[sharkymcpeterson]

What pressure washer are you guys using?

I'm about to buy one for car washing and other basic household usage and am looking for recommendations.

[boneca]

I want to buy one from Obsessed Garage but currently using Adam's (its pretty much rebranding) but it works ok

[1Mors]

I use an AR Blue Clean AR630TSS pressure washer with 50' cobrajet hose and 100' capacity COX Hose Reel.

I also have the Mosmatic Gun with hose swivel and the Mosmatic Wand extension.

Works like a dream and you can use anything with it. Foam Cannons, Floor Scrubbers you name it. 1900 PSI and a measured 2.1 GPM.

I also have the DI water solution from Adams inline. with my dissolved solids level I will get close to 700 gallons before having the change resin

You can see it wall mounted on the right side of my car.

[PittsDriver]

Why do you feel like you need a pressure washer for the car? I have a Yamaha gas powered pressure washer (bought at Costco) I use for all kinds of jobs around the home, dock, and boats but I've never felt the need to subject any of my motorcycles or cars to high pressure water. Now, I do have 70 psi at my garden hose but even that I don't use the jet setting and find that a rain shower setting works best for rinsing the car.

[sharkymcpeterson]

Originally Posted by PittsDriver

Why do you feel like you need a pressure washer for the car? I have a Yamaha gas powered pressure washer (bought at Costco) I use for all kinds of jobs around the home, dock, and boats but I've never felt the need to subject any of my motorcycles or cars to high pressure water. Now, I do have 70 psi at my garden hose but even that I don't use the jet setting and find that a rain shower setting works best for rinsing the car.

Ya know, I'm not totally sure if I need it or not.

With the car being ceramic coated I'd like to be able to get it clean at a low psi so I don't have to hand wash. This is a dual buy-looking into a deionizer also. My end goal here is to avoid touching the paint as often as possible.

Am I on the wrong path?

[ScaldedDog]

I've got a Greenworks Pro 3200 that I like, and use for washing cars. It's handy for getting bug guts off the front without touching the paint. The electric ones just aren't that powerful, no matter what the specs say.

Mark

[sharkymcpeterson]

Originally Posted by ScaldedDog

I've got a Greenworks Pro 3200 that I like, and use for washing cars. It's handy for getting bug guts off the front without touching the paint. The electric ones just aren't that powerful, no matter what the specs say.

Mark

I definitely want to avoid grinding bug guts off the front. That has to create swirls after just one go-round I'd assume.

[chefwong]

Sharky -

PW is great for blasting the stuff off before washing. Cleaning wheels, wheel wells, etc. IMO, and I've tried alot of stuff out there....u can't really get away with a contactless wash. You still need to take a mitt to it to remove the film. But to minimize touching, 100% of the time I am using the leaf blower to dry the cars and then just a MF to blot whatever remains.

Electric PW for cars...Gasser for house duties. I suppose you can buy a gasser for car washing but that will get noisy and smelly.....

For final rinsing, I still prefer to use a hose vs PW. More water flow but I don't live in water restriction areas/

[ScaldedDog]

Yeah, I goofed up the lights on our Lexus trying to get bugs off of them by hand. Bad idea. You aren't going to hurt the paint with any box store pressure washer, which is what mine is. In fact, I wouldn't bother with a smaller one. The 15* nozzle works great for cleaning grill grates. (The cooking kind, not a car grill.)

Mark

[sharkymcpeterson]

Originally Posted by chefwong

Sharky -

PW is great for blasting the stuff off before washing. Cleaning wheels, wheel wells, etc. IMO, and I've tried alot of stuff out there....u can't really get away with a contactless wash. You still need to take a mitt to it to remove the film. But to minimize touching, 100% of the time I am using the leaf blower to dry the cars and then just a MF to blot whatever remains.

Electric PW for cars...Gasser for house duties. I suppose you can buy a gasser for car washing but that will get noisy and smelly.....

For final rinsing, I still prefer to use a hose vs PW. More water flow but I don't live in water restriction areas/

I hate noise and smells.

Haha. I must be getting old. Thanks for the insight.

[chefwong]

You have the right midset....minimize touching as that is where most micro marring comes. Proper wash technique, good shampoo, etc. You will need to make contact (aka mitt ) on the paint for the bio-film.

But drying with a blow dryer minimizes the amount of time you touch the paint IMO. If blow drying is not a option, lotsa great MF's towels on the market. It's all about technique. Blot dry it , etc.

[PittsDriver]

Originally Posted by sharkymcpeterson

I hate noise and smells.

Haha. I must be getting old. Thanks for the insight.

The best way to remove bugs is to drip hot soapy water on them and then leave them alone for a few minutes to let the water soften them. Then they'll wipe off with very little pressure. If you're not using soapy water, then just spray them with water and let them soften up.

[1Mors]

yes my wash workflow only has a once over with the microfiber wash mitt with very little if any real pressure just to knock off the dirt.

