Which Karcher?

[Anonymous]

Or a very dead cow and a lot of time.... On the vortex lances - mate of mine blew a rather large hole in the side of a transit van with one of them - not saying anyone here will have rusty panels but it gave him quite a shock...

 

[Anonymous]

...Here ends my tip of the day. Tomorrow its how to cook a whole cow with a magnifying glass :thumbup:

I'm imagining a mahoossive magnifying glass...or a very patient cow...

Sent from my wireless telephonic device using Tapatalk 2

...or maybe a micro cow? You could then get a micro pig and start your very own micro farm...or just all the ingredients for a decent breakfast.

 

[Anonymous]

Jactac, I'm really not sure that your tip of using the Vortex lance is a good one. It's far too powerful for use on a car. It's a wonder you have any paint left on your car. Personally I would stay well clear. You need to be able to adjust the lance.

Sorry K, I should of said NOT to, or be careful if using a Vortex Lance on the car . To be totally honest with you I don't use a pressure washer at all on any of my cars, all my washing is done by hand, my 'tip' was intended for general outside cleaning, like patios or decking ect..
Like you say , if a pressure washer is going to be used on a car, then use a lance that is variable to be on the safe side :thumbup:

Having said that, in my opinion if someone is going to use a variable lance, then alter the spray outlet to a safer reduced level and pattern, then they may as well of used a hose pipe in the first place. Personally I think pressure washer's are more suited for general cleaning rather than for vehicles, they're great if your car is caked in mud and a hose cannot shift it prior to shampooing, but even then, after pressure washing you still need to go over it with shampoo and mitt. If you look closely at the paint surface of a vehicle after only using a pressure washer it still looks a bit dull and dirty, it's not until you use a soapy mitt to agitate the fine layer of dust /dirt that the surface becomes proper clean.

So for me,when washing a vehicle, it's the old fashion, but well proven system of the, 2 bucket's and hose, for proper job , :thumbup:

 

[Evil Derboy]

Another thumbs up for Nilfisk. Avoid the lower end of the Karcher price range. The pump housings are plastic and are prone to cracking when left though the winter.

Similarly priced Nilfisk units have metal pump housings so a better bet at the lower end of the market.

 

[Anonymous]

Good old fashioned hose for me too.

 

[Anonymous]

Good old fashioned hose for me too.

Yep, even though I own a pressure washer and have tried many different makes / models over the years, I only use a hose on the cars. :thumbup:

 

[RCZ1]

Jactac, I'm really not sure that your tip of using the Vortex lance is a good one. It's far too powerful for use on a car. It's a wonder you have any paint left on your car. Personally I would stay well clear. You need to be able to adjust the lance.

Sorry K, I should of said NOT to, or be careful if using a Vortex Lance on the car . To be totally honest with you I don't use a pressure washer at all on any of my cars, all my washing is done by hand, my 'tip' was intended for general outside cleaning, like patios or decking ect..
Like you say , if a pressure washer is going to be used on a car, then use a lance that is variable to be on the safe side :thumbup:

Having said that, in my opinion if someone is going to use a variable lance, then alter the spray outlet to a safer reduced level and pattern, then they may as well of used a hose pipe in the first place. Personally I think pressure washer's are more suited for general cleaning rather than for vehicles, they're great if your car is caked in mud and a hose cannot shift it prior to shampooing, but even then, after pressure washing you still need to go over it with shampoo and mitt. If you look closely at the paint surface of a vehicle after only using a pressure washer it still looks a bit dull and dirty, it's not until you use a soapy mitt to agitate the fine layer of dust /dirt that the surface becomes proper clean.

So for me,when washing a vehicle, it's the old fashion, but well proven system of the, 2 bucket's and hose, for proper job , :thumbup:

Pressures washers are ideal for cleaning cars. Much better than a hose. I wouldn't place a mitt on my car unless it had been snow foamed or had a pre wash sprayed on it first. After letting it dwell for 5 or 10 minutes another good 10 minutes power washing removes 90% of the dirt. You use the snow foam or pre wash as a dirt softener/remover and my car is glossy after this process alone. Each to their own, I know, but it's the safest way that I know.

 

[Anonymous]

My point was that power washing alone is not the ideal way to wash a car.
And like you I never just attack the car with a mitt unless the paint has been pre-prepared,.

 

[Anonymous]

Tescos do a Karcher for £90 thats more than enough for any car owner...............Power aint the be all and end all as far as jet washer's are concerned. anything between 1400 watts and 1800 watts is more than enough for car's :thumbup:


As "Bananrama once sang "it aint what ya it's the way that ya do it"........... :lol: Get a good snowfoam that's the thing "ultimate snowfoam" for the winter month's and "bilthamber snowfoam" for summer months" are great :thumbup:

 

[Anonymous]

Gotta be a Nilfisk mun. :roll:
As the saying goes " You've tried the rest, now have the best" :clap:

Jass m8, I totally agree, power & bigger isn't everything, but reliability counts for a lot. :thumbup:
Karchers are a retailers dream product, it's all just in the marketing. :eusa-think:

But each to their own :dance:

 

[Anonymous]

Now...I know that there are plenty of people that will disagree with me here but I find Nilfisks to be better value for money. I have owned a Karcher in the past but took it back for a refund after the seals for the hose wore very quickly. I picked up a Nilfisk for a fraction of the cost and it came with a variety of attachments and even a snow foaming lance. Just throwing the suggestion out there.

