Motors Pressure washers

Some of you might know I bought a Focus RS not too long ago, I also swapped my ST for a dishwater variety Mondeo estate which is great as a daily, cheaper to run and boat loads of space (pretty sure with the rear seats down I could sleep in it..).

However, I'm getting to the point where I'll be washing both cars on a regular basis, and I used to wash/wax my ST at least once a fortnight which is something I want to maintain with the Mondy and RS, but I really don't fancy washing the mondy by hand, I'll be there all bloody day. It doesn't need to be the worlds most astounding clean, just clean.

I've been thinking a pressure washer and a snowfoam lance would be the quickest and most entertaining way of washing the Mondy (And perhaps for washing the RS between clay/polish/correction stages), but I'm looking at all potential pressure washers and getting myself confused.

I see a lot of Karcher systems on RSOC, which leads me to believe they must be okay at least, but beyond that I've less than a gnats ass of clue on what brand to go for.

There seems to be cooling concerns, too, as some Karcher models mention water cooling (Although with cold water coming out the wall, I'd have thought they all had that to some degree), but others are "air cooled".

I want something that'll last a reasonable number of years with proper maintenance, and ideally not to cost the earth, but who doesn't want reasonably priced these days.

What do you guys use/recommend?

 

Get a bogo karcher, plenty good enough

Snow foam lance attachment will be a must.


1, Karcher K2.xx
2, Snow foam lance by karcher so it fits.
3, Im sure you have wool mitts etc but if you dont, get a couple.
4, If your not into uber detailing and spending big £££s then get a 10ltr bottle or daemon wash snow foam.
5, Im sure you have the other bits required


So, hose the car off using the 50% lance, the 100% "could" damage your paint. Immediately afterwards empty 250ml of snow foam into the bottle and cover the car. Leave it for 15mins to do its job and rinse off. If your lazy, get your snow foam bottle and add 50ml of car shampoo and 200ml of water, shake it up and lance the car again. go over the car with your wool mitt. Rinse off and shammy.

The rest is straight forward if your used to the 2 bucket method, wax and dry and from your post you seem pretty well informed in the detailing world which is nice to see on a techy forum

A wolley mammoth to dry the car would be a good idea too! I can dry 2 average sized cars with one of these so if you have a larger car, wash that first as itll give your towel time to dry a little first

But yea, the washer that is perfect for washing a car a week and that seems to last forever is the K2.xx series. I have the compact myself and next door have the larger one which as it turns out is the same with a bigger handle.. I guess some people dont like to carry a washer that weighs 5kilos or perhaps they cant be bothered to bend a little to pick it up

If your worried about water cooled or air cooled etc then there is no need to be. Ive had the K2.xx 2.36? compact running for just over 3 hours before during a lovely summers afternoon and have had zero issues.

 

Grand, thanks for that - Very helpful.

Aye, fairly familiar with the theories of detailing, just never really gone beyond the basic/intermediate cleaning really, looking to nab an old door from a scrappy to practice on with a machine polisher in the near future. If I can make a decent enough attack on the door then I'll have at the RS. Sadly previous owners have filled stone chips with paint pens, so I don't want to get it professionally detailed until I've sorted those and a few other paint issues (Sadly most of the front end needs a respray.. Little out of the budget right now!).

 

I used to have a petrol powered pressure washer. It was friggin lethal. The kick when you pulled the trigger was worse than my shotgun.

Never pointed it a car though as im pretty sure it oculd have ripped the paint off. Only ever used it on heavy duty stuff.

 

^ That sounds like a man toy if there ever was one

 

Another vote for Karcher - I've used a couple of others that were decent, but the Karcher was best of them really.

 

+1 vote for Karcher, stay away from any washer that's Draper branded. They're cheap crap - I'm on my second one now and I've already had to repair it in 18 months of ownership. My next will be a Karcher similar to the one I used at my last part time job.

A great value group buy deal on snow foam and a good quality lance can be found on DW at the moment from AutoBrite.

 

Sounds like a Karcher will be what I'm after then!

Looking at the K2 compact model, as storage space is at a premium for the foreseeable future.

I looked at the group buy on DW, and the snow foam lance appears to be at least similar in design to the £45 one on cleanyourcar, which I'll probably end up going for as I can bundle everything in to as few deliveries as possible >.>

 

Another happy Karcher owner here, mine's fairly low spec but it's 5 years old now and never missed a beat. Plus I have clean patio areas as well.

 

I have the £45 from clean your car and its been working well for a couple of years. TBH the snowfoam doesn't really do anything IMO.

 

I have that one too but the snow foam I have for it isn't that good, you need a high quality snow foam solution to get the thick, clingy foam that's seen in the demo videos. I've seen the same lance being used with the solution that I linked to above in the flesh and producing proper, clingy foam that removes surface dirt with just a dwell and rinse. Pressure is key as well, the higher pressure and flow that your power washer has, the better foam you'll get. If not Karcher, my next PW will be a Kew (Nilfisk) with a diesel heater.

 

I'm using the Valet Pro PH Neutral snowfoam combined with Meguirs Gold Class shampoo.