Kärcher Pressure Washer

Joe T · 31 May 2018 at 18:32

I'm amazed that 'quite lazy' people wash their cars every week :eek:

xs2man · 31 May 2018 at 18:48

Joe T said:
I'm amazed that 'quite lazy' people wash their cars every week

Ha ha, when I had my S4, I used to wash it every time I took it for a spin. I'd occasionally stick a layer of wax or sealant on it in the evenings, just because the wife was away to bed and I wanted to do something, and the car was already clean AF. Don't have time / motivation for that sort of insanity now.

g60dubster · 31 May 2018 at 21:47

Got a refurbished k7 about 14 years ago, has been trouble-free until very recently as had to replace the trigger handle. It started leaking and wasn't serviceable. Only £20 for a new one from Karcher dealer and back to normal service.
Used to foam but now use a citrus pre-cleaner in a pressure sprayer, seems to remove far more dirt than foaming.

wedrum · 31 May 2018 at 21:57

i bought one of these the other day its great for the money
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N34KV8E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Holst1981 · 31 May 2018 at 22:16

wedrum said:
i bought one of these the other day its great for the money
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N34KV8E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have the cheaper one and it's also good.

I did buy an 8m hose for it as the original wore out.

I give my car a spray with foam and jet wash every week or so. Polish and clean properly when I have time... Not very often.

Otherwise I'd take it to hand car wash, but my jetwash is cheaper (as less scratchy)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01MTZWJWA/ref=s9_acsd_hps_bw_c_x_1_w

Resident · 31 May 2018 at 22:42

[TW]Fox said:
I've never really understood the point of pressure washing with snowfoam and all that jazz - I've always just used the regular garden hose and then washmitt?

For me it's a quick and convenient method due to having my daughter. I've got setting up down to a T. I have 2 snowfoam bottles which I'll set up earlier in the day or day before. Hose on a reel permanently attached to the outdoor tap and an outdoor power supply. The PW can just be taken from the garage and snapped into power/water.

I'll put my daughter down for a nap, give car a quick rinse then foam. Nip inside to check on the wee one then back out, rinse off and dry. Normally by which time she's finished her nap and we're all good.
Obviously I spend more time doing the car if the Mrs is home else the PW is great.

3t3P · 31 May 2018 at 22:44

Nilfisk for me. The aluminium pump squeaks when you turn the jet off each time but otherwise rock solid. Used it to clean 50m2 of patio the other day.

Psycho Sonny · 1 Jun 2018 at 12:20

xs2man said:
I'm not saying if you dont use it, then by extension you don't care about your car. But I suspect using a garden hose and wash mitts your paint might well have swirl marks and micro-scratches. Like most cars on the road. Which is a result of washing a car in that manner. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. They can be taken out with a good polish usually. So no harm done. But some people get really anal about it, and want a perfect paint finish.

For myself though, I am generally quite lazy. My cars get driven a lot, and so need regular cleaning. I do, however, make time a couple times a year to go to town on my cars (2-3 days worth of cleaning). In doing so, I keep a good base layer of protection on the paint, and can keep them relatively swirl mark free. Then, most of my washing can just be done with a snowfoam lance, decent snowfoam, and a quick rinse. If it's been left for over a week, I'll need to break out the bucket and sponge (not really a sponge). But mostly, all I need to do is rinse, snowfoam, (wait 10-15 mins), rinse, and it all looks good from there.

To me it's not overly "faddy" to break out the pressure washer and snow foam to give the cars a quick hose down once or twice a week. But then the result of that is, I often don't need to break out the wash mitt and bucket. Depending on how bad the contamination is, and how long since I last applied a wax or other protectant.

i've found snow foam doesn't really do much. it will move big stuff but so will water. it has zero effect on brake dust, dead flies, etc.

xs2man · 1 Jun 2018 at 15:38

Psycho Sonny said:
i've found snow foam doesn't really do much. it will move big stuff but so will water. it has zero effect on brake dust, dead flies, etc.

My snow foam can sometimes be quite brown by the time it drips off the car. It's doing something. Sure, it aint gonna move brake dust and dead flies, unless you have suitable layers of slippy stuff on under these contaminates, and catch them quick enough (hence rarely leaving more than a week between washes). But by this time, as you say, water will likely do almost as good a job.

For example, I am just about to break out the snow foam and wash the Alhambra. It was last washed last Thursday, so that's been a week. But it has done about 1300 miles since then, so it is peppered with flies and other beasts.

EDIT: As a matter of fact, since I am doing this, I might as well take a few pics for a before / after. As I said before, I am a lazy so and so, so whilst I have no doubt the car would benefit from a proper wash, I cannot be hooped just now, as it has been a year since its last deep clean, so is due another imminently.

LiE · 1 Jun 2018 at 16:03

Sure, snow foam may remove some dirt, but no more than a quick soak with water and rinse off.

Diagro · 1 Jun 2018 at 16:07

tnx said:
I have a Karcher and I got myself a snow foam lance from eBay. Pretty damn good accessory, roughly £30 with some snow foam too.

I always do a bucket n sponge wash afterwards to get a proper clean.

What?

Noooooooooooooo

xs2man · 1 Jun 2018 at 16:31

LiE said:
Sure, snow foam may remove some dirt, but no more than a quick soak with water and rinse off.

I would beg to differ with that statement. I always give the cars a soak with water first, and I always see a difference after the snow foam. To say it does nothing more than water is false (at least for the products I use).

