Pressure washer taken layer of paint off!

Guv · 22 Mar 2009 at 14:24

My car has been pressure washed and it's fine apart from on the bonnet where there are now patches where it's taken a layer of paint off!

Why has this happened? and will I now need it resprayed to get it sorted or will t-cut help?

Hxc · 22 Mar 2009 at 14:24

This is why you don't use high powered pressure washers on your car.

Gaijin · 22 Mar 2009 at 14:25

Bye bye clearcoat. Was is a Punto by any chance?

Were you pressure washing perpendicular to the panel?

Guv · 22 Mar 2009 at 14:30

Gaijin said:
Bye bye clearcoat. Was is a Punto by any chance?

Were you pressure washing perpendicular to the panel?

BMW 330ci

It was bring sprayed from the back to the front of the bonet

Dangerous Dave · 22 Mar 2009 at 14:33

A pressure washer used at the correct distance/pressure shouldn't damage the paint. I would guess assuming the jetwash was not used 5cm from the bonnet that at some point the bonnet has been resprayed to a lesser quality finish than the factory paint.

I would expect the best method to fix the damage is to get the bonnet resprayed should be around £150-200.

Lopéz · 22 Mar 2009 at 14:33

The defect/weakness in the lacquer has to already be there to lift the paint. Good, well applied paint should not lift even under close pressure washer use.

The area/panel will need to be resprayed, T-Cut can't fix that.

The_Dark_Side · 22 Mar 2009 at 14:34

Paint or the clear lacquer gone awol.
Power washers=bad.
Always hand wash, my young apprentice.

AtreuS · 22 Mar 2009 at 14:40

Hmmm nice porn pop ups on your image hoster

And you better do something as its down to bare metal on that second pic. Rust ahoy!

Lopéz · 22 Mar 2009 at 14:44

AtreuS said:
And you better do something as its down to bare metal on that second pic. Rust ahoy!

To be honest, that's a tiny stone chip. If the metal is galvanised anyway it won't rust, if not then a tiny blob of nailvarnish or some other sort of lacquer will protect it until the paintwork is sorted. It won't turn into a 6" hole overnight or anything

zain · 22 Mar 2009 at 14:52

Hxc said:
This is why you don't use high powered pressure washers on your car.

Or adjust the setting so it's not as harsh?

The_Dark_Side · 22 Mar 2009 at 15:06

zain said:
Or adjust the setting so it's not as harsh?

No matter what you do, you will always get better results washing by hand.
Pressure washers just speed the process up.

Guv · 22 Mar 2009 at 15:28

Thanks for the replies, I'll get a quote for having it sprayed.
I've learnt my lesson, the pressure washer can stay in the shed now!

AtreuS said:
Hmmm nice porn pop ups on your imagine hoster

oops, hosting now changed!

Matt82 · 22 Mar 2009 at 20:44

ive not seen that happen with a pressure washer before, i even left my gf to rinse our cars today after they had been washed, she didnt manage to blast any paint off and after absolutely years of using pressure washers, ive never damaged paint on a car

i think your paint was damaged before you started

Hungryjoey · 22 Mar 2009 at 20:48

A pressure washer shouldn't and doesn't lift paint. I have used some very powerful/industrial strength power washers on cars before with no problems.

I'll hazzard a guess and say the lacquer/clear coat was already peeling before the pressure washer hit it!

Wicksta · 22 Mar 2009 at 20:49

There is a similar patch on my 328ci bonnet, it was initially caused by a bird poo.

Clarkey · 22 Mar 2009 at 20:49

The paint was definitely damaged before, a jet wash won't harm good paint. That said, I stopped using my jet wash after it blew up ages ago and wonder why I ever bothered with it, it offers no real advantage unless the car is super ultra filthy with loose dirt.

paintguy · 22 Mar 2009 at 21:09

Oh dear, poorly applied waterborne basecoat strikes again

That panel has been refinished (resprayed) in the past, and insufficient drying time for the base (colour) coat has caused poor adhesion of the clearcoat (lacquer). It would almost certainly have come off by itself eventually, when stone chips created a starting point for water ingress and delamination, but you've helped it on its way.

As said above, another respray is the only cure, but make sure that whoever does it removes all of the remaining clearcoat rather than just painting over it, or you'll just have the same thing all over again. A good blast with a high pressure airline from close range will probably have it peeling off in sheets.

Django x2 · 22 Mar 2009 at 21:28

Possible previous repair job too could be to blame. My alloys had paint shoot off them when I went near it with a PW

Gaijin · 22 Mar 2009 at 21:29

paintguy said:
Oh dear, poorly applied waterborne basecoat strikes again

That panel has been refinished (resprayed) in the past, and insufficient drying time for the base (colour) coat has caused poor adhesion of the clearcoat (lacquer). It would almost certainly have come off by itself eventually, when stone chips created a starting point for water ingress and delamination, but you've helped it on its way.

As said above, another respray is the only cure, but make sure that whoever does it removes all of the remaining clearcoat rather than just painting over it, or you'll just have the same thing all over again. A good blast with a high pressure airline from close range will probably have it peeling off in sheets.

I think this guy will be handy to have around in the future - stick around

ethos · 22 Mar 2009 at 21:31

Gaijin said:
I think this guy will be handy to have around in the future - stick around

He painted my mi16 rocket cover, did an awesome job :cool: