Are pressure washers bad for cars? I hear different things.

>>16669598
They have different settings; usually light medium and heavy. Go with light and make sure there is no gunk in the nozzle. Also don't keep it one spot too long; move it across the car

Ive use pressure washers regularly and I have never had paint issues. The automatic washers that drag those rags (cant think of the real name) can scratch and swirl the paint. Hand washing with a sponge/rag can damage paint if you dont do it properly.

>How should i wash my car?
Get a brown car and dont clean it. Thats what I did.

>>16669598
>Are pressure washers bad for cars?
depends on the pressure washer, gas powered is nono.

>How should i wash my car?
With a microfiber sponge.
As far as water sources go, you can use a pressure washer as long as it isn't too high pressure. I just use a pressure attachment for a regular hose and it's about as hard as I'd feel comfortable hitting my car with (especially with the hard ass water we have here).
Pic related is what I use, with the fan nozzle of course.

>make sure your car isn't warm, don't wash in the sun (water spots are the devil and ignoring this is the easiest way to get them)
>soak entire car to wash away dust and loose dirt and to loosen up caked on stuff
>go over entire car with pressure attachment, wheels first, then top down
>if there's a lot of stuck on shit, spray it with all purpose cleaner and let it soak while you do the wheels
>wash your wheels first with completely separate wash equipment than you'll use for the rest of the car to not contaminate what will be touching your paint
>have a wash bucket with soap and a rinse bucket with a grit guard
>use a microfiber wash sponge (the one with a bunch of little noodles)
>soak wash sponge in wash bucket, go over car lightly (starting from the top down, rocker panels and bumpers last) lifting away dirt. Do not apply much pressure to the sponge, anything still stuck on you should remove with an an all purpose cleaner or a quick detailer spray. DO NOT use circular motions. Go over horizontal surfaces in a front to back motion, vertical surfaces in up and down motions.
>clean one panel (or less) at a time and rinse your wash mitt in the rinse bucket after each panel or section. Use the grit guard to get all the dirt and particles off your sponge and let it safely fall to the bottom under the grit guard. Then soak again in the wash bucket. Your wash bucket should not be getting dirty with this method, only your rinse bucket should.

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>>16669863
>Don't forget the door jambs
>Rinse the car without any pressure attachment so the water sheets off the car
>DRY YOUR CAR IMMEDIATELY
>DO NOT DRIVE YOUR CAR TO DRY IT
>I like to use compressed air to get off all the standing water and blow out all the water from all the little niches like behind the side mirrors and between panels
>Use a microfiber drying towel to finish drying, waffle weave works best. Chamois is also acceptable, but only if it's the real thing which is pretty expensive.
>Spray your drying towel with a light mist of quick detailer and then with it lying flat against your car, drag it across your panels. Do not apply pressure.
>Use a general microfiber towel to go over things like inside door jambs, under trunk lid and hood. Don't forget to dry under your hood if you care about that looking good at all because you'll get mad water spots there from left over water from the wash getting heated up by the engine.
>THE ONLY THINGS YOU SHOULD BUFF EXTERIOR PAINT WITH ARE *PLUSH* MICROFIBER TOWELS. PLUSH ONLY.
>If you're going to wax, do it here. One panel at a time.
>Take your plushiest microfiber towel with quick detailer spray and go over any spots or streaks that were left over and to gloss up the finish
>At this point you should do anything additional to your glass. I typically just go over it with Rain-X glass cleaner (I find it's the least streaky but you can use whatever) and paper towel.

If you follow these steps you'll have cleaned your car better than 100% of automatic washes and 90% of "detailing" places that use the same bucket and shit towels for everything.

For maintenance, use a plush microfiber towel with quick detailer to dust your car. Anything more tan dust, like caked on mud, should be removed by washing or using a quick wash spray.
And for the love of god, don't cheap out on microfiber towels. They are not created equal.

I can do a more detailed write up if there's interest. I've been contemplating doing it for a while.

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>>16669863
Sorry I forgot pic related. This is the hose attachment I was referring to.

