Washing cars. Garden hose v pressure washer?

ChesterDog

oldagetraveller1 said:

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.

The water butt water will have picked up dust and various particles on its journey from the sky and - in my case at least - will have washed all sorts of matter off the house roof too.

born_again

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.

It is used diluted.
So you put the diluted amount in the bottle. As per instruction.

oldagetraveller1

ChesterDog said:

oldagetraveller1 said:

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.

The water butt water will have picked up dust and various particles on its journey from the sky and - in my case at least - will have washed all sorts of matter off the house roof too.

So what? 

That's the method I have used for years. My car is 11 years old and there isn't one single swirl mark on the dark grey paint/lacquer. That dust and particle matter must be working wonders.

Rinse (to use water to clean the soap or dirt from something:)being the operative word - i.e. pouring rainwater over the car, from a watering can, to remove suds. Please explain why that would affect the paint/lacquer.

If you rinse your hair of shampoo does one not just run water over one's head?

Desmond_Hume

There are 100% swirls in the paintwork. It's literally impossible for there not to be.  The debate could certainly be around their severity. 

sheslookinhot

Desmond_Hume said:

There are 100% swirls in the paintwork. It's literally impossible for there not to be.  The debate could certainly be around their severity. 

Agreed. There is absolutely no chance of an 11 year old car having no swirl marks. No chance. Especially if using water from a water but.

I doubt if an 11 month old car is swirl free.

Alanp

I use water from my water butt, the hose I use has a filter and non return valve 

Goudy

There are different trains of thought with pressure washing.
Before you do anything, removing/flushing as much grit off the car is always best.

Snowfoam seems to be the answer to this, but you can achieve a similar result with a low pressure hose pipe and soapy (car shampoo) water, it obviously takes a bit more effort though.

Rinse the car off with the pipe first as best you can then drizzle the soapy water over the car without touching it with a sponge, then rinse again with the hose pipe. You want to flush away as much debris and grit as you can before washing the paintwork directly.
You can often see areas that drain away holding dirt and grit or feel the paintwork with your hand.
You'll notice when most of the grit has been removed.

Repeat a few times before going in and actually washing the paintwork directly.

Wheels and wheel arches do tend to require a fair bit of pressure to shift baked on and clogged up parts behind the wheels.

As for physically washing, a two bucket system is useful (look it up) and the use of grit guards in the bottom of the buckets helps reduce picking grit back up out of the bucket with your sponge/wash mitt.

After that, it depends on how much effort you want to put in.
Most times I'll use a spray on quick wax, it doesn't last long but it's better than nothing in between more extensive polishing and waxing.

Twice a year I'll have a go at tackling some dirt traps and bit more intensively.
Places where grunge and dirty build up, I may also pull the scuttle cover off and clean out the heater blower intake area.

I may need to remove some tar spots or fallout.
A claying over with a clay bar or mitt (read the instructions very carefully)
Then a manual polish and a decent wax seal.

The other non painted, plastic parts I tend to wipe over with silicone spray. Some don't like it but it repels water really well and handles extreme temp changes. It can also stop black plastic bleaching out in the sun.

After all that I stand back and watch a seagull sh*t on it!

I did used to love washing my car at my parents when they were alive.
I suffer from hard water where theirs was a soft as silk.
Hard water tends to leave chalk behind when it dries and can be a pain.

Greengirl24

Nothing wrong with the 2-bucket system. One with detergent, second with clean water. You get to notice any paintwork problems and less risk of ice on the drive or road this time of year