Which pressure washer to clean car?

tik tok on 17/12/2021 - 19:27

I am looking to only snow cannon my car and water the foam off. What pressure washer would you guys recommend?
Sadly, I am unaware of what PSI or water flow rate will be sufficient.

Also, do I need to look for a snow cannon attachment at all? I see the Meguiars and Bowdens selling their own little container thingy (snow cannon kit)which can be attached to a pressure washer. Does the attachment effect the foaming quality at all?

Yes, I have searched. On the past deals of Ozito, Ryobi, Bosch - there's equal amount of good and bad posts about each of those.

A while ago, I used a Ryobi 2000 PSI washer to clean concrete and it chipped off concrete when held close to the concrete. Going by this, if the lance gets (even accidentally) close to the car, will it chip off its paint (or even metal)? Of course if I had to clean concrete I will get something better than being able to clean more than 1 inch strips.

Automotive Pressure Cleaner

Comments

  • Nitr0 on 17/12/2021 - 19:51

    If thats the only thing you need it to do a pressure washer seems kinda pointless. You can buy foam sprayer attachments for your regular hose connection from places like Repco, probably Bunnings etc etc

    If its a 4wd pressure washers are handy to get it clean after an adventure.

    • apsilon on 17/12/2021 - 20:14
      +1

      The garden hose ones don't work anywhere near as well as a proper foam cannon.

      I think virtually any pressure washer will suffice but you need to ensure you can get a foam cannon with the attachment for your pressure washer. I have an older revision Karcher K7 but only because I got it for an insane deal but I wouldn't recommend it, hate the hose it comes with. Doesn't kink but it does coil up on itself constantly which is annoying.

      The foam cannon itself does also make a difference. Personally I like the Bowdens Own one as it's a fairly short but wide bottle which means it doesn't tip over too easily. My first foam cannon was a generic with the tall skinny bottle and it would tip over constantly. Part of the brass housing cracked after about a year and I believe it was due to the number of tumbles it had.

      As for damaging the paint, it depends on exactly the nozzle being used but the advice is to never get it too close. You shouldn't need to anyway.

      • Nitr0 on 18/12/2021 - 01:23

        Doesn't work as well to spray soap onto a car?

        If the goal is to clean the car get a sponge, soap, a bucket and a chamois. Save plenty of dough, get actually clean the car.

        • apsilon on 18/12/2021 - 06:35
          +1

          Doesn't work as well to spray soap onto a car?

          No, it doesn't. The foam from an actual foam cannon and pressure washer is many times thicker and with better coverage than the garden hose variety even if you use the same soap.

          I'm guessing you also don't understand the idea of the foam is a prewash. It loosens and removes a lot of the dirt, especially larger grit, without touching the paint and therefore results in less swirls being introduced. It doesn't remove the need for a follow up hand wash. If you're still using sponges and chamois though I guess swirls etc aren't something you care about anyway which is fair enough, it's not for everyone.

  • dassaur on 17/12/2021 - 22:15

    You need more pressure & flow rate than the basic ones otherwise it wont foam up well.
    I use a gerni 7000 & the bowden's cannon and I wouldnt go less

  • askme69 on 17/12/2021 - 22:24
    +1

    Big misconception about pressure washers and dirty vehicles. Yes it can remove crazy stuff, but alao cannot remove stuff that i can wipe with my finger and remove.

    • Nitr0 on 18/12/2021 - 01:19
      +1

      Yep exactly. From what everyone's saying they find pleasure in coating the car in soap and then rinsing it off…..

      They're brilliant for blasting mud off the fourby though!

    • Zachary on 22/12/2021 - 13:08

      then get a higher powered pressure washer that can remove stuff that your fingers can do as well.

  • Melb69 on 18/12/2021 - 18:51

    We have a Gerni with a carwash adapter fitting. You aren't meant to spray close anyway

  • fuudrizzle on 19/12/2021 - 23:13

    Was thinking of buying one from Kogan, anyone have any suggestions or recommendations from this site?

  • Nos 4r2 on 22/12/2021 - 09:07

    I wash both my cars once a week and it has become a bit of an obsession during lockdown.

    Yes get a dedicate foam cannon, the stock ones that come with the washers are pretty poor from what i've heard. Yes it will splurt soapy water on the car, but not thick foam if that's what you want.

    You don't need a lot of power. I use a 10 year old Karcher K2 which is only 1500 psi and that's fine. The latest K2 is about 1600-1800psi I think. But you could use any Gerni, Ryobi or anything. Most cannons come with the right adapters for them.

