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Just bought a Karcher (variable) pressure washer and wondered if there are any tips for using it on the car? Obviously I would use it on the lowest pressure setting but what are the best car cleaning fluids for use with these? How much cleaner does a normal wash use? At £8+ a time, not too much I would hope Are they effective without using any sponges or brushes etc?
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I have found:
-You still need to sponge the paintwork
-Mine isn't variable and it doesn't seem capable of doing any damage, however close I get
-Pressure washer is great for a headstart on cleaning the wheels and getting loose dirt of paintwork
-Whenever I put cleaning fluid in it just gets used up in a matter of about a minute (I know I'm doing something wrong - it never occured to me I shouldn't be using normal car shampoo!)
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Only one tip: As you say use it on the lowest settings, and do not blast the paintwork from very close range (a few cm) as it may damage on some cars.
Personally I'd just do the wheel arches and under sills and use a soft brush/hose attachment for the rest of the car
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I find that the wash liquids hardly make any difference to the end result perhaps just a bit cleaner but you still neeed to hand wash the car to get good results. It helps if your car is polished and well waxed then much more of the grime comes off and much easier too. Different with my alloy wheels - I use the Meguairs wheel cleaner (quite strong stuff) and with the pressure washer it does a great job and saves the time consuming and fiddly cleaning by hand.
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Pressure washers are great for use when cleaning cars, but only for getting rid of the suds after washing it properly; just using a pressure washer is a waste of time.
As already mentioned, they are good for wheel arches etc.
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Thanks guys. I had watched people just using the washer spray alone to clean their cars and wondered if this was effective. From what you have said, you still need to use a sponge or brush on the paintwork. Any tips for keeping the micro scratching and swirling to a minimum when washing the car or is this just inevitable?
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you could try looking on www.detailingworld.co.uk for some advice
i find i cannot get away with just get washing...i get the worst off with that then use a wash mitt and soapy water to wipe the car down and then rinse off
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Thanks guys. I had watched people just using the washer spray alone to clean their cars and wondered if this was effective. From what you have said, you still need to use a sponge or brush on the paintwork. Any tips for keeping the micro scratching and swirling to a minimum when washing the car or is this just inevitable?
Re about being good for wheel arches, do you mean using a detergent or just blasting the dirt away. Is the use of a car cleaning detergent underneath the car worthwhile?
Sorry about this getting posted twice.
Edited by davecooper on 05/06/2008 at 16:43
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"Any tips for keeping the micro scratching and swirling to a minimum when washing the car or is this just inevitable?"
Don't use a sponge, it doesn't draw the dirt away from the paintwork it just presses it against the paint causing scratching and swirls. Personally I use a lambswool mit which moves the dirt away from the paint surface through the fibres. Also use the two bucket method. Have one bucket with your water/shampoo in and another with clean warm water in. Each time you go to dip your mit in the shampoo rinse it in the clean water first to remove the dirt so that you don't put dirt back onto the car, this stops you washing the car with dirty water.
Hope this helps.
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I have a fairly powerfull (120 Bar) Bosch pressure washer primarily bought a couple of years ago for car-washing. However I rarely use it now other than at the end of the winter to remove and road-salt under the wheel arches. It is not a very efficient way to wash a car and potentially quite damaging if you start to use the full power to remove stubborn marks. As someone else said, you will still need to sponge the paintwork. The only way they are realy viable is to use a brush attachment.
Pressure washers are far better for cleaning patios and decking in my view.
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I was outside Albert, in northern France a few weeks back and quite low pressure washers (no brush) were being used by locals in a wash station.
My van was plastered in that dry soil that rises in a plume behind the car on tracks between the fields. It was very effective with that. I think there is an issue there with dry soil blowing over the cars in summer. Wet and dried on would be a different matter I bet.
About swirl marks. I use one of those aluminium handled, blue bristled car brushes from Halfords. I don`t use it connected to a hose, but dunk it in a big bucket of shampoo.
Sometimes I use hot water and fairy liquid to get the vans white paintwork spotless, free of grease and black rain fallout. I have never polished or waxed it and it has never seen a sponge.
Now here`s the thing. What started as an expedient way to wash it down has resulted in the best paintwork I have ever had. However you look at the paint, there is no evidence of swirl marks.
Personally, I think sponges do more harm to paintwork than brushes.
To be honest, I wouldn`t take a pressure washer near it though. Only to stand way back, like I did in Albert to give a low pressure rinse, when there is no alternative.
Edited by oilrag on 05/06/2008 at 17:15
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Use a decent strength to clean wheels and wheel arches
Dont go too close to paintwork and dont concentrate the spray in one place for too long. Paint can peel.
Get the car as wet as possible before washing... the sprinkle setting is normally best - never use a sponge; they trap grit and scratch your paintwork.
Use a 100% wool mitt and 2 buckets. 1 with warm water / car wash, 2nd with cold clean water. Wash and rinse in clean water to remove as much grit and dirt before washing again.
Using dirty water is as bad as using a sponge and you get terrible swirling on darker cars.
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oh and never spray through vents on the grills / bonnet... you dont want water getting into inlets or your engine bay.
