Is a pressure washer really needed for a safe wash ?

If you live in California i would have a pressure washer to save water better than useing the garden hose.
 
I survived for many years without one so definitely not 'necessary'. That said, it's one of the things I miss most in current living situation.
 
Tasmania said:
If you live in California i would have a pressure washer to save water better than useing the garden hose.
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I live in California and this is further from the truth. I don't use a pressure washer and use a garden hose. If the idea is to save water then rinseless washing would be the way to go.
 
No, they're not necessary. That being said, I have one (SunJoe SPX3000) and use it once in a while. If I had one of those wall mount setups, I'd probably use it a lot more. I also have a foam gun, and there is a distinct difference between what a foam gun makes and what a foam cannon makes. Take a look on YouTube and you'll see what I mean.
 
Not only no, but Hell no.

By the time it would take to drag out my PW, connect it to water, crank it up, etc. I could have almost washed my entire truck.

And I always have this little nugget in the back of my head:

I worked at a marina for over 20 years. As anyone knows, a pressure washer is used for hundreds and hundreds of hours a year in that business, and I have possibly 1,000 hours behind the wand of one if I had to guess.

In all of that time, I have seen a wand tip fail and get shot into a boat hull maybe a dozen times. Things like that will happen over the course of 20+ years, but I'll be damned if I'll ever risk that on my vehicles. ;)
 
Again OP you can will get a lot of yes’s and alot of no’s

But it really depends on you and your environment.

Things for you to consider:

What is your weather like?

Your enviroment? Dusty? Pollen? Dirt roads?

How often are you going to wash?

What kind of road film does your car build up?


I live in Pacific NorthWest. I use my pressure washer along with rinseless during fall and winter and every so often in spring and summer.

I use the foam gun as Bill D would for most of Spring and Summer. Foam the car down and then spray the foam gun at the point of contact where the foam pad contacts the paint.

You can watch this video at the 8:08 mark to get a visual of that process

Audi R8 BLACKBIRD: Basic Car Wash Techniques - /DRIVE CLEAN - YouTube


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opie said:
Imo your fine when it comes to using pressure washers. I wouldn't advise cranking a gas powered one up to and above 3000psi. I only run that high when spraying my foam cannon...i crank it back down after i pop off the foam cannon

Most pw's(mainly electric ones) are 2000psi and under, which is not all that much especially when your using a 40 degree tip, or 25 degree. I wouldn't be grabbing a 0 degree tip lol.

It also depends on how close one is holding the wand to the paint surface.

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I meant like is it “needed” to have a proper or safe wash rather than using a spray nozzle on a hose.
 
Today I used a $20 foam gun and it worked well but it drank up my soap pretty quickly. I barely was able to foam up a mid sized car before it was time to add more soap to the cup

I’d say if you get one of these, it foams fine, just be prepared to add soap often.
 
Coatingsarecrack said:
Again OP you can will get a lot of yes’s and alot of no’s

But it really depends on you and your environment.

Things for you to consider:

What is your weather like?

Your enviroment? Dusty? Pollen? Dirt roads?

How often are you going to wash?

What kind of road film does your car build up?


I live in Pacific NorthWest. I use my pressure washer along with rinseless during fall and winter and every so often in spring and summer.

I use the foam gun as Bill D would for most of Spring and Summer. Foam the car down and then spray the foam gun at the point of contact where the foam pad contacts the paint.

You can watch this video at the 8:08 mark to get a visual of that process

Audi R8 BLACKBIRD: Basic Car Wash Techniques - /DRIVE CLEAN - YouTube


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Let’s say one guy washes using pressure washer and the other using a hose with a spray nozzle, are both going equally safe and swirl free ? I have people that swear that using a pressure washer for the best method.
 
GTguy559 said:
Let’s say one guy washes using pressure washer and the other using a hose with a spray nozzle, are both going equally safe and swirl free ? I have people that swear that using a pressure washer for the best method.
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This really isn't a question with a black and white answer. It all depends on how dirty the vehicle is, how fresh is the protection, how good is your wash technique, etc. For someone in California with light dust who carefully rinseless washes weekly, no there's probably not a huge benefit. Someone in the midwest or up north who can only wash their car in the winter when it peeks above freezing then yeah probably safer to blast off the layers of gunk.

In my opinion the more dirt you can remove from the car before you touch it the better. So in *theory* if you take two equally dirty cars and pressure wash one and rinse the other with a hose, it should be "safer" to wash the one that was pressure washed because more dirt was removed before you touched it with a mitt. But in the real world there's a ton of other variables that matter.

I personally bust out my pressure washer every time because I have a great setup, I don't wash that often, and I really really like using it on wheels and wheel wells.
 
GTguy559 said:
I meant like is it “needed” to have a proper or safe wash rather than using a spray nozzle on a hose.
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Ask yourself this...if the road you live on is a shat road,(meaning dirt road) then yes i would use it often. But if not then..no ya dont need it. Then maybe just try foam gun. I might get one come spring to try out.

If every once in a while it gets trashed then use a coin op if one is near or if not then maybe bust out the pw for that.

Or try a damn good foaming soap in foam gun to get the debris to lift off surface

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GTguy559 said:
Let’s say one guy washes using pressure washer and the other using a hose with a spray nozzle, are both going equally safe and swirl free ? I have people that swear that using a pressure washer for the best method.
Click to expand...

I would say no if the car is past dusty. Weather your in the foam cannon group or not most would agree a PW would blow most grime off of a car before you use your wash media to contact the care.

The grime you have on your car is what makes the difference.

If your washing 5 times a month i wouldn’t worry about it. If 2-3 months i would say yes you would have less swirls….. in my environment.

You haven’t given me an indication of your enviroment so I could not really answer for you.


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The Guz said:
I live in California and this is further from the truth. I don't use a pressure washer and use a garden hose. If the idea is to save water then rinseless washing would be the way to go.
Click to expand...

Garden hose would use way more water than a pressure washer,
Rinse less wash of course would use less water not hard to understand that concept
I live in Tasmania, Australia and we have very dry summer's so i will stick to my opinion.
 
PaulMys said:
Not only no, but Hell no.

By the time it would take to drag out my PW, connect it to water, crank it up, etc. I could have almost washed my entire truck.

And I always have this little nugget in the back of my head:

I worked at a marina for over 20 years. As anyone knows, a pressure washer is used for hundreds and hundreds of hours a year in that business, and I have possibly 1,000 hours behind the wand of one if I had to guess.

In all of that time, I have seen a wand tip fail and get shot into a boat hull maybe a dozen times. Things like that will happen over the course of 20+ years, but I'll be damned if I'll ever risk that on my vehicles. ;)
Click to expand...

I can hook up my pressure washer in less than 3 minutes. I do have all quick connects on it though.

I switch out the tips a-lot exaclty because of same fear but will be ordering these. Rubber guard is nice but really for the quality to keep the rocketing off from happening.

19e87084cd4af0d4cd97e0a7711f37a5.jpg



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Coatingsarecrack said:
I can hook up my pressure washer in less than 3 minutes. I do have all quick connects on it though.

I switch out the tips a-lot exaclty because of same fear but will be ordering these. Rubber guard is nice but really for the quality to keep the rocketing off from happening.

19e87084cd4af0d4cd97e0a7711f37a5.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Where did you order those?? That looks nice.
 
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