    Use either the Bowdens, Mothers or Autoglym foam cannon (Mothers and Autoglym are basically the same rebranded cannon). The Meguiars one is pretty average by all reports.

    A big negative side note if using the Mothers or Autoglym cannon. The Karcher adapter that comes with it has misaligned thread on it so when you screw it on all the way and attach it to a karcher wand the bottle points out side ways horizontally when you hold the wand properly. You will need to buy a couple of rubber washers to put on the fitting so you can't screw it down all the way to the end. You will still get a tight fit but the bottle will then face downward which is how it should be. Massive design oversight if you ask me.

    Not sure if bowdens does it, but I don't think it does as its pretty popular and haven't heard of it being this way on Karchers.

    Also, only foaming the car and washing it off won't work, you still need to contact wash to get road grime off. Foaming the car is just a pre-wash, its designed to dwell on the car to loosen up dirt, but you won't be able to just spray off all the dirt, some of it will come off but you will still need to wipe it by hand to get it all off.

    If you have a clean car and just want to quickly wash sand or dust of it then yes a foam and hose off may work. But my weekly wash on both cars is a foam pre-wash, 2 bucket hand wash, spray on sealant and towel dry to get it completely clean each time.

    • apsilon on 22/12/2021 - 09:26

      Not sure if bowdens does it, but I don't think it does as its pretty popular and haven't heard of it being this way on Karchers.

      It is, mine's about 45deg off. Washers or o rings can "fix" the alignment if it bothers you.

    • tik tok on 22/12/2021 - 17:09

      Thank you for replying. From (over) reading I gathered I would need at least 2000 PSI and a max flow rate of 8 L/minute. Based on your reply, it seems my understanding is incorrect. So you reckon, if I got the Ryobi 1800W and a Repco foam cannon I should be able to get thick foam on the car (just avoiding Meguiar and Bowden for now, as will need to purchase adapters separately for the Ryobi RPW140-G),with a suitable shampoo of course?

      Got a new car after a long time so want to take care of it from the get go. The washing plan is to foam the car, rinse. Foam again, agitate (hand wash), liquid clay (autoglym magna), agitate, rinse, sealant. As soon as I got the car I put on the Autoglym Ultra High Definition Ceramic Coating - so sealant may be once in six months. But am absolutely clueless about how to get a thick foam. I keep reading how people change the orifice to 1.1mm for most satisfactory results. The plan atm is only to use it on the car - but if we rent a bigger unit may be clean the patio in the future - so am also leaning towards the mechpro 2219. Thoughts?

      • Euphemistic on 22/12/2021 - 17:46

        The washing plan is to foam the car, rinse. Foam again, agitate (hand wash), liquid clay (autoglym magna), agitate, rinse, sealant.

        The new car novelty will wear off soon enough and you’ll be back to a bucket and a mitt once a month if you’re lucky.

        • tik tok on 22/12/2021 - 18:47

          Not quite. But quite possible. I like to take care of my cars. Even the old as one gets the two bucket method at least once a month and a Collinite 845 wax every so often. She also gets the magna treatment. Only found the liquid clay a while ago - no patience or physical ability to run the clay bar all over by hand. But the old cars height is kinda shorter than me - so mitt on its roof is fairly easy. But with the new tall-ish car, its getting a bit difficult (also due to a shoulder injury) - so hoping the pressure washer will take some pressure of me shoulder.

      • Nos 4r2 on 22/12/2021 - 19:05

        The ryobi will be fine, the repco cannon is basically a rebranded meguiars cannon, which is basically a rebranded no name Amazon cannon. Imo, spend the extra $30 and get the bowdens cannon + mega snow job pack. You are gonna need to spend $30 odd anyway to get foaming soap.

        Yeh get the 1.1mm orifice, you will get slightly better foam.

        As for wash routine, mine goes:
        - pressure wash wheels
        - wheel cleaner and agitate
        - pressure wash wheels and whole body car
        - foam car with meguiars gold class and let sit for 5-10mins
        - pressure wash off
        - 2 bucket wash with mf mitt (again meguiars gold class)
        - wash off
        - meguiars hybrid ceramic wax
        - wash off
        - towel dry

        Whole process takes about an hour. Its the mitt wash and towel dry that takes ages, everything else is pretty quick.

        Highly recommend the mothers premium drying towel. It's expensive but I can towel dry a whole sealed car without having to ring it out. Unsealed not so much as too much water stays on the paint.

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