Also, WAS ALL YOUR SHIT REALLY WELL.
Hand wash your wash sponge or mitt to make sure that there's not any left over debris on it.
Hell, don't even mix up your buckets. Get 2 different colors and designate one as the rinse bucket and the other as the wash bucket.
Hose off your microfiber towels before throwing them in the washing machine.

IF YOUR WASH MITT OR A TOWEL HITS THE FLOOR, GET A NEW ONE. DO NOT CONTINUE USING THAT SHIT. IT IS DEAD. MAN DOWN. DO NOT RESUSCITATE.

When it comes to washing cars, embrace your autism.

>>16669746
>The automatic washers that drag those rags (cant think of the real name) can scratch and swirl the paint.
Swirl-o-Matics, Satan's car washers, take your pick. Don't fucking use them unless you give zero shits about your paint.

What causes swirling. I think my car is developing them or already had them from the previous owner. I can't tell if it's fresh or not

>>16670115
Automatic car washes
Hand washing in circular motions
Hand washing or drying while applying too much pressure
Hand washing or drying with dirty rags or sponges (also using the same wash equipment on wheels, not washing from the top down, and/or not rinsing properly while washing)
Hand washing or drying with improper materials (i.e. paper towels, non microfiber towels, degraded towels, wrong type of towel)

No. Best way to get a good clean is from a pressure washer. Although it might depend where you live cause as one anon said their water is very hard. Also if you're worried about stripping your paint, you should be more worried about repainting your car

>>16669886
dollar store by my job has real Chamois
a smaller size for ~$3 and a hueg one for less than $5
the big one if bigger than my friends $15 one, sucks the case has a giant vent hole in it. no ragrets at the size and price for a legit one, Chamois was even in a vac sealed bag in the case

>>16670611
The cheapest I've seen it is $20~ for a 5sqft one. Are you sure it's not fake chamois? By fake I mean made from pig or goat leather rather than the obviously fake synthetic.

>>16669598
>I hear different things. that it strips the paint or it drags debris across your car.
Both.

>How should i wash my car?
Bucket and sponge, rinse with a hose, chamois leather to polish.

>>16669886
>Chamois is also acceptable, but only if it's the real thing which is pretty expensive.
I have the real thing. In my opinion, it can scratch the paint if any grit gets onto it. A plushy microfiber with grit is still able to dry without scratching due to the plush. Chamois tends to have a lot of weight and stiffness even when wrung out, so that increases the chance of scratching.

>>16671504
>chamois leather to polish
"no"

>>16671926
yea I'd agree, but it's better than a pool towel or something. The idea with chamois is the same as the waffle weave, no pressure just soaking up water and making sure there's no foreign debris on it.
Also even with plush you can scratch, which is why you should still spray it with a bit of quick detailer for lubrication before applying any pressure and buffing.

>>16669598
>How should i wash my car?

I use a switchable soap dispenser on the end of my water hose that I bought from Harbor Freight. It has different types of spray patterns and I can adjust both the volume of water and the rate of soap from zero to a lot. I spray in one hand and use the microfiber washmitt with "noodles" >>16669886 on a pole in the other hand. It works very nicely.

One advantage is that I don't have to walk back to buckets. Another is that I don't have to bend over a bucket. Another is that I don't have to carefully swirl around the mitt in a bucket. Yet another big advantage is a stream of fresh clean liquid soap so I can wipe with the mitt and the liquid washes away the dirt particles and grime. I can also rinse the mitt right on the spot. Having the microfiber noodle pad on a pole (walmart item) lets me wash the roof and sides from a distance. I don't press down and just let the natural weight of the item do the work for me on the roof and other horizontal surfaces.

Drying out and spotting while cleaning is easily prevented because I just squirt some more water over there by squeezing the pistol grip. Liquid only comes out when I want it to. So it saves on water usage. It's not like I have to fill up two separate 5 gallon buckets to the 4 gallon mark.

PREVENTING WATER SPOTS:
Wash your car on a rainy day. After it has been raining for awhile, there is no more dust in the air, so the rainwater coming down is pretty clean (unless you are in smogland). I let the rainwater do the final spotfree rinse for my car before I take it inside the garage to dry it off and wax it later.

>>16672481
Found the no-rinse autist.

