When Tesla recommended not to use a pressure washer on your vehicle they weren't joking around. Long story short I took my car to the carwash and they use the pressure washer on the bumper. It stripped the clear right off. $1000.00 to repair. When I complain to the manager at the carwash he said it was like that:/
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Paint pressure washer damage
- Thread starter Milkman
- Start date
jkoya
NA2 NSX
Wow - sorry this happened to you. I've been seeing a lot of YouTube videos with people using pressure washers to wash their cars. Always wondered if it was safe or not.
Yikes never seen the result of that on a car but given how people use pressure washers to remove all kinds of things with the power of the spray I’m not surprised a too close and too strong spray can do that.
OP do you have any photos of your car before hand to show it wasn’t like that? Expensive car wash. Sorry that happened to you, I know it would make me sick if it was my car. We have PPFd our cars and while it will protect the paint I’m sure pressure washing could lift some film edges and reach some paint. Looks like you can even see down to the black. Kind of hard to tell from the photo but even looks pitted down to black at the tire rim area. How long have you had your car?
If nothing else good comes from this for you it was nice to give other owners a PSA on the dangers of it.
OP do you have any photos of your car before hand to show it wasn’t like that? Expensive car wash. Sorry that happened to you, I know it would make me sick if it was my car. We have PPFd our cars and while it will protect the paint I’m sure pressure washing could lift some film edges and reach some paint. Looks like you can even see down to the black. Kind of hard to tell from the photo but even looks pitted down to black at the tire rim area. How long have you had your car?
If nothing else good comes from this for you it was nice to give other owners a PSA on the dangers of it.
Last edited:
jkcheng122
Member
Considering it's a business pressure washer, I wonder what the PSI is on it that did this. I don't think my 1600 PSI electric pressure washer can do this.
Your 1600 psi washer can etch cement. Paint is easy.
You should always be careful with pressure washers, never get one with less than a foot away, better even 2 ft.
This should be well documented on personally owned devices.
Yes 1600 psi 3 inches away from concrete will make pretty and white, mostly because you took off the top layer and damaged the concrete
JasontheBeaver
Jason Barker
Sorry this happened to you.
We use a pressure washer daily in our detail operations, and like others have said, it's all about the PSI. We run ours at only 900PSI so you can literally hold your hand a few inches from the nozzle.
Also, the spray pattern makes a difference, we use a 40 degree fan tip so it disperses the energy over a larger area.
All this is to minimize pin-point spray that can force water underneath an edge or rock chip in the paint, thereby flaking it off quickly.
Some of those pressure washer units people rent can be significantly higher, even the cheapy models are usually well over 1,000PSI.
We use a pressure washer daily in our detail operations, and like others have said, it's all about the PSI. We run ours at only 900PSI so you can literally hold your hand a few inches from the nozzle.
Also, the spray pattern makes a difference, we use a 40 degree fan tip so it disperses the energy over a larger area.
All this is to minimize pin-point spray that can force water underneath an edge or rock chip in the paint, thereby flaking it off quickly.
Some of those pressure washer units people rent can be significantly higher, even the cheapy models are usually well over 1,000PSI.
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