particulate matter; and other toxic air contaminants in the unburned fuel, including benzene, 1,3-butadiene, acetaldehyde, and formaldehyde.” (Source)

“Carbon monoxide is a product of incomplete combustion and can be a hazard,” stated a representative for the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, (98.3.4) The Environmental Protection Agency says lawn & garden equipment produce 6.8 million tons of ozone & carbon monoxide annually. (98.7.1) “On days when ozone concentrations were above the federal standard of .12 parts per million . . . there were 30% more asthma attacks. . .” (91.12.1)

John Dunlap, Chair of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), is quoted as pointing out, regarding non-road engines, that “manufacturers sometimes claim this equipment’s contribution to air pollution is so small that it’s a waste of time and money to control . . . Motor vehicles account for about half of California’s air emissions. The rest comes from many small sources, many of which have groups arguing they are too insignificant to regulate. But ignoring these smaller sources means ignoring a significant segment of California’s emissions problem.” (98.3.4 p.17) And, we note that California also has strict regulations regarding vehicle emissions.

Gasoline two-stroke engines, also used for motor boats and Jet Skis, contaminate “. . .with carcinogenic benzene and toluene. . . .A by-product of burning oil is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, one of the principal carcinogens found in cigarette smoke. . . .The amount of unburnt oil these stinkers put into our lakes, rivers and drinking-water reservoirs every year is 15 times what the Exxon Valdez spilled” according to the Sierra Club (98.1.1). Blowers are putting this same pollution into the air of our neighborhoods."

I'm sure you'll agree arguing this point is pedantic...

 

And none of this takes into account the effect of cows farting. http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/19727599/detail.html

 

I don't get it:

Can't drying be done with a separate piece of clean lint-free cloth?

It's quiet, gives a good workout and consumes literately no energy (other than your calories, that is).

 

Haha...well if we want to drift so far off topic we get into the perils of eating meat...

 

Where's the fun in that?

 

Would spraying the car with distilled water, and letting it air dry work? I have seen products at Costco and at other places that that filter the water. You spray the car with the filtered water as the last step and let it air dr

 

Goodness, I do not want paint damage on my new Prius! I'll be getting some form of a no spot cleaner/filter eventually.

Yes, I would like to purchase one of these. http://www.universalwater.net/spot_not.htm How am I suppose to attatch that to a garden hose..

 

I use an engine degreaser and a spray at the car wash to clean my engines. I have never had a problem strarting them. Never had a check engine light either. It can get wet under the hood in a regular car wash with all the spray under the car and in the wheel wells.

 

In cleaning engines, I've actually had pretty good luck using an aerosol attachment for my air compressor. I've used an common solvent - paint thinner. It does a very good job dissolving grease and oil deposits. (This technique also works very well cleaning my airplane engine during an annual inspection.)

After the cleaning, let the engine air dry (no need to wash off with water).

Not exactly environmentally friendly, but is very effective for cleaning a dirty, oil and grease covered engine.

Keith