You rinse the car, then polish it with a dampened chamois leather cloth. You rinse off the grit first, so it doesn't get under the cloth.
You polish it smoothly with a flat cloth. You dampen the cloth first so it doesn't scratch. Then you apply a firm pressure, and polish until the watermarks vanish and the paint gets shiny again.
There's no grit under it, because you just rinsed that off with the hose.
It works on the windows, too.

>>16672849
>Found the no-rinse autist.
Well, considering this is me:
>>16669863
>>16669886
>>16669917
do you want to try again?

The only thing you should POLISH with is a plush microfiber towel lubricated with a bit of quick detailer.
Chamois is okay for drying (still not ideal), but it should not be used for polishing or with applied pressure.

>>16672653
>switchable soap dispenser from Harbor Freight
Have a link? That'd be a great thing to have.

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Not unless you're retarded

Ones with attachable bottles where you can put car soap, degreaser and other chemicals are rad

I use mine on max all the time. And I have almost the exact same one as the dude above this post.
Only damage I have ever done was stripping the paint off the *inside* of my rear bumper. Guess that area didn't get primed so the paint wasn't stuck very well.
For interest, >>16666666

>>16669598
>Are pressure washers bad for cars?
Ones that can generate thick clinging foam would be more useful for washing cars. Pressure washers are more often used to clean decks and sidewalks than cars. Even in my area, people who have pressure washers still use a water hose on their car instead of their pressure washer.

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>>16672653
>I use a switchable soap dispenser on the end of my water hose that I bought from Harbor Freight

I tried the one sold at walmart and it was flimsy chinese plastic and it broke. I returned it. I went to Harbor Freight with the 20% off coupon they always have going. The HF one is much sturdier and sprays better too.

i was pressure washing a car yesterday and i tore 2 tiny paint bits out of the car (it had been resprayed recently)

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>>16675567
>ever using a squeegee on paint
never do this.

>>16669598
just don't be autistic and spray perpendicular to the body

My weekly washing ritual involves me using a Sun Joe pressure washer with a foam cannon attachment using Mr. Pink soap, and then I dry my car off with a 8hp blower. 100% touchless wash and it takes like 10 minutes tops.

>>16675812
Why?

>>16676253
fyi when I say 8hp blower, I mean an actual car detailing blower. Not that leaf blower shit.

https://www.amazon.com/Metro-MB-3CD-Master-Blaster-Motorcycle/dp/B0002SPCGC

This thing is fucking amazing.

>>16676292
one of the easiest ways to scratch your paint.

welp mines crapped itself

looking at this..

https://www.bunnings.com.au/ozito-1300w-1450psi-high-pressure-cleaner_p6290538

>>16672849
>rubbing a damp shammy into naked paint "polishes" it

Holy shit

>>16673117
>QD=polish

Hooooooooly shit

It's to cold to actually wash my car right now. The best that I can do is spray the salt off and get as much water as I can before it freezes.

>>16676535
>reading comprehension
The quick detailer is for lubrication, not polish. As in if you're going to buff out a streak or some water spots. Obviously you don't use it when you're waxing or using another compound.

>>16675784
>i was pressure washing a car yesterday and i tore 2 tiny paint bits out of the car (it had been resprayed recently)

That implies use of pressure washers on chipped areas can force water underneath the paint. That trapped water then creates rust underneath the paint.

Rust under the paint causes that paint to bubble up around that little chip which leaves even more space to trap yet more water to cause rust. So having a lot of water pressure can be too much of a good thing.

>>16672849
>Found the no-rinse autist.
>You rinse the car, then polish it with a dampened chamois leather cloth.

No, we do not need to go back to the old inconvenient tedious days. We have better tools, better chemicals, and better drying towels now.

>>16669746
>The automatic washers that drag those rags (cant think of the real name) can scratch and swirl the paint.

I've taken multiple cars to those in past years and they don't seem to scratch my car. I'm aware of the comments, so I inspect the car in the bright sunlight for scratches and don't see any other than the swirl marks the dealer put in there as dealer prep. Dealer prep sucks. Every new car has a ton of swirl marks once the dealer wax wears off.

