Jet Washing

[jimmyV8]

My car had a respray about 4-6 weeks ago now and have been making do with bucket washing. With my previous Chimaera I never jet washed it for fear of paint damage. Should I be worried about using one? Any opinions would be greatly apreciated

[daveb500]

jimmyV8 said:

My car had a respray about 4-6 weeks ago now and have been making do with bucket washing. With my previous Chimaera I never jet washed it for fear of paint damage. Should I be worried about using one? Any opinions would be greatly apreciated

My personal opinion -

[Johno]

If it's a garage Jet wash then stay away from it . . .

Using a pressure washer in the right way to clean at home is an invaluable tool to getting a good car wash, but certainly not essential.

I think the easy guideline is that i yo've got lot's of particulate contaminants on the paint, power washing it can effectively sand blast it . .

However, flying in the face of my own advice, when touring Europe and needing to clean the car I'll use garage jet washes as I can't be carrying two buckets and all the associate kit, but be very careful how you use them.

Edited by Johno on Wednesday 28th April 12:48

[Wildfire]

Be VERY careful and use it on the sheet/Mist setting, avoid the focused bit. Personally I would avoid it. One of the guys on the Lotus forum was trying to remove some bird poo, using a jet wash and too a chunk of lacquer out of the car.

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Yeah, I know of a couple of people who have removed lacquer from Peugeot wheels. I suspect that the paint was poor in the first place but I certainly wouldn't risk it just in case.

[450Nick]

It's not just the paintwork at risk. I've heard over the years that jet washing is extremely bad for your tyres. A lot of people take a jet wash lance right up to their tyres to clean the crap off and this over time builds up micro perforations in the side walls of the tyre and increase the chance of a blowout by a huge amount.

After being told this a couple of years ago by a tyre expert, a couple of friends of mine have both had blowouts on well maintained cars. Both admitted to jet washing their tyres rather often!

[blueg33]

450Nick said:

It's not just the paintwork at risk. I've heard over the years that jet washing is extremely bad for your tyres. A lot of people take a jet wash lance right up to their tyres to clean the crap off and this over time builds up micro perforations in the side walls of the tyre and increase the chance of a blowout by a huge amount.

After being told this a couple of years ago by a tyre expert, a couple of friends of mine have both had blowouts on well maintained cars. Both admitted to jet washing their tyres rather often!

Who has tyres that last for years? If anyone does should they be on PH? :-)