Mon. Nov 4th, 2024
pressure wash car

How to pressure wash your car

Car in need of a quick wash? Head over to your nearest drive through wash, only to have to wait for three others to go first. Or perhaps a hand car wash, where there is more than one lane but 3 times more cars in line. 

If you include the drive, that is 30 minutes minimum, the same amount of time it would take you to do it at home. But not with a pressure washer, a pressure was will not only take about 10 minutes, but will also be more a deep clean than a quick wash.

Requirements:

  • Pressure washer
  • Pressure washer hose
  • Water hose
  • Pressure washer gun
  • Gun nozzle tips
  • Foam blaster attachment, highly recommended
  • Chemicals if using, soap and water suffice (anti water application)
  • Fluffy scrub (optional for rims)
  • rags/chicken
  • U-extension 
  • Tire shiner

When should you wash?

Ideally you want to wash your car either early in the morning or near sunset. If you have to wash when the sun is out, try to position your car in shade. 

Washing in the sun

When in the sun, the heat dries up the water, and leaves droplet marks. The best way to combat this, is to wash by sections, 4: front, back, left side, right side. 

The top will be done with your first section, which will be either left or right side. After washing each section you will have to wipe it down with the chicken rag, then move on to the next section and repeat the process. 

In order to prepare it for next time, its highly recommended to apply water repellent after you finish washing and is fully dry. This will allow you to wash your car in the sun next time without any concern of it drying since the water will not leave the droplet marks anymore. 

It also create a coat, which makes it easier to wash off debri. It is the same concept as the blue can you get from Shoe Palace for your shoes.

Hose length?

For a car/truck, the 50ft pressure washer hose suffices. (If you are deciding to buy one, get the 100ft, it has more applicable situations)

Pre-preperations:

  • Position your pressure washer in any one corner of your vehicle, this will maximize your length
  • Proceed to rinsing all around your vehicle

Pre-Soaking:

  • While it is pre-soaking, apply your chemical for washing, again soap with water is perfectly fine

For this step, when using the the foam blaster attachment, simply load it up with the chemical of your choice, and spray it all over your vehicle. It does not matter where you start from just do not forget the top. Simply spray it all around, do not forget about the top.

Foam-Blaster Alternatives:

The best replacement is a gardening bottle.Now if you do not have or do not want to use a bottle, you can use a 5-gallon can. Fill it up with water and soap, be generous with the amount of soap and stir it until gets very foamy. 

Your going to open the door of either the right or left, step on the side and lift up the can. If you are unable to lift up the can at near full just fill it with less water. You will then, slowly unload the foamy water towards the opposite direction, if you started from the left you will be unloading towards the right on top of the roof. You want to let it run slowly, so it does not go straight to the ground. Move the can to left and right on top, to ensure the foamy water encompasses the side of the car fully. You will repeat this process for all the other sides.

Letting it sit:

  • You want to let the foam sit for a while before washing it off
  • Depending on how dirty it was, you might see the foam starting to turn slightly brown
  • When you see that color change or when half of the foam disappears, thats when you know the sitting phase is over
  • During this phase, you can wash your the bottom of your car, which is completely optional, but if you have the u-extension for your gun, you can give a quick rinse to remove all the black muk under your car

Wash off:

  • Before you begin to wash off the foam, apply foam to your tires and rims
  • Start washing, starting from the top, give it to passes to make sure you do not have foam dripping down later

The flow of water:

  • For all the 4 sides, you want to start either at the top left or top right corner
  • You will be making your way down in layers
  • Each layer is the length of your nozzle spray
  • Make your way to the opposite side that you started from
  • Then go down one layer and move towards the opposite direction
  • Repeat for all other sides

Moving in this manner will help reduce any foam being leftover, thus preventing any marks when dried. 

Cleaning your tires & rims:

  • By now your your tires and rims are ready to be washed off
  • Before you wash it off, if you have a fluffy scrub I recommend passing it by your rim entrance a couple times to get those stubborn spots, once every 3 washes or so depending how often you wash your car.
  • Wash off your tires first then your rims, make sure you pass 2-3 times on your rims, sometimes, the dirt is push back and it leaks to the front afterwards leaving dirt streak marks. That is why scrubbing the back occasionally helps quicken the rest of the other washes

Time to dry:

  • Now it is time to dry your car off, no you cannot just drive off and let the air dry it, unless you have water repellent coat applied prior.
  • You will need to use a rag/towel that does not have cotton so you do not leave cotton strings all over the place
  • Always start drying from the top, and make sure there are no pockets of water left 
  • It will not matter, how good you dry the sides, if you leave water on top, which will drip down when you move your vehicle
  • Use two rags/towels minimum, one will always be used first, ideally you want this one to be the one that is able to soak in more water
  • The other towel will leave it completely dry 
  • Do a quick pash with the first towel, to soak up the majority of the water, then another pass with the other to finish the job
  • You will be springing the first towel after each section to get most of the water out of the towel

Make a wash pop:

Completely optional, but it is a really fast application. Put some tire shine onto your tires. Makes a world of difference, and make your wash stand out a lot more.

If your worried about how to handle a pressure washer, check out one of our other articles, where we talk about the do’s and don’t of a pressure washer. Like the one down below: https://machinesmadesimple.com/pressure-washer-maintenance