Yep me too, the Snow Foam attachment is very good, just done mine and a Z4 and the little Polo all from 3/4 of a bottle of mix (25% HOT water to 75% neutral Snow Foam mix) get rinse or pressure from the lance and the hose is a nice length on mine.

Paul

 

[RCZ1]

That seems an awful lot of snow foam Paul. I use probably less than 25% of snow foam in the bottle, then topped up with luke warm water. You must go through an awful lot of snow foam?

 

[Anonymous]

Honestly, Nilfisk have been going for donkeys years ,they are the monkeys nuts when it comes to all sorts of cleaning equipment.
Alto are another little known name, but are a top manufacture in this type of appliance.
Karcher have some ok products as you go up the range, but it's really their vast marketing machine that they rely on mostly.
I think, like a lot of products, many people tend to buy into the name, get drawn into the advertising and the bright bold colours.
There's a lot of very good manufactures out there that don't need fancy adverts and marketing to sell the products.
Nilfisk, Alto, CFM, and other's have all been supplying to the trade and professional for many many years but the average DIYer has probably never heard of them.

 

[Anonymous]

Very true jactac. I have never heard of any of those you mentioned. The same applies to all products. Take hand tools as an example. Black & Decker are rubbish if you use the machines for more than ten minutes per annum but it's probably the leading brand in domestically used hand tools. Bells whisky is another. If as a whisky drinker you are bought a bottle as a present, it will be a bottle of this paint stripper that you will most likely receive.

 

[Anonymous]

Hand tools are a very good example Ron.
I was looking at a fella a few weeks ago in a DIY store, he was debating on what power drill to purchase, one was in fact a Black & Decker or crap & pecker as it's known in the trade, the other was an Hitachi
The Black & Decker as you rightly say couldn't drill a hole in a wet cardboard box, as for the Hitachi, well they started out making cheap radio's and tv's, and somehow that led them to believe they can make power tools :lol: :lol:

Anyway this fella just couldn't make up his mind, so I politely offered some advice and bearing in mind his budget pointed him towards a Bosch, a fairly decent drill for his needs, or if he wanted something better again go for Makita, then there was Dewalt, all gradually increasing in price, but also in quality, but in my opinion he should to stay clear of his original choices.
Ten minutes later he was at the till with the Hitachi, pointing out to the girl on the checkout that "My video is Hitachi and it's only jammed on me once ". Good enough reason to buy one of their drills then eh :? :brickwall:

So there we are, if you're out shopping for a new drill, base your reasoning on how your video performs. :roll:
I know everyone will have different opinions on this type of thing, and budget alongside usage do come into play, but if Cadburys start making tyres would people put them on their precious Z. :lol: :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Gotta be a Nilfisk mun. :roll:
As the saying goes " You've tried the rest, now have the best" :clap:

Jass m8, I totally agree, power & bigger isn't everything, but reliability counts for a lot. :thumbup:
Karchers are a retailers dream product, it's all just in the marketing. :eusa-think:

But each to their own :dance:

Am going to give the Nilfisk a go :eusa-think: my 3rd Karcher in 3 years is starting to go wonky it's switching itself on and off of its on free will anybody got any recommendations :thumbup:

 

[Anonymous]

I'm sticking by my Nilfisk Centennial recommendation on page 1 of this thread. It's the business Jassy.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm sticking by my Nilfisk Centennial recommendation on page 1 of this thread. It's the business Jassy.

where to get? and how much mate? and what snowfoam are ye using

 

[Anonymous]

I'm sticking by my Nilfisk Centennial recommendation on page 1 of this thread. It's the business Jassy.

where to get? and how much mate? and what snowfoam are ye using

Argos have it for about 60 bucks less than anyone else I can find dude (£99 with all the accessories). Everyone's got their favourite snow foams but I'm loving Chemical Guys Max Suds just now which is effective as both a snow foam and a very good shampoo. Two products in one...plus it has an awesome cherry scent. Good thickness, however, I've only recently been playing around with it and havent had the chance to test it on a heavily soiled car. There are a number of others that I like solely for snow foaming. I've picked up some good ones from this thread on DW:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/s ... p?t=240670

 

[Anonymous]

I have my Nilfisk Centennial now and all my cleaning shopping list! Just waiting for my Valet Pro snow foam as per RCZ1 and then I'm good to give Kitt a proper clean as per RCZ's guide!! Pics before and after to follow!