Pressure washers and kits advice please?

[Shiny]

Unless you are spending silly money on the likes of a Kranzle, then personally i'd go for a Karcher.

Might want to look at the 3 series or above though, if i remember correctly, K2s etc don't have the water cooled engines.

I've had a couple in the past (including the Lidl Parkside £80 jobbie which was noisy and the lance split within a month) and went back to a Karcher, bought the K3.575 Jubilee edition with the dirt blaster, patio kit etc for £150 in a sale and ending up selling my old Karcher hoses, old t-racer, lances etc and got near on £100 back on it! lol!

The most important thing is to make sure you drain it after use and protect it from frost. Mine sits on a big back of foam parcel wrapping in the garaged with an old fur lined leather jacket wrapped round. If the frost hits it, ice expands and splits the internal components.

I think they can all now draw from a water butt or bucket, which is handy in the summer when the inevitable hose pipe ban occurs.

Some times you can get an offer where they include a 5 year warranty, which is good.


The Karcher foam lance is pants, it is not a proper foam lance.

The foam lance you want is pretty generic, you want the HD one with the black dial on the top, don't get the old one with the red dial on the side. You can get this from loads of places, Auto Raechem, Clean Your Car, Autobrite, Elite Car Care etc.

Best snow foam i have tried is without doubt Chemical Guys No Touch Snow Foam, followed closely by Autobrite Magifoam.

This is the sort of lance you need to be looking at -

http://www.autobritedirect.co.uk/index. ... combo.html

[Shiny]

Oh, a decent snow foam is far from a TFR. Many years back snow foam was a TFR used for truck washes, but these days, the likes of CG Touch and AB Magifoam are gentle and LSP (wax/sealant) safe.

You can leave these on your car for 15 minutes and it doesn't strip wax, but effectively cleans the dirt.

Here's a review i did on DW - http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/s ... ght=legend

[Shiny]

Final note, you don't really want to be using a sponge or chammy leather on soft Honda paint, both will mar the paint and cause scratches. Chammys are really bad at dragging dirt around, even a clean car, dirt still land on you car when you are drying it.

Something like a microfibre wash mitt is much safer, or a grout sponge which is more efficient at trapping dirt. Dry using a soft microfibre cloth or drying towel before the final wipe down with a quick detailer.

[nucleustylzlude]

Thanks Shiny, lots of good advice to soak up (excuse the pun!).

Reading more and more and that Autobrite one seems to be the main culprit for most actually. Also read more on the various snow foams out there and have found pretty much what you've said, there are some safe ones out there and others more aggressive when required for the right application.

I've used a microfibre washmitt for a few years now rather than a sponge. I also have a Meguiars water magnet for drying before a final microfibre cloth to dry. Never ended using a quik detailer. I have some Meguiars Ultimate Quick Detailer which I've used at shows just to give a clean car a little touch up.

Thanks!

[Vtecmec]

The most important thing is to make sure you drain it after use and protect it from frost. Mine sits on a big back of foam parcel wrapping in the garaged with an old fur lined leather jacket wrapped round. If the frost hits it, ice expands and splits the internal components.

Good advice there, mine popped over the winter as I forgot to drain it.

[nucleustylzlude]

/\ And probably why the father-in-laws hand me down broke too. Hence why I'm in the market for a new one!

I tried to fix it but just too many things wrong to warrant such an old model.

[Shiny]

I didn't get on with the Meguiars water magnet (if that is the waffle weave type thing). I found it didn't dry the car and was also a bit harsh. Mine hangs from a hook now and is great for drying hands!

[nucleustylzlude]

I know what you mean, doesn't work 100%, hence why I go back over with a microfibre after. It got dirty and thought it seemed to drag, but after a trip to the washing machine came up new again and (maybe in my mind) a little softer.

What drying towel do you use now then?

[Shiny]

I find the big blue (or green) microfibre towels in Asda are fine for the job, £3 each, often £5 for 2. They are similar to many a towel sold in detailing stores for £10+

Just rip off the label as soon as you get them.

Oh, and if you wash them, don't add conditioner, it ruins microfibre towels.

[Supermarine Blues]

Beware with Karcher; they now do cheapie ones with crappy placcy pumps.

You want the ones with an alloy body & a plastic head. The pro ones have an alloy head, too.