Does anyone use a pressure washer on their MINI?

Good idea?

Bad idea?

Which pressure washer would you recommend?

 

i only use the water hose with a nozzle. i dont like using high pressure.

 

While driving around yesterday, I saw several people throughout the neighborhood using pressure washers on their cars. While at one stop sign, the pressure washer seemed to be a fine mist and I saw him twist a nozzle and the water seemed to have more pressure to it--he used this on the wheels & in the wheel wells--and the difference was amazing. Although the traffic light only lasted a few minutes, it was interesting to see how quickly his wheels were cleaned.

 

yah, ML said the same thing when she did her car at those coin ops.

but imagine what kind of pressure you're blasting the brake and abs
sensor lines at the same time, not to mention all the seals.

 

Yeah it's definitely not something I would do regularly, but it does work!

 

Soap and water out of a bucket then a soft rinse off with a hose. I pressure my wheels, but still have to wash them by hand to get the grime off completely.

 

True pressure washers can do serious damage to paint, seals, sealants, waterproofing, chrome, anodized metal and a host of other finished surfaces. They are primarily used to blast and strip clean surfaces before they are painted or otherwise finished. I would never use one on an automobile and definitely not on an engine compartment.

 

Pressure Washers are a good thing, just not for cars. A true pwasher comes with different tips that vary the angle of coverage from 40 to 0 degrees. They range in psi from 1200 to over 5000. They will shoot water in place that it doesn't need to be, when you use a pwasher wrong you can do more damage than cleaning. I work on them on a daily basis and most folks are complete idiots when it comes to understanding what a pwasher can damage.

 

There was a thread here detailing a Bugatti (?). They started with a pressure washer. Why would an uber-high dollar car detailed by pros use one?

 

Here's the link
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...hlight=bugatti
http://www.vxronline.co.uk/messagebo...pic.php?t=4618

 

Touchless car washers are just big pressure washers. Don't seem to be killing hundres of thousands of cars. Nothing wrong with pressure washers used properly. Most of these home pressure washers don't even do 2,000 psi and just like in the coin car wash, only get close enough to get the job done.

 

Pressure washers are misunderstood. There are pressure washers at coin operated public wash bays and there are home pressure washers for washing the house, sidewalks, and your car.

Professional detailers use pressure washers for a couple of reasons. Mobile detailer HAVE to use a pressure washer if they carry their own water tank, because otherwise, there is no way to get the water out of the tank and onto the car! But just as important, the amount of water used is fixed. It might be 1.5GPM or higher, but by knowing that you are using a certain amount of water each minute, you can gauge better how many cars you can wash.

The pressure washer is adjustable and you can adjust the water output to a super soft as cotton spray or a sharp as a blade spray. Hold that latter spray an inch away from your paint and it will peel it right off.

Are pressure washers bad?? Only when used improperly. They save water, ad they allow you to adjust how strong the spray is.

I had a Karcher 1800 or maybe it was 1500psi portable pressure washer. It was great, but in about a year, the seals broke and now it no longer works, so I don't use one anymore.

These days I don't wash many cars anyways and find that a firemans nozzle is all I need.

Richard

 

^^ i use a fireman's nozzle too.... the $14 one from sears.

anyone use the Griot's red one?

 

Agreed on the fireman's nozzle. That is what I use.

When I was a wee lad I worked for the LA Unified School District for a summer renovating cafeteria Wolf ovens and stoves (tip: never eat in a LAUSD cafeteria - you do not want to know what we found in the ovens and stoves). We used a pressure washer to strip the grease, high temperature paint, and oil off the ovens and stoves before we repainted them. I can tell you from personal experience a true pressure washer is way too strong to use on automotive paint - you should have seen the forklifts - bare metal!!!!!

 

The point is, you have to use the right one for the job. You wouldn't use a sledge hammer to hang a picture nail, but you would use A hammer.