How to clean your car with a pressure washer

Most people either love or loathe the idea of cleaning their car, but you can employ the help of a pressure washer to do the heavy lifting for you.

Using a pressure washer not only saves you time, money and water, it also helps reduce the chance of damaging and introducing swirl marks to your car’s paintwork.

And if the idea of car cleaning is not your jam, recruit the kids to give you a hand. They’ll have a blast.

Before you start spraying your car, there are a few things you are going to need.

You will want to clean in a shady area to help reduce soap and water drying too quickly.

Start by getting two buckets, a suitable wash mitt (oh, yes, there is still hand washing involved), a decent chamois, couple of clean microfibre rags and a soft brush for getting into delicate areas.

In the cleaning chemical department, you will need car foaming agent (more on this later), wheel cleaner and a general-use exterior car cleaning liquid.

I’ve tried many brands and products over the years, but have found ‘Bowden’s Own’ range to be particularly easy to use and perform well. It’s also Australian-made.

Set up your pressure cleaner next. In this case I am using a Karcher K2 (available at most hardware stores) with a variable power jet nozzle, a 360-degree nozzle and a foam cannon attachment.

Any domestic type of pressure cleaner will do the job but you need to make sure you have a variable pressure nozzle and some type of container to hold the foaming car cleaner agent.

Refer to the brand’s website or the owner’s manual if you get stuck.

Connect the pressure cleaner to a garden tap or tank water and you are good to go.

The goal with a pre-wash is to remove as many paint-scratching particles as possible, helping to make your main wash a spot-free success.

Start by spraying your wheels with a dedicated cleaner, a chemical that binds with brake dust and grime, making it easy to wash off.

You can use a small brush to get in around the wheel nuts and tricky areas to help.

Treat all four wheels then use your pressure washer to blast the bulk of the dirt away. You can use a flexible nozzle to help get underneath the wheel wells where a lot of dirt accumulates.

Next, fill up the pressure washer’s foam sprayer cannon with pre-wash cleaner (make sure you check the instructions on the bottle for the correct ratio) and apply with sweeping motions to the car’s paintwork.

You will want to be standing a couple of feet away from the car, so the cleaning agent foams up correctly.

Foam up the entire car as much as possible and leave it for a few minutes to do its thing.

Using the variable pressure nozzle, work your way from the top of the car to the bottom in horizontal lines. Pay special attention in and around decals, badging and any delicate parts of the car.

To protect these areas, set your variable nozzle to ‘soft’. Once that has been done, change over to the flexible 360-degree nozzle and have a go under your car.

Give your car a quick rinse before moving onto the main wash.

Now that the pre-wash is done, your car should be particle-free and ready for its main wash.

Pressure washer brands market various brush attachments to clean cars but I would advise using the two-bucket handwash method. It is more labour intensive but significantly reduces your chance of paintwork damage.

Pressure washer brush attachments can trap dirt and particles that can scratch your car’s paintwork. In my experience, circular brush head attachments are even worse. They look good in theory, but they are just not worth it.

The idea around the two-bucket handwash method is to have one bucket for washing and one bucket for rinsing, again reducing your chance of paint damage.

Using the same method as the pre-wash, work your way around the car from top to bottom. Rinse the hand mitt regularly to remove any remaining dirt and grime.

I never work in a circular motion with the hand mitt, always in lines and usually in the same direction the air flows over the car, as if it was driving forwards.

Lather up delicate and tricky areas like badges and the grille before using a detailing brush to assist cleaning.

An old make-up brush (thoroughly rinsed) can stand in for a dedicated car-cleaning brush.

Apply another final rinse with your pressure washer to complete the main wash.

For a spot-free finish, dry your car as soon as you’ve finished with the pressure washer.

Grab a chamois and start with the windows and, again, work your way from top to bottom.

Once that’s done it’s time to clean the door jams with a clean and dry microfibre rag. If water has pooled and dirt deposits remain after the pre-wash and main wash you may need to spray some waterless wash to help finish the job.

Remember to give your tools, buckets and pressure washer a good rinse and wipe down at the end.

Dirty rags and chamois can be cleaned in a washing machine ready for their next use.

If you’re looking to take your pressure washer a bit further you can use it to clean floor mats, tub linings and even your engine bay.

Before using it in the engine bay make sure your engine has had ample time to cool down and use the softest setting on your pressure washer.

To assist with cleaning in and around the engine you can use a mild degreaser. I mix a few drops of dishwashing liquid in a pump spray bottle with warm water and apply.

Avoid electrical areas where you can. Leave for a few minutes then rinse with your pressure washer. Pat dry with a clean microfibre rag.

Now you’re ready to show off your handiwork, with the car looking just as good as the day you bought it.

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