I use the Brown Bear brand car wash. They seem to take care of their gear and update it. I asked one of the guys running it and was told they inspect their synthetic fabric strips at the end of each day for wear. He also said to watch carefully as I sat in the car as it went thru the wash. There is a lot of liquid between the synthetic strips and the car and the main purpose of the strips is to hold the sudsy liquid against the body and aid the liquid in moving the dirt off the car. Places that try to economize by turning down the sudsy liquid flow are the ones that scratch.

So if you are getting horizontal scratches from the automated car wash, they are cheaping out on you, using cheap chinese fabric strip brushes that retain dirt, or using knock-off chinese replacement parts.

>>16676375
Shouldn't be an issue if you properly clay the car and wash it.

>>16669863
>depends on the pressure washer, gas powered is nono.
Power source shouldn't be a factor. The overall PSI is. While it is true most electric pressure washers are running at roughly 1600 PSI, and gas ones get up to 3000. Depending on the nozzle you use the psi output changes.
My gas powered pressure washer is 3200 PSI and has 5 nozzles; Black, White, Green, Yellow and Red. The black nozzle is so gentle it will spray out a foamy soap lather with less force than my garden hose can. I can shoot people with it and they hardly feel it. Working my way down the line, the tip with the most narrow spray is the red one. I'd never dream of putting it on my car. I can etch concrete with it. If I shot a person with that end they would end up with open wounds.

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>>16678625
>I've taken multiple cars to those in past years and they don't seem to scratch my car.
Same here. No scratches found yet. Like yours, it uses a LOT of suds and water so that any dirt is immediately washed off the car instead of staying on the surface scratching it up.

It costs $5.75 which is cheaper than using the self-service pressure washer bay. Each use of the self-serv bay is $3 so that ends up being $6 worth since it's $3 to wash and suds up. Then the slow wiping with the microfiber mitt. Then $3 to rinse the suds off and use the spray wax and no-spotting rinse.

>>16669598
They are fine, they work best when you shove them deep up the tail pile.

>>16669598
>Are pressure washers bad for cars?
Why are they even necessary if a mitt is going to be used after hosing off with a firm spray from a garden hose? With a continuous stream of soapy water and a mitt, that should get the car clean without the one extra step of pressure washing first.

>>16681228
It's more of a thing for older people, at least that is what I see where I live. You hook up a foam cannon to a pressure washer and let the foaming suds do all the work, then you rinse it off and dry. I personally use the two bucket method because I'm OCD about my car being clean.

>>16681247
>It's more of a thing for older people
That's what I'm feeling. And those "youngsters" that buy pressure washers still end up using microfiber mitts or pads to wash the car as part of their detailing.

>>16681247
>You hook up a foam cannon to a pressure washer and let the foaming suds do all the work, then you rinse it off and dry.

Both pressure washers and "lots of foam" don't clean my car of the sticky grimy film. I borrowed the neighbor's harbor freight pressure washer (loud, ugh) and tried to pressure off the dirt. Only the large pieces came off but all the smooth fine dirt liked to stick even on the rims.

In the same session, I then tried to apply a foam spray from the water hose to foam up the car. It isn't a foam cannon, but there is certainly a lot of soapy liquid. I even used a higher concentration. I let it sit awhile and refreshed the soap to prevent drying out. I followed up by using the harbor freight power washer (noisy) figuring the soap should have loosened the hold of grime. A lot of it came off but a lot of dirt still remained on the sides of the car. Obviously, the car cannot be waxed with that grime.

So, the only way to get a car clean enough to wax is to use some sort of wiping method such as a microfiber mitt or a microfiber pad which has those big fat noodle things on the surface.

>>16669598
>Are pressure washers bad for cars?
They never clean off all the dirt on a car. If all you want is a quick rinse of dust, pollen, and bird poop, then use the pressure washer. But if you're going to wax the car, you still have to use a wash mitt or something that touches the car.

>>16669598
>I hear different things. that it strips the paint or it drags debris across your car.
Any debris in the water will be accelerated by the pressure and damage the car. City tap water does have occasional grit in it. But it's so infrequent it's nothing to worry about.

Just look in your toilet tank and you see sediment at the bottom of the tank. I have a lot of sand in mine. There would be more sediment, but refill agitation usually washes out most of the sediment.