Pressure Washer Question

I've never used a pressure washer on my vehicles, my brother gave me one of those little 1600 psi electric things and I want to give it a try.
My question is, when using the siphon/soap hose do you dilute the soap or run it right out of the bottle? I really don't want to have to buy a soap cannon. I'm using the Pink soap from Chemical guys.
Thanks!

 

The dispenser isn't suited for car soap, don't bother with it. Foam cannons are too cheap not to go that route if you're intent on throwing soap on the truck. Having said that, there is very little benefit to foaming up a car. Whatever the foam pulls off you'd get off with the spray of water out of the pressure washer itself.

 

I tried using just the pressure washer with the siphon tube and it didn't work out, the soap nozzle that comes with the pressure washer sucks, the water comes out at really low pressure.
I just broke out the bucket and wash mitt. I'll get a soap cannon and give it a shot. Between the time you set up the pressure washer then clean it out and put it away I could have the truck washed and dried the old fashioned way LOL

 

Get a foam cannon, you’ll thank yourself later.

 

The next issue is with low powered pressure washer you don't get the greatest results on foam cannons. Usually there is an orifice change for low pressure washers vs some of the higher power electrics or gas powered units.

But hear you on the PW, that's why I installed mine in a utility closet and added a 75' hose on a reel.

 

Yeah, I ordered one a little while ago

 

Foam cannon is well worth. Foam and let it dwell on the surface and rinse. Best money spent.

 

I'm also a fairly recent convert to using a pressure washer for washing cars and I'm HOOKED! Probably been two years now and a couple weeks back my cheap Ryobi started having issues and then the gun/wand blew out some seals. I've been doing a little research for an upgrade. After suffering through using a cheap unit with super cheap accessories my lessons learned:

• A high quality hose is worth it. The cheap ones twist and tangle too easily.
• Quick disconnects on everything is totally worth it. Mine was a bit of a pain to connect the gun to the PW via the hose with screw on ends.
• Swivel at the gun/wand would be really, really nice.

I also learned that the cheaper pressure washers can actually be decent performers if you upgrade the accessories (like listed above) and then dial in the nozzle size. My PW only came with a 15deg nozzle and I never bothered to try anything else. Some videos I saw online were showing how a 40deg nozzle with a different orifice size would have been better.

This time around I think I'm gonna "buy once, cry once" and get a mid-level PW and then get a full Obsessed Garage upgrade kit for it.

 

Right on, that's what I did! I bought the Kranzle pressure washer from Obsessed Garage. It was $970. I cried once. Then I got down to business. Slowly built up my accessories. Continental blue hose, then the MTM gun, brass quick disconnects, and a Cox hose reel. Man, I love my set up! Pretty spendy, but well worth it!

 

I'm using a $200 Stanley from Amazon and it's been great with my foam cannon

 

Dude, Im old school.

mid-to-high pressure rinse to get the mud off, Homer bucket half full of soap mix, sponge, and a wheel brush, apply and rinse every panel starting with roof, then hood, then front to back. Then refill homer bucket with clean water and chamois dry.


Everything else is death by useless gadgetry.

 

If your definition of "useless" is massively reducing water usage, speeding up your washing time, and reducing scratches in your car's paint. Then yes, all we're discussing is useless gadgetry.

Sounds like this topic just isn't for you. Feel free to continue using your methods, they work for you and that's great. But this thread is for those who aren't satisfied with the method you describe. No need to poo-poo on everyone for wanting to improve something or help keep their cars looking better, longer.

 

Foam canon is the way to go. I use one from Ryobi, got it at Home Depot, I like it because it has a valve to turn on/off the soap so you don't have to remove the canon from the gun to spray fresh water.

 

I think the foam is helpful because it breaks down any grease. It makes both the power washer and hand washing more effective, and easier.

The dirt you see on the drying towels is usually grease, it’s harder to remove with water unlike non-greasy dirt.

 

I don't disagree but I think it's negligible and the wash media is what's really getting the paint clean.
Having said that I still use a Kranzle with a PF22 and Carpro Reset.

Spared no expense...

 

There are other reasons to foam it up, including lubricating the paint surface to make manual washing easier and reduce the amount of scratches and swirl from the manual wash…

 

Perhaps my method is different, but for me the foam seems to be very helpful.
1) Rinse car with pressure washer (no soap). This gets off the mud, loose debris and leaves only the more stubborn stuff.
2) Foam thoroughly, let sit a little to soak in and start breaking down the dirt and debris. Sometimes I'll re-foam areas that are drying out or I want to soak longer while I work on other panels.
3) Wipe/scrub with wash mitt
4) Rinse off with pressure washer (no soap)
5) Blow water off car with leaf blower then dry with microfiber drying towel aided with some quick detailer as a drying aid.

For me, letting the foam sit helps to break down the stubborn stuff before I even get to it with the mitt. Usually everything comes off with a wipe rather than a scrub which wasn't the case before I started foaming. Either way, you're right that it's the soap helping break down and remove the grime but the fact that you're applying it longer and twice (once with foam canon, once with wash mitt) is what I think really makes the difference.

 

Like I said I don't disagree in theory I just don't think the foamy soap is really eating away all that much at the traffic film that I pick up driving on roads. And I'm using an $80 a gallon soap (Reset) that some people are convinced will strip waxes/sealants off the paint. My method used to be pretty much what you're saying though I've started doing the foam straight away rather than a prerinse which is where most of my thought comes from. I wasn't ever seeing the soap do that much. Hell if we wanted to nitpick going straight in with the PW could cause you to push the dirt and abrade the paint. I even take it even farther than you on step 3, I generally will 6 mitts per vehicle, that way it's a one bucket wash, the microfiber mitt doesn't go back into the bucket so a second bucket would be to hold the spent mitts.

I'm also going by the number of times I've done a rinseless wash at my condo. There I just use a hose to prerinse and then use a bunch of TRC eagle edgeless 350s to wipe down the paint. In that scenario the wash media is wiping away the traffic film no problem because I sure doubt Wolfgang Uber or Carpro ech2o is doing it. Of course having a decent ceramic coating on there helps out a lot.

I know I'm not the only one that's deep in the detailing rabbit hole that thinks this about foam cannons. Detailing is a deep goddamn rabbit hole and there is huge steaming piles of jabberwocky shit down there.

Trust me:

 

O my what a collection

 

Wish I was this organized