By powerwashing, I'm referring to a 'do it yourself' station near my home where for ever quarter I plunk down, I get 34 seconds of high powered liquid coming out on wand. The selection **** determines whether the liquid is water, soap, wax etc. (Sorry about the explanation - I'm not sure if I'm using 'powerwashing' as the correct term so the explanation.)

Questions:
1. Is this high powered wash bad for the paint
2. Does it strip any wax/polish job?
3. I just start with soap and continue with wax, bypassing the plain water rinse, figuring that the wax stream also rinses out the water.
4. I dry off with a chamois - any problem with this? I then dump the chamois in my washing machine.

Thanks for any comments if this will shorten the life of my paint or reduce its gloss over time. Appreciate you pros' comments. Long time lurker here but newbie in posting and have learned a bunch from you guys.

 

By the way, one more addition. The reason I use powerwashing so much is because it is so FAST. I get done in 5 minutes or less, even for minivans. Drying is another 10 minutes. At home, I'd take four times that with a bucket. (Or am I not doing it right with a bucket?)

 

when I do the self-do washes, I only use the "low-power" trigger setting. Although I haven't done testing or a research project on it I have an analogy:

Powerwashing: think powersprayers used to clean bricks and wood decks; they peel off ANYTHING in their way, including exposed skin! Do I wanna use a similar product on my car paint? NO WAY!

Fast = yes
Safe = you won't find me using "turbo-pressure"!

Cheers,
Ryan

 

So maybe a good compromise is one of the residential-grade power washers that uses less pressure?

I would be suprised if you would stip off clear coat or paint with those pressures. Now wax, on the other hand... I suppose if you are already one who is frequently waxing (manually, not just spraying on) that the lower pressure version should be ok.

But, then again, I'm not on the royal court of detailing.