why power washer

[mcd]

i have been searching about the tools i need to open my mobile detailing business and most of the (almost all) detailers use power washer ( pressure washer) thats ok... but, i found that steam cleaner works very good for detailing, which means i dont have to use chemicals (soap etc...) to wash wash exteriors and interiors so i guess it means i dont have to deal with the city permissions alot for that! (in florida they are very restrict) I know i can use power washer for many purposes instead just auto detailing but for now i only need something that i can detail cars motorcycles and steam clener looks the best for me. Tell me if im wrong and why...

[hascet]

Re: why power washer

You can't really use a steam cleaner to clean the exterior of a vehicle. It won't really take off any dirt

[james0509]

Re: why power washer

For personal car detailing, I would NOT use a power washer.

But since you are using one for business use, BE CAREFUL.

Power washers are , well, POWERFUL.

If there are rust spots on a car it might even peel MORE paint off of it!

Great tool if used carefully though!

I'm not sure about the steam cleaners though, maybe the pros here will comment about that!

[Calais]

Re: why power washer

I disagree, James, I think that if use carefully (like you emphasized) anyone detailing a car could/should use a pressure washer if one is available to them. But once again, being careful is the key word here. If there is any damaged paint on the car, whether it be rock chips, paint flaking or rust spots, you run the serious risk of worsening it with the pressurized water. That is why it is important to inspect the vehicle you are working on before hand, decide if its paint is OK for pressure washing and be careful around sensitive areas (trim pieces, bezels, loose bits). Some pressure washers (like my Karcher model) have a wand that has adjustable power, that can be especially helpful on sensitive paint/trim. Also, be sure to hold the wand 6-12 inches away from the paint at all times.

Now that I got mine a couple weeks ago, it would be hard going back to a regular hose! It makes doing places like tires and wheel wells a snap. In fact, when I clean wheel wells, I simply spray some ACP in, let it dwell and spray it all away on high power. On reasonably clean wheel wells, that is all it takes! Also, being about to spray off a lot of the nasty stuff before touching a sponge to the paint helps to reduce swirls. If you can find a good deal on a pressure washer, nail it; just make sure you use it carefully.

[Jossy92]

Re: why power washer

...i found that steam cleaner works very good ...

Like This?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQvm4_zuhdA&feature=related

Gotta be a catch.....too good to be true?

[jfelbab]

Re: why power washer

What I like about my pressure washer is that it has three power levels and two soap tanks. I fill one tank with Shampoo Plus for foaming and washing the vehicle and the other with APC for the undercarriage, tires and wheel wells. I foam the car and let it dwell while I clean the wheels, wells and tires. Then I agitate the foam with the mid-pressure (about 900psi) and the rotating turbo agitator tip. I re-foam and quickly wash with a sheepskin mitt and follow with a mid-pressure rinse and finally with a low pressure action to sheet off most of the water. I can't believe how much faster and effective this is than my old manual method. It uses a lot less water too so I have much less to worry about as far as runoff goes.

The problem I have with steam is that I live in the midwest where it gets pretty cold and I worry the temperature difference from cold to hot may may cause rapid thermal expansion and damage some parts of the vehicle.

[mcd]

Re: why power washer

so what i understood is power washer is a must but steam washer is not known yet and can be very good to work with??? (maybe Im wrong) Isnt it just great to use without chemicals and uses only 2 gallons of water. Also, since im in florida and it never snows here and never gets cold so it wouldnt hurt any paint i work on. Also i can get lots of other jobs from around with a steam cleaner. You know what im getting this machine but i gotta find something very nice one and ofcourse someone who carries them.

[Peter.kelly]

Re: why power washer

Hey.. even though my response is very late.. DON'T use a steam cleaner! Why? The heat.. but not in the manner you might be thinking of. As a very good and dependable rule of thumb, the rate of any chemical reaction doubles with every 20F increase in temperature. What this means is that residues on your car, be they from acid rain, birds, trees will be warmed up as you steam the car and start to react more aggressively and rapidly hurting the paint. There are also many things that chemically just don't happen at lower temperatures that will happen and potentially hurt your paint at higher temperatures and you need to think about that too.

Most of the people here seem to recommend WARM water and soap for stubborn resin etc and that should be all you use. HOT is NOT better! I would definitely go with the flow on this issue!

I know that cars get really hot in the sun and what I am saying may seem counter-intuitive as the stuff has been sitting in the sun cooking anyway. Just remember that water is the most aggressive solvent in the world - much more material dissolves in water than anything else!! Often the damage really occurs when water gets involved and dissolves enough of the offending stuff to make a real witches brew in miniature on your paint.

So in summary - warm water ok, Hot water NO. Plenty of water - sloshing everywhere and removing material before it can hurts paints is good. Hot steam with little water in it to wash things away liberally is very bad as it makes it reactive but doesn't really remove it without a direct blast..