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Ive seen the paint on body coloured plastic bumpers peel from pressure washing
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Ive seen the paint on body coloured plastic bumpers peel from pressure washing
The only surprise is that the bumpers themselves aren't ripped off when a small dog relieves itself against them.
How manufacturers can pass off cheap lipstick as bumpers remains an untold story, but when it is told capitalist wickedness and consumer idiocy will, I am sure, play prominent parts in it.
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I got an Aldi cheap pressure washer (150bar)* with a few attachments for about £70. One is a brush for the car which "agitates" with the brushes moving. I find if I use the pencil lance at at first to remove the worst of it and then the brush (with shampoo in the bottle) it cleans reasonably well. But I then use a sponge and shampoo and Wonder Wheels on the alloys. Then use the variable pressure nozzle to rinse all off.
Now I might go and get myself a mit instead of the sponge though.
* I say cheap but it's very good. Once hit my foot with the pencil lance and it hurt badly.
Edited by rtj70 on 05/06/2008 at 18:02
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Find that my pressure washer is at its best for removing mud and salt from under the car and within the wheel arches. You have to get down on your knees and accept you'll get sprayed a bit as well but if done regularly it really extends the lifespan of the car's body.
Remember not to spray tyres from too close a distance, the pressure washer can cause unseen damage.
Good for rinsing off the soap but for a good clean I use a soft brush with car shampoo rather than a sponge.
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A powerful pressure washer can damage tyres, paintwork and blast off trim and mirrors.
Good for the underneath loosening mud, but it will also take off underseal and dislodge rubber covers on brake nipples and track rod ends. Be careful round ventilation grills etc because it can blast water up ducts the wrong way. Don't use it under the bonnet or it will soak the electrics and rip wires off.
I use a light spray all over with the detergent. You are supposed to use the proper stuff, not washing up liquid, which dissolves the water colours used for painting cars nowadays.
While that is doing its stuff I blast under the wheel arches, chassis members etc, and also the wheels (but NOT the tyres).
Then I substitute one of those old-fashioned brushes with a hole in the middle on the straight hosepipe, and brush off the detergent and dirt. I find the rotating brush attachments feeble. It's much quicker to use a bit of muscle power with a proper brush. If you have washed off all the dirt and detergent you don't need to use a sponge or cloth, unless you are a chauffeur who still swears by a chamois leather.
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I just use a Boy Scout! ooh er missus
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How can a pressure washer damage tyres?
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How can a pressure washer damage tyres?
tinyurl.com/2xgul3 (link to www.tyresafe.org)
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Also be careful using such high pressure near the number plates. It can strip the top skin away exposing the figures beneath.
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If you doubt the power of a pressure washer, try holding your hand in front of the jet!
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Don't...
Really, don't do that.
I think Clive was joking.
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Who's Clive? I meant Cliff.
{someone else who hasn't found they have an edit key}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 07/06/2008 at 13:53
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Pressure washing can also blast the grease out of brake calipers, so I think it's a no-no altogether for wheels and tyres.
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I am just aghast at the comments here regarding the use of pressure washers for general car cleaning. It is a lazy person's way and more significantly cannot work, because there is really nothing in contact with an almost continuous film of dirt that cover the paint surface. Thinking logically, it can only be deleterious to the car's paint film, can't it?
At best it can only be a means of getting copious amounts of water onto the car's surface.
To be partly successful you'd need to use it so close to the surface that it would be damaging and that's not taking into account any damage to door and windows seals etc. etc.
I have a high pressure Karcher which I only use for cleaning stonework and patios and I have seen the damage it can do when I have tried it on my fencing panels to remove algae/licken and I always remember the time I pressure cleaned an old plastic covered aluminium-framed garden chair. The water jet completely split the plasic cover which admittedly was rather old and had lost some of its plasticity.
I use a hose-fed brush to clean my car and even then the bristles cannot always remove the dirt because the bristles don't form a continuous cleaning surface and so a sponge or mit in necessary.
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Dave,
I have an edit key?
Tell me more, I thought once posted it was beyond my adjustment and in the hands of the Gods... sorry. Mods.
The Site Help says, "Once you are satisfied, or if you see you need to make changes, close the preview window and either edit your post or click "Post". Once posted, users will not be able to make any amendment to their contributions."
I'd already posted it... :¬(
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John, there is now an edit button so you can make changes after submitting your post. However it will only work for 5 mins / until someone replies to you message (whichever comes first)
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Dave,
Thanks for the info.
Ah... there it is.
Last edited by: John R @ Work {P} on Thu 12 Jun 08 at 11:12
Reply to this message | Report message as offensive | Edit
Edited by John R @ Work {P} on 12/06/2008 at 12:14
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The main and only advantage of using the pressure washer on the car is to blast the thick firt off IMO, you always need to do the normal handwash after (be that the two buckt method or not) and then you can just the ordinary hose to clean it down.
I've got to admit that I miss the pressure washer at my parent's for how effective it was at cleaning alloy wheels. I have to clean all 44 spokes myself now. :-(
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Don't use it on the tyres as it can damage them, so I've read.
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Yes, mentioned just a few posts up from here ;o)
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So was their ability to rip the lipstick off your so-called bumpers.
:o}
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