Pressure Washing.

What, the moss getting a little thick?

But yeah I'd say it depends on the nozzle. If it's a focused pin-point kind of spray pattern it might blast the paint off. If it's more the fogger kind of spray should be fine. They work great at the DIY car wash after all.

Harry

Only if you don't like paint...

Damn, man, you posting with an iPhone??!?!?!

Now you went and made me feel like a Troglodyte...

It is Spring time and those trees are getting greener everyday.Some of those trees are raining that sap down on top of one of my vans, my 1983 Dodge van.I reckon I ought to get some concrete in my back yard so I can park my 1978 Dodge van on that, then I can start parking my 1983 Dodge van in my carport.I am thinking I won't use my pressure washer on my old vans.I don't want to blow the paint off of them. cuhulin

There's an app for that.

Nah, seriously, there might be but I have no problem going thru the browser. This is my only Internet access these days. If it makes you feel better, it's an antique 2G model.

Harry

I figure any pressure washer that could blast the tree sap off would definitely take off some paint too.

Anyway I'm a Mississippi boy myself so I know wut yer talkin bout. Your posts always make me smile.

Harry

Pressure washers are one of those things that are great if you know how to use them properly, but can make a mess and cause damage if you don't. This applies to both vehicles and houses.

Key points:

- Use a fan spray nozzle around 45 degree spray angle.

- Do not get too close to the surface.

- Maintain a consistent distance to the surface, i.e. move your arm back and forth parallel to the surface, don't just wave the wand back and forth.

- Maintain a consistent overlap of the spray on each pass with the wand.

A friend of mine was getting his house p/washed and painted and the guy suggested he sprayclean my friend's car. "Okay... "

The painter's p/washer was 4000 psi -- I kid you not, and did blast small bits of paint off plastic body items.

Use a hose and a sponge.

Whew. My Palm is 3G...

Pine sap here.

I take a spray bottle that had some kind of soap or bleach cleaner in it and make up 2/3 water and 1/3 car wash soap, mix it up and spray the car with a nice, thick layer of it. Then I take a car wash brush not connected to the hose yet and work the soap into a lather; then I connect the hose at low water flow and scrub again. Rinse and the sap is gone! (mostly, that is...)

Depends. Do you use sandpaper when washing by hand?

Our car wash uses 1500 psi water to go to the wands. That should tell you something. Now, you can back off from the bodywork, a few inches and the pressure effectively drops a lot.

Yes, you can use it. If you have some crappy GM powder coated cars, you may blow all the paint off, but if you have something with real paint. you should be okay. NOTHING, in a car wash, works as well as a rag, IMO.

Mimics my other post pretty well. We adjust our car wash pumps to about

1500 psi, using a pressure bypass valve. The wand uses a pressure tip that regulates the spray pattern and the pressure at the tip. If the orifice is large (by design or by erosion) the pressure will drop. BUT if everything is working well, the standard tip will not knock paint off. It will clean off most of the dirt, but road film is still very hard to remove without the ubiquitous "rag". No soap I have ever seen is really effective at removing road film.

Now, if you want to get into water blasting, you can get the pressure up and blast away rust, mineral scale, paint, crustaceans, and the like.

On Mon, 5 Apr 2010 20:09:53 -0500, "hls" wrote:

I don't go to car washes, just do it in the driveway. Washed UPS trucks for over 3 years while going to college, and use the method I learned there. First, a good thick brush on a stick. Stiff enough bristles to carry about 4"' in length, but with soft feathered bristle ends. The body should be bumpered with rubber if it's made wide, because it will tap something sooner or latter. This is the biggest expense. Think I paid 30 bucks for my brush, and it wasn't easy to find. But I do recall I finally found it at one of the chain auto stores. It's washed many cars. Hang it bristles up. No different than paint brush selection and care really. Second is a wide bucket of soapy water. Used a cut down barrel at UPS. You have to be able to fully dip and agitate the brush in the water every so many strokes to dump out any dirt/grit. Dirtier the car, the more often you rinse the brush. Than a hose. Hose her down, hit a section with the brush, working top down, and hose her off. You can spin the brush in the wheels and if they're not too nasty it will clean them up nice too. On a car you'll find a couple places that need a rag. Never even had rags in the UPS wash rack, because the Macks, IH's and trailers could be done entirely with a brush. Not rocket science, and I don't care if you do it different. I'm not a fanatic about it, but washing those trucks for years tends to make me want to do it fast. After setup, I don't think it takes but about 10-15 minutes to get one of my cars from real dirty to real clean. No scratches either. I don't bother drying them, but the water here is pretty soft and I don't see spotting.

--Vic