Washing cars. Garden hose v pressure washer?

sheslookinhot

facade said:

Modern "paint" is such low quality that a pressure washer will easily remove it. Doubly true if the car has had any paintwork done.

I do get the pressure washer out, but only to dispense the Magic Fluid- in this case snowfoam from the snowfoam lance.

Then I scuff the snowfoam in with a gritty sponge as directed, and switch to just the hosepipe to rinse.

I suspect that the people who reckon that snowfoam magically lifts the dirt off prior to washing don't actually let their car get dirty before they wash it.

A good tip is to have a bucket of plain water as well as the one with your shampoo in, and keep rinsing the sponge out in the clean water rather than dipping it straight back into the shampoo bucket.

Jeezo, that’s one way to scratch your paintwork. Interestingly, where is this “directed” ?

The snow foam should be allowed to dwell on your paintwork as it slowly rolls off, then the remainder can be hosed off, prior to washing with a micro fibre noodle mit. I know the fashion currently is to use a sponge but not for me. 

400ixl

The type of sponge is very important if you go that route and ideally only with a rinseless wash. These common yellow types sponges sold as car sponges are not any good

facade

sheslookinhot said:

facade said:

Modern "paint" is such low quality that a pressure washer will easily remove it. Doubly true if the car has had any paintwork done.

I do get the pressure washer out, but only to dispense the Magic Fluid- in this case snowfoam from the snowfoam lance.

Then I scuff the snowfoam in with a gritty sponge as directed, and switch to just the hosepipe to rinse.

I suspect that the people who reckon that snowfoam magically lifts the dirt off prior to washing don't actually let their car get dirty before they wash it.

A good tip is to have a bucket of plain water as well as the one with your shampoo in, and keep rinsing the sponge out in the clean water rather than dipping it straight back into the shampoo bucket.

Jeezo, that’s one way to scratch your paintwork. Interestingly, where is this “directed” ?

The snow foam should be allowed to dwell on your paintwork as it slowly rolls off, then the remainder can be hosed off, prior to washing with a micro fibre noodle mit. I know the fashion currently is to use a sponge but not for me. 

On the back of the bottle- this is the Demon Tweaks stuff. The only thing positive I can say is that it smells nice, but I paid for it, so I'm using it all up!

I actually bought some Bilt Hamber as it was supposed to work how I imagined  (spray on, leave, rinse of the dirt and road film) but it doesn't. The 5* reviews seem to be people who use it daily!

Bilt Hamber advise to keep on repeating the foaming & rinsing until something happens (well they would at £20 a gallon..)

Maybe I should wash the car more often than only when it is a murky grey/brown colour......

I suppose I should also do as Bilt Hamber suggest and calibrate the foam lance to get a precise 4% foam on the panels before I write it off.

Stubod

I used a pressure washer once and it started to remove paint, so I would not use a pressure washer directly on paintwork, (probably ok to use under wheel arches). 

I got myself a low pressure battery powered Worx mini jet wash that sucks water out of a bucket. You can add an appropriate detergent to the bucket to help remove some of the grime. It is also more convenient ( for me), as it’s a bit of a pain to get the hose out. 

Some of the new pre wash foams are quite good at loosening some of the muck prior to washing, but they are a bit pricey.

oldagetraveller1

The only time(s) I use a pressure washer is with an underbody lance attachment to remove road salt and caked on mud etc.. The output pressure is reduced.

Body and wheels, buckets and a lambswool wash mitt. Rinsed off with rainwater from one of three water butts.

Alanp

I’ve been using a pressure washer on my cars for years without ever damaging the paintwork, I wonder if the people using them are following the instructions ( correct attachment ect), I’ve read of stories where people using the hand car washes have had damage to alloys due to the incorrect dilution of product, I’ve seen the hand car wash workers drop the drying cloths on the ground and continue to use them, of course, as with most things, there are good and bad hand car washes..

400ixl

Stubod said:

I used a pressure washer once and it started to remove paint, so I would not use a pressure washer directly on paintwork, (probably ok to use under wheel arches). 

Then you likely had a car with a poorly done respray. Million to 1 chance that an original paint job would do that.

Nobbie1967

I use a snow foam lance on a pressure washer and then put the ‘dirt blaster’ lance on to remove most of the dirty before washing with a microfibres mitt and car shampoo. Never had an issue with paint damage. Use it on the soft top too and again no damage despite all sorts of warnings from forums. The one area I’m careful around is the PPF film where it would probably lift the edges.

JohnSwift10

Do you dilute the snow foam detergent before putting it in the pressure washer or use it undiluted?

I always seem to use a whole bottle of spray foam when washing the car, It'd actually be cheaper going to a self service car wash the way my pressure washer goes through spray foam.

It's a Karcher K3 washer.

Nobbie1967

JohnSwift10 said:

Do you dilute the snow foam detergent before putting it in the pressure washer or use it undiluted?

I always seem to use a whole bottle of spray foam when washing the car, It'd actually be cheaper going to a self service car wash the way my pressure washer goes through spray foam.

It's a Karcher K3 washer.

I get about 2-3 washes from a fill of the snow foam lance bottle which is about .5/.75L. I buy the snow foam in 5L for £11 off eBay so pretty cheap per wash.