Can pressure washers ruin your paint or wax?

that is my understanding. i don't use those things.

doody.

 

Pressure washers can do lots of unfortunate things to paints. There might be a small tab of paint at the edge of a road rash chip. Hit it just right with a pressure washer and you can remove a square FOOT of paint as the chip lifts and enables the water to float the whole section of paint off. And for similar reasons, when I wash my car, there is no nozel on the hose. I want the most water possible at the lowest velocity.

 

those power washer things are for trucks that play in the mud..... not for our fcars!!!! i wont even use a car wash on my daily driver! i wash all the cars by hand ( 5 currently!)

 

Hey Ryan,

WTH are you doing at a car wash? Have your butler take it out and detail it for ya

WIth the 1 billion dollar settlement, I would hope you won't be so cheap

 

Yes, as stated above, avoid using any pressure washers on the car. It strips wax and can also strip paint if narrow/pressure enough. Best method is to use a hose with no nozzle and let is flow over the paint, cascading the water off to avoid water spots and dirt rings that occue before you get a shot a dry the car. Think of your paint as a piece of fine jewlery. Everytime it gets hit with something, it makes a mark.

 

I never really thought about it until the day I went to pick up my MB from the detailer and noticed the paint was removed from two of my Brabus wheels.

 

I use them all the time to clean the undercarriage of my cars including my BB512i. They do a great job of getting road grime off of shocks, springs and other parts under the car. But, I do avoid spraying the painted surfaces directly at close range.

 

I am puzzled. If the car is dirty you somehow have to remove the partikels in a mechanical way. I always thought that using the high pressure cleaner is the gentlest option to do this. All the high pressure beam will do to your car a sponge will do also ... ?

However, what must be avoided is to point the high pressure beam at softtops from convertibles.

 

I own a car lot and I use pressure washers on cars every day (Well, not me usually, but you know what I mean). I even use it on my F-Car as I am a lazy bastid and hate doing lots of work. The trick is to NEVER EVER EVER spray the wand DIRECTLY at the paint. EVER! You need to use it at an angle.. done properly, I can wash a normal car car (Jag, Volvo, BMW, etc) SAFELY within about 5 minutes

If you guys want a Photo FAQ on this, I can supply one I suppose. PM me to remind me.

 

I agree. If you use a 40 degree nozzle, stand a few feet away and spray at an oblique angle you should be all right. Besides, aren't you the same guys who are always complaining about Ferrari's poor paint quality?

 

NO pressure washing should be used on any automobile unless you want the "water" equivelent of sandblasting your paint. For gods sake just think about this logically! pd

 

Most spray-it-yourself car wash places have "low pressure" settings. And you DON'T have to have the nozzle 12 inches from your car -- keep it 3 or 4 feet away. There's nothing wrong with using the convenience of the spray-it-yourself places... I do it sometimes... but use common sense.

 

No **** guys what are you thinking I use a high pressure washer to strip the paint on engine compartments before painting, works real well!

Unless you like finding every weakness in your paint job and blowing it wide open with up to 1k lbs of hydrolic pressure dont do it..

 

I agree 100 %. Been using hi pressure sprayers for some time now.....As said, use common sense...

 

Of the thousands of pressure washers that I have sold over the last 12 years (I'm the #1 seller of p.w.'s on e-bay and Karcher's #1 seller in the U.S.), I've yet to hear a story of someone damaging their paint. Use a 40 degree nozzle at about 12-18" and you will NOT hurt a thing. If you do, the damn thing needs repainting anyway.