Canadian tire has a electric pressure washer on sale for $200 and I am thinking of getting one. Has anyone used these pressure washers to wash their cars? And what is the opinion, are they good, bad not worth the money? I am trying to to speed up the whole car washing / detailing processing.

 

I'm not a big fan of them myself. I'd be concerned about them stripping off wax, and maybe even getting under the paint.
I prefer a much more gentle approach. Besides here in Cambridge, we've now got a watering ban in effect until September which includes washing your car!
Now restricted to once a week lawn watering and car washing.

Now you can go to Joe's car wash down the street all you want, but you can only wash your own car once.

C.

 

I bought the same pressure washer not too long ago that you are looking at. However, I didn't purchase it to wash my car......just other odd jobs around the house. You can tone down the pressure quite a bit, probably enough to be safe on your car, however I still don't want to take the chance.

I did use my pressure washer once on my wheels to see how it removed the brake dust and seemed to work well. I only did it once because I was still too worried that it would strip the finish off of my wheels. I would never take my car to one of those high pressure wash trucks that you see around.

Wow Colin, I watering ban until September?? I would go crazy if I could only wash my car once a week!! I wish we could have a rain ban from now until September!!!!

 

*****..I agree with the others, I would not use the portable pressure washer for washing the G. But, it is great for blasting off the deck before retreating it, cleaning the bottom of my boat in the fall, and other jobs around the house.

Canuck...LOL Wouldn't that be great if you could just put a rain ban out so it only rained once or twice after midnight for a few hours each week .

Wayne

 

Wow, Too much rain in one area, not enough in another.... The ban here will be a PITA, but I really like the Z-6 for cleaning the rides now. Seems not to scratch, and does a decent job. I'll see by summer's end how good it is. I think with a decent coat of Zaino, it should be fine.

I'llbet that pressure washer is great for the boat and deck, as well as wheels on the ride. I guess if you can turn down the pressure, it would do well on the whole car.-- Around here, I couldn't use one more than once a week anyway (legally)...


You guys are on the news almost daily with your rain and flooding issues out there. Webbed feet and gills will come in handy......


Good luck with the rain ban...
C.

 

I've been using a pressure washer for some years now(8). I never had any problems effecting the finish on my cars.

I purchased the washer at Cdn Tire too. It's one of the smaller models ( around 1500psi).

The spray pattern can be adjusted so as to not harm your car, and its a great time saver when it comes to cleaning your rims. Just don't hold the spray wand close to one spot.

It's a bonus around the home aswell. I think that you would get two different wands, a standard sprayer wand and a "blaster" wand for hard to do areas, but not on your car!!! Try it on concrete and you would see the difference in strength between the two.

Any questions, PM me any time..

Good Luck!!!

 

Bought my 1600PSI from Crappy Tire when it was on sale for $150. Have been using it on my wife's Subaru and my G. No issues whatsoever. I don't use the high pressure spray on the car's finish. I use the lightest spray pattern on the paint and up the force on the wheels and the wheel well. My 1600PSI unit is not too powerful that you need to worry about stripping paint and stuff. A gas unit on the other hand... be careful with washing the deck though, it can split wood!

MA

 

I have a great Honda powered HP washer, use it for lots of things;
pool deck, lawn mower yada, yada...
but it doesn't get anywhere near my cars.

I have a friend that forgot to dial the pressure down b4 washing his truck.
He lifted a foot square sheet of paint off the drivers door

 

Yikes, I would **** a brick if I did that to my car!! Thats why my pressure washer doesn't go anywhere near my car also.

 

Thanks for the replies guys, I guess I'll be sticking with good old elbow grease, and put the money towards more detailing products.
Any tips on keeping the G clean, it is so frustrating after washing and detailing only to have it rain the next 1 or 2 days. Even tried working from home to avoid driving in the rain. There should be a factory option to coat the whole thing in Teflon.

 

Keeping it well Zaino'd/Waxed is good bro. For me, if it's not too dirty, I use Z-6 Gloss enhancer to spruce her up, along with my California brush, and swiffer.
C.

 

I'm the same as most of you guys. My 1400 psi unit never touches the paint on my cars. It's great for home projects but that's it.

 

USE IT ALL the time on my paint to wash my car and my Volk Racing RIMS....is perfectly safe for the finish on both...now i'm talking about a modest PSI here..and nothing crazy....heheeh crank it up high enough and it will F**K it all up

 

i am lazy

200 bucks is gd enough for 20 car washes for me at the gas station

and i don't need to spend time detailing