How to wash your car with a pressure washer

Before you get blasting haphazardly with your newly purchased pressure washer, here are some basic things to take into consideration:

Car Cleaning Checklist

• Make sure all your vehicle’s doors and windows are firmly closed
• Use a pressure washer with a dedicated soap dispenser
• Keep a distance of 1-2 metres when pressure washing so you don’t damage your paint
• Wear closed-toe shoes to avoid a dose of high-pressure water to your feet
• Never spray a person or animal with your pressure washer
• Keep the stream of water moving as pressure washing one spot for too long can cause damage
• Try to wash your car on a flat surface that doesn’t have loose rocks or gravel, as these can be send flying while pressure washing and might scratch your vehicle

What PSI Is Best for Washing Cars?

Pressure washing is one of the most efficient ways to clean your car, but the process isn’t made better by using the maximum pressure your machine can output, and you can actually damage your vehicle by doing so.

You’re going to want to use a PSI of around 1,500 for washing your car, as cranking it up to 2,000 or more can actually harm the car’s topcoat and could damage things like window seals and side mirrors.

What Nozzle Should I Use for Washing My Car?

Most pressure washers will come with nozzles that offer different degrees of pressure. These will be colour-coded and labelled and will generally include high pressure 0° and 15° nozzles, a medium 25° nozzle, a low pressure 40° nozzle, and a 65° nozzle for soap dispensing.

When you wash your car, you’ll want to use a 40° nozzle for cleaning the body and exterior windows, and a 25° nozzle to deal with the caked on dirt and mud on the car’s tyres.

Break up Caked on Dirt

The first thing you’re going to want to do when cleaning your car is to break down any of the caked-on soil, hardened grime, and bird droppings that have accumulated during off-roading or general road use.

We would recommend using a foam cannon or nozzle for this to cut through tough dirt faster, but as long as you’re using a proper car wash soap, the high-pressure water should do the trick.

Using a Foam Nozzle

If you have a foam nozzle or snow foam cannon, fill its reservoir with a foaming detergent and attach it to the end of your pressure washer hose. We recommend Bowden’s Own Snow Job and Karcher Ultra Foam, but you’ll get good results from any specially formulated detergent from your pressure washer manufacturer that will produce a lot of suds.

Start at the top of your car and then wash downwards, covering the vehicle in foam, with extra care taken to cover the dirtiest sections and making sure to spray the tyres too.

The foam will help to lift hardened soil and other grime off the surface and because it lubricates, it’ll also stop your car from getting scratched up if you have to scrub dry dirt later on.

Rinsing Your Car with a Pressure Washer

Once you’ve lathered your car up in a thick layer of foam, it’s time to put those other nozzles to use and if you don’t have a foam cannon or nozzle, then simply do this step first.

Attach the 25° nozzle and begin by washing the tyres and wheel wells in a controlled pattern, making sure to target any encrusted dirt.

Next, switch to the 40° nozzle and start to slowly rinse the soap away on the car, focusing on any patches of dried mud and soil first. Rinse from top down, starting with the roof and then working down the windshields, bonnet, boot, and finally the side panelling.

An angled wand attachment can help to clean the top of the roof more easily, especially if you’re washing a 4x4 or any other large vehicle and it’ll also help you to get into your wheel wells more easily for a more thorough clean.

Scrubbing Time

Grab a bucket and fill it with a mixture of water and a car washing soap. You’ll want to use a microfibre car wash mitt as they’re safe on paint while also being designed to agitate dirt while you scrub, which helps to remove caked on substances more easily.

We’re starting from the top and working our way down again, this time scrubbing at each patch of dirt until its loosened and removed, working in sections across the body of the car. You’ll also want to be rinsing as you go with the 40° tip to make sure you’re getting all the dirt off.

Make sure you’re getting into tough spots like under your wiper blades and the areas around your number plate and use two separate mitts for your wheels and the car panels.

A Final Rinse

Keep that 40° nozzle attached and start to rinse the entire car down with clean water. You’ll want to make sure you focus on the seals around your doors and windows as they often collect suds from the soap and need some extra care to get clean.

Wash the car until the water runs clear and there is no dirt remaining.

Drying Your Car

The way you dry your car is also important and there are two main options that have different benefits.

Using a Microfibre Towel

A microfibre towel like the Eclipse Thick and Thirsty Drying Towel is designed to hold a large amount of water and is perfect for wiping down the exterior of your car after a deep clean.

Simply start from top to bottom and apply very light pressure, making sure to wipe the towel across the entire body of the car and collect any pooling water in areas around your front windscreen. Once you’ve dried the entire car you just have to ring the towel out and it can be machine washed to remove any dirt it picked up along the way.

Using a Handheld Dryer

A touch-free method of drying is the best way to ensure there are no streaks or water droplets left on your car after a clean. You can use a leaf blower to dry down your car but it’s going to be a cumbersome and loud process. Dedicated dryers like the BigBoi Blowr Buddi Jr offer touchless drying in a more compact and quieter package, which makes the experience a lot less of a hassle.

Whether you use a blow dryer or a dedicated car dryer, simply start from the roof of the vehicle and work your way down, carefully drying each section by blasting the water from the surface. Small vehicles will probably only take 5-10 minutes to dry using this method, which makes a dedicated dryer a great way to cut down on what can be the slowest part of cleaning your car.

Get It Done With a Pressure Washer

While a dirty rag and a bucket of water is good enough for some people, if you take pride in the way your car shines after a thorough wash, then do the job properly with a pressure washer.

If you don’t have a pressure washer yet and you’re looking to pick one up, then the best place to start is Repco. We’ve got a great range of Karcher, Mechpro, and BigBoi washers that offer varying degrees of PSI power and we also stock car washing accessories that will help you tackle any tough cleaning task.

Head into your local store or browse Repco’s full range of products online to supercharge your cleaning today.