Pressure washers

obi_waynne

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Do you use a pressure washer when cleaning your car?

I've heard lots of negative things like "they scratch your paint when they blast the dirt over it" and "it removed the door trim on my old banger"

So are these realistic experiences or just urban legends? Do you use a pressure washer when cleaning your car?
 
Nope, Never. I have never paid to use a pressure washer. Its not that I'm against them, its just I'd rather wash my baby myself.

Can't see anything wrong with them. Its just something I have never used on my car. I have used them on works car's and they seem fine.
 
i use it all the time on mine, as long as you keep a decent distance from the car with the nozzle it does the job. havent noticed it scratching the paint.
 
the scratching of the paint is because they leave it so long before they wash the cars.

yes they will scrach the cars as the dirt is pushed along but it wont be that noticeable - think washing with a sponge style

as said dotn hold the nozzle 2" from the paint and you should be fine.
i havent replaced mine since it broke a couple of years ago
 
I use it all the time to clean my car, Paving, Outside walls etc Its a Very Good tool for cleaning hard to remove dirt on cars first Get a pressure washer that is rated at a minimum of 2200 PSI @ 4.0 GPM and If the vehicle is extremely dirty, power wash the heavy dirt off before applying the detergent It works for me

Greetings and Welcome! ;)
 
During my valeting days in Cambridge I used a Karcher HDS 550 I think that was the model..never had any problems.Beautiful bit of kit especially when it came to steaming. A bit painful if someone shoots you in the back at full pressure though. Always used silicone blade for initial wipedown too (not that that's news to anyone on here)
 
Start a long way off the car to soften the dirt. Then cover it with detergent foam (at low pressure) and leave it alone for ten minutes or so before attacking it again with the high pressure lance.

The detergent kind of wraps around the dirt particles rendering them unabrasive. Blasting off abrasive dirt in one hit will ultimately cause paint finish damage. Nothing that isn't repairable but better not to do it.

After this you can proceed to wash with a mit/sponge/very soft brush.
 
Start a long way off the car to soften the dirt. Then cover it with detergent foam (at low pressure) and leave it alone for ten minutes or so before attacking it again with the high pressure lance.

The detergent kind of wraps around the dirt particles rendering them unabrasive. Blasting off abrasive dirt in one hit will ultimately cause paint finish damage. Nothing that isn't repairable but better not to do it.

After this you can proceed to wash with a mit/sponge/very soft brush.

Imagine doing that in the Esso forcort! lol

Esso would be smiling! The amount of pound coins you would need to do that!!
:p
 
I normally use my parents Karcher pressure washer but it's broke at the minute so I may have to go to a garage to use their's soon as the car is absolutely filthy.
 
When using home bought pressure washers. Dont use the patio cleaner gun on your car always use the diffused gun as the patio cleaner will blast paint away where you have any stone chips on your paintwork. I know this from personal experience. :}
 
My el cheapo is so pathetic you couldn't damage the paint if you tried really hard to. A friend of mine decided to buy an undustrial one and he ended up at the panel beaters with his brand new Passat for stripping the paint of, lol, tisk tisk.
 

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