* I always wash wheels and tires first
* turn on the inline DI water system
* pre-wash with foam cannon using appropriate soap
* bucket wash with high quality soap focusing on high dirt areas quality microfiber mitt
* I do a complete rinse every time with the DI water
* Then I either treat the ceramic coating wet or
* use my EGO 765 CFM leaf blower with stubby attachment to dry the car - absolutely touchless
* The last thing, I add anything else I wanted to do after that using microfiber towel with super light pressure.

I do not have any swirls anywhere. I wash every 2 weeks.

Some washes focus on light decontamination to revitalize my ceramic coating. I have amazing protection on the paint and water and most dirt just fly's right off.

[ScaldedDog]

Originally Posted by 1Mors

* use my EGO 765 CFM leaf blower with stubby attachment to dry the car - absolutely touchless.

Those 765's are the bomb. Is the stubby attachment worth it?

Mark

[1Mors]

Originally Posted by ScaldedDog

Those 765's are the bomb. Is the stubby attachment worth it?

Mark

Yes and I added the rubber guard piece for protection. The 765 along with the ceramic coating drys almost instantly. Drys wheels and all cracks and crevices. I notice u still have to open the rear tailgate because water gets in there out of reach of the blower. When I open it some water pours out so I get with a microfiber drying towel. The stubby makes the 765 so much more portable and easier to aim around the car. The full size tube is just not practical for constant angling etc.

It's amazing. You can see the blower without the battery in this picture. The stubby is the way to go.

[Chk_ris]

Originally Posted by sharkymcpeterson

What pressure washer are you guys using?

I'm about to buy one for car washing and other basic household usage and am looking for recommendations.

Kranzle. Worth the money. IMO

[1Mors]

Originally Posted by Doc.c.liu

Kranzle. Worth the money. IMO

Kranzle is awesome. They were back ordered 8 months when I bought my AR Clean which is a very close 2nd. Kranzle is made in Germany and the AR Clean is made in Italy. I did tons of research.

[Chas8283]

I actually went with the cheap $100 electric PW at lowes (Home Depot has the same model, I think sold under a different name). Pressure is right (I didn't want too much), it doesn't take up much space at all when storing, and I never have to put gas in it or wonder if it will start. Used it almost every weekend for the last 4 months and have no complaints so far (well, I could use a longer hose, but I can fix that eventually). I won't be surprised if it gives out sooner than later but we'll see.

[sharkymcpeterson]

Originally Posted by Chas8283

I actually went with the cheap $100 electric PW at lowes (Home Depot has the same model, I think sold under a different name). Pressure is right (I didn't want too much), it doesn't take up much space at all when storing, and I never have to put gas in it or wonder if it will start. Used it almost every weekend for the last 4 months and have no complaints so far (well, I could use a longer hose, but I can fix that eventually). I won't be surprised if it gives out sooner than later but we'll see.

Any tips on how to keep from peeling the paint off my car once I get started? The pressure washers at my local car wash are set to the correct psi so no stripping occurs.

What psi should I be using? Am I being over cautious here worrying about psi?

[PittsDriver]

Originally Posted by sharkymcpeterson

Any tips on how to keep from peeling the paint off my car once I get started? The pressure washers at my local car wash are set to the correct psi so no stripping occurs.

What psi should I be using? Am I being over cautious here worrying about psi?

Yeah, don't use a pressure washer. What is on the car that you think takes a lot of pressure to remove? I've always been concerned about blowing water past seals on lights and trim to use anything more than the pressure I get from my garden hose.

[chefwong]

Sharky -

What PW are you going with. You're not going to peel the paint off it.....stick your finger in front of the gun when you get your setup. You will be fine...


If you look at specs, 1000-1200 in this range is fine...PSI. The better end of the spectrum is all about H20, so in the 120V world of electrics, close to 2 GPM is where you want. However, AFAIK, most of the 2GPM in the 120 range, use a 20 amp outlet/plug and is at least close to 1K+ plus for a consumer machine. 'made in America brands are camspray, MTM, etc. They all use both General and AP pumps, etc.

A Big Box PW will be fine for a weekend hobbyist. Eventually it will die, so just buy another one to replace the fairly inexpensive PW.

For me the PW is mainly just to knock the initial grit off, and it's KING for wheels and wheelwells.
Everything else past this pre-rinse, I still prefer a Hose rinse.
YMMV and it's subjective to everybody's wash technique...

[sharkymcpeterson]

Originally Posted by PittsDriver

Yeah, don't use a pressure washer. What is on the car that you think takes a lot of pressure to remove? I've always been concerned about blowing water past seals on lights and trim to use anything more than the pressure I get from my garden hose.

I feel like my water pressure from the hose utterly sucks. So I wanted something a little stronger, like what I use at my local car wash perhaps. My usage would be limited to the initial spray down to get rid of dirt that's stuck on the paint and dried on bugs.

Beyond that I'm probably going to continue my normal washing process.


I'm having ANOTHER paint correction done and adams ceramic applied after. I want to touch the car as little as possible once this is done. Black sapphire shows EVERY scratch and I'm an anal perfectionist maniac.