It was never designed as a replacement for a contact wash though. It was designed to get the absolute worst of any much off before you go smearing it over your paintwork with a mitt or whatever.

xs2man · 1 Jun 2018 at 16:43

So, here are the before after shots on my flea ridden front (although the rest of the car wasn't too bad). A lot of pics here, so if you aint interested, best move on, lol.

Here is the snow foam I used.

Covered...

After...

So as I said, it is no replacement for a contact wash, but, equally, it is better than just using the pressure washer alone. My car does have a decent layer of protection on anyway though, so I may get different results to others. It works for me anyway.

BUT, this has gotten somewhat off topic.

I have a Karscher K4 Premium, and I would not buy another personally. And I would only recommend it to whoever I might sell mine to, assuming I don't break it first. I hated it since I got it, but just put up with it.

Mine is around 4 years old or so, and it isn't a patch on the K3 I had bought about 12 years ago or so. It feels much cheaper despite being significantly more expensive. It isn't nearly as stable as it should be (very easy to knock over with the slightest little pull), and the hose was not as long as my previous one, meaning I couldn't get right round the car without moving the machine. Sure, the extension I bought done the job, but that has it's own issues.

I would go for a Nilfisk myself next time, if it were me buying. Or a Kranzle, if budget allowed.

Sin_Chase · 1 Jun 2018 at 16:48

Had my Nilfisk for over 7 years. The only thing which broke is the detergent bit which doesn't suck up any fluids. I never used it once though so suspect that's why.

LiE · 1 Jun 2018 at 17:09

xs2man said:
I would beg to differ with that statement. I always give the cars a soak with water first, and I always see a difference after the snow foam. To say it does nothing more than water is false (at least for the products I use).

It was never designed as a replacement for a contact wash though. It was designed to get the absolute worst of any much off before you go smearing it over your paintwork with a mitt or whatever.

I spray all the heavily soiled areas (e.g. those you pictured above) with AF Citrus Power, leave it to dwell and spray off with the hose, all clean. The rest of the car, the surface dirt/dust comes off easily with just water from a hose. In this setup, I cannot see what benefit foam would bring.

Kanpai · 1 Jun 2018 at 17:30

The whole idea of snow foam is it's a pre-wash so that when you use the mitt on the second pass you don't need to apply as much pressure as most of the tough dirt has been taken off, thus reducing the risk of creating swirls or scratches.

tnx · 1 Jun 2018 at 17:39

Diagro said:
What?

Noooooooooooooo

Don't understand.

Snow foam, leave 5 mins or so.
Rinse.

Bucket and sponge wash.
Rinse.
Leather down.

What's wrong with that routine ?

xs2man · 1 Jun 2018 at 17:43

LiE said:
I spray all the heavily soiled areas (e.g. those you pictured above) with AF Citrus Power, leave it to dwell and spray off with the hose, all clean. The rest of the car, the surface dirt/dust comes off easily with just water from a hose. In this setup, I cannot see what benefit foam would bring.

Ha ha ha. Yes, the Pre-Wash you are using there is doing the same job as the snow foam would be performing in essence. Using the Citrus Pre-wash is NOT the same as just using water, as I'm sure you are aware. You made no mention previously of using any other pre-wash in your steps to un-justify a snow foam pre-wash.

tnx said:
Don't understand.

Snow foam, leave 5 mins or so.
Rinse.

Bucket and sponge wash.
Rinse.
Leather down.

What's wrong with that routine ?

Sponge, and presumably leather (chamois?) down would be the incorrect steps there. Microfibre wash-mitt and microfibre drying towel would be much preferable for these steps. At least that's what I'd imagine Diagro would come back with.

LiE · 1 Jun 2018 at 18:10

xs2man said:
Ha ha ha. Yes, the Pre-Wash you are using there is doing the same job as the snow foam would be performing in essence. Using the Citrus Pre-wash is NOT the same as just using water, as I'm sure you are aware. You made no mention previously of using any other pre-wash in your steps to un-justify a snow foam pre-wash.

A snow foam isn't going to remove all baked on bugs and dirt, so you are still going to need to hit them with something stronger. With good LSP you can remove most of the bugs and dirt with snow foam, or you can skip that and use a specific product to remove bugs and baked on dirt.

1. Spray bugs/soiled areas with AF Citrus Power, leave to dwell.
2. Hose down entire car. Water soaks into areas that didn't need step 1, leave to dwell.
3. Spray off all other areas.
4. 2 bucket clean.

1. Snow foam, leave to dwell.
2. Hose down snow foam. Removes most dirt and bugs, leaves some.
3. Spray bugs/soiled areas with AF Citrus Power, leave to dwell.
4. Hose off AF Citrus Power.
5. 2 bucket clean.

To me, it doesn't look like snow foam adds any value to the clean.

xs2man · 1 Jun 2018 at 18:45

Its a replacement for the AF Citrus power step. Or could be in addition if you wish. But they are both essentially doing the same job.

With that said, straight off the AF site:

Is this best to use before or after snowfoam?

Hi Matt, Thanks for your question. Removing as much dirt as possible before contact washing will help to reduce the likelihood of creating swirl marks. To get the best results, spray Citrus Power onto the entire car and leave it for around seven minutes – the longer you leave it on, the more time it has to really penetrate the dirt that you’re trying to get rid of! Whilst the Citrus Power is doing its thing, use an upholstery brush to clean in the harder to reach areas like your door shuts, filler cap, wheels and Grill. Once you have rinsed off the Citrus power, follow with Avalanche for a further 5-10 minutes and then rinse. If there is anything else i can do